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September • 28 • 2025
Diagnostic Errors in the Emergency Department: Are You Getting It Right?
Summary
ED clinical decision-making and diagnostic-related malpractice events
Coverys evaluated 6,050 medical malpractice events that closed between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023, and identified 436 specific events where a diagnostic error in the Emergency Department was alleged. Did you know:
- Failure to obtain an adequate history and physical (H&P) is the most frequent contributor to diagnostic error.
- Misinterpretation of test results contributed to 27% of diagnostic-related events.
- More than half of these diagnostic related events resulted in death or high severity injury to the patient.
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