Radiologist’s Cancer Diagnosis Mistake Costs Facility $15M

A diagnostic imaging facility in Carmel, Ind., will pay $15 million for a non-employee doctor’s failure to diagnose a woman’s colon cancer.

CDI Indiana LLC is vicariously liable for the mistake, even though the doctor was an independent contractor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit said Feb. 27. Under Indiana law, a medical provider may be held vicariously liable for a non-employee’s negligence if a patient reasonably relied on the provider’s apparent authority over the wrongdoer, the court said.

In 2014, Courtney Webster went to CDI for a CT scan of her colon. Radiologist Brian Walker missed ...