Lawsuits and the Lab

Genetic testing is leading to a number of medical malpractice suits — something clinical laboratories should be aware of, writes Pamela Scherer McLeod at Dark Daily. In particular, McLeod points to a number of cases, including a case in Montana in which a genetic testing lab was one of the defendants in a wrongful birth case in which parents say they were not informed that their child would be born with cystic fibrosis, and a similar case in Tennessee in which the parents of a cystic fibrosis child were awarded $13 million. "The sizeable judgments and/or settlements associated with claims of deficiencies and/or errors associated with pre-natal genetic testing are not a positive development for the laboratory medicine profession," McLeod writes. "It is a sign that malpractice premiums may increase in coming years, at least for clinical laboratories and pathologists who perform these types of genetic tests."