Home Medicine Corrigendum to: Serious misdiagnosis-related harms in malpractice claims: The “Big Three” – vascular events, infections, and cancers
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Corrigendum to: Serious misdiagnosis-related harms in malpractice claims: The “Big Three” – vascular events, infections, and cancers

This erratum corrects the original online version which can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2019-0019
  • David E. Newman-Toker EMAIL logo , Adam C. Schaffer , C. Winnie Yu-Moe , Najlla Nassery , Ali S. Saber Tehrani , Gwendolyn D. Clemens , Zheyu Wang , Yuxin Zhu , Mehdi Fanai and Dana Siegal EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: May 16, 2020

Corrigendum to: David E. Newman-Toker, Adam C. Schaffer, C. Winnie Yu-Moe, Najlla Nassery, Ali S. Saber Tehrani, Gwendolyn D. Clemens, Zheyu Wang, Yuxin Zhu, Mehdi Fanai, and Dana Siega. 2019. Serious misdiagnosis-related harms in malpractice claims: The “Big Three” – vascular events, infections, and cancers. Diagnosis. Volume 6, Issue 3, pages 227–240. (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2019-0019).

In Table 3 of the original manuscript, the “Big Three % of High Severity” from “Non-claims sources” (final column) was incorrect. Instead of “76.8% (n=159/207)” (incorrect), it should have read “75.8% (n=157/207)” (correct).

Table 3:

Big Three disease proportions in the current study based on claims vs. non-claims-based studies.a

Big Three category/subcategoryMalpractice claims cases (current study, CRICO CBS 2006–2015, n=11,592)Non-claims sources (physician surveys, primary care and ED triggered chart reviews, ED physician voluntary reports, general autopsies, ICU autopsies)b
Big Three % of any severity (n)61.7% (n=7149/11,592)58.5% (n=717/1226)c
 Vascular17.4% (n=2019)23.4% (n=287)
 Infection14.3% (n=1660)19.7% (n=241)
 Cancer29.9% (n=3470)15.4% (n=189)
 Other38.3% (n=4443)41.5% (n=509)
Big Three % of high severity (n)74.1% (n=5469/7379)75.8% (n=157/207)d
 Vascular22.8% (n=1684)32.9% (n=68)
 Infection13.4% (n=992)17.4% (n=36)
 Cancer37.9% (n=2793)25.6% (n=53)
 Other25.9% (n=1910)24.2% (n=50)
Big Three % of deaths (n)75.3% (n=2944/3912)81.2% (n=604/744)e
 Vascular30.5% (n=1192)27.2% (n=202)
 Infection15.4% (n=602)45.8% (n=341)
 Cancer29.4% (n=1150)8.2% (n=61)b
 Other24.7% (n=968)18.8% (n=140)
  1. aAdditional details may be found in Supplementary materials C1/C2, including Tables S11–S12. bGeneral autopsies and ICU autopsies are fairly homogeneous with respect to missed Big Three diseases as causes of death (Table S12 – general 73–82%; ICU 78–82%), so are combined here. However, cancers are far less frequent among ICU deaths relative to all (general autopsy) deaths (see Table S12 for details). As a result, the data shown here in Table 3 (which over-represent ICU data relative to general autopsy data) are skewed toward under-representing missed cancers as causes of death. Similarly, they slightly over-represent vascular events and infections. cStudies from frontline clinical practice (five studies 2009–2016, n=1226 errors) [4, 26, 28, 41, 42]. dStudies from frontline clinical practice (two studies 2009–2012, n=207 errors) [26, 28]. eAutopsy studies (45 general and ICU-based studies 1947–2011, n=8377 autopsies; n=744 errors) [7, 8, 12, 13]. There were two multi-year general autopsy studies representing 2144 autopsies and 43 ICU-based studies (30 adult, seven pediatric, six neonatal) representing 6271 autopsies. Only 24 of 30 adult studies reported on the disease breakdown, so the totals here reflect only 39 autopsy studies. CRICO CBS, Controlled Risk Insurance Company Comparative Benchmarking System; ED, emergency department; ICU, intensive care unit.


Corresponding authors: David E. Newman-Toker, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurology, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Meyer Building 2-221, 600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA; Director of the Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; and Professor, Department of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA, Phone: (443) 287-9593, Fax: (410) 614-1746

Published Online: 2020-05-16
Published in Print: 2021-02-23

©2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  2. Editorial
  3. Driving on a highway to hell I found the stairway to heaven. A mentorship lecture intermixed with rock music and a quiz
  4. Review
  5. Updated overview on the interplay between obesity and COVID-19
  6. Mini Review
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  8. Opinion Papers
  9. Making sense of rapid antigen testing in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) diagnostics
  10. Interpreting clinical and laboratory tests: importance and implications of context
  11. Predicting mortality with cardiac troponins: recent insights from meta-analyses
  12. Guidelines and Recommendations
  13. Operational measurement of diagnostic safety: state of the science
  14. Original Articles
  15. Rate of diagnostic errors and serious misdiagnosis-related harms for major vascular events, infections, and cancers: toward a national incidence estimate using the “Big Three”
  16. Pyoderma gangrenosum underrepresentation in non-dermatological literature
  17. Assessing the utility of a differential diagnostic generator in UK general practice: a feasibility study
  18. Assessing physical examination skills using direct observation and volunteer patients
  19. Clinicians’ and laboratory medicine specialists’ views on laboratory demand management: a survey in nine European countries
  20. Letters to the Editor
  21. Frequency of repetitive laboratory testing in patients transferred from the Emergency Department to hospital wards: a 3-month observational study
  22. Letter in response to Vanstone paper on diagnostic intuition
  23. Corrigenda
  24. Corrigendum to: Serious misdiagnosis-related harms in malpractice claims: The “Big Three” – vascular events, infections, and cancers
  25. Clinical problem solving and social determinants of health: a descriptive study using unannounced standardized patients to directly observe how resident physicians respond to social determinants of health
  26. Acknowledgment
  27. Acknowledgment
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