Radiology Error Lawyers in the United States (2026)
If you're worried about a radiology mistake, learn what these errors involve, when malpractice may be involved, and how to prepare your images and medical records for review.
Of the 312 firms that show misdiagnosis work on our 112 city lists in the United States, Walkup Personal Injury Lawyers scores highest on malpractice focus, published results, client reviews and experience, followed by Wapner Newman Attorneys At Law and Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf. Each firm keeps its best score from the cities it serves; open a city for its full list.
Best Radiology Errors Lawyers in the United States
Feature your firm first on this page
This spot goes to one firm for a year. It's shown first, above everyone below, and labeled Featured.
4.9167 Google reviewsRated 4.9 out of 5 on Google from 167 reviews
Best for: Missed diagnoses and delayed treatment
For failure to diagnose a spinal abscess, Walkup Personal Injury Lawyers publishes a $9.49 million jury verdict, directly linking that result to a missed diagnosis.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.7226 Google reviewsRated 4.7 out of 5 on Google from 226 reviews
Best for: Delayed diagnosis causing brain injury
For a brain injury caused by delayed diagnosis, Wapner Newman Attorneys At Law publishes an $8.4 million result that directly relates to this list. The Philadelphia firm's history goes back to 1978.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.6115 Google reviewsRated 4.6 out of 5 on Google from 115 reviews
Best for: Severe injuries from missed diagnoses
After a failure to diagnose placental abruption left a Brooklyn child with cerebral palsy, Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf reports a $90,939,857 verdict.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.8181 Google reviewsRated 4.8 out of 5 on Google from 181 reviews
Best for: Malpractice-focused representation
Medical malpractice makes up most of Schochor, Staton, Goldberg, and Cardea, P.A.'s practice. Because its site lists misdiagnosis among the cases it handles, the firm has a focus that supports its position here.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
4.632 Google reviewsRated 4.6 out of 5 on Google from 32 reviews
Best for: Catastrophic injury and wrongful death
Since Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore's founding in 1950, Judith Livingston and Thomas Moore have become senior partners. Alongside birth injuries and surgical errors, the firm's site lists work involving misdiagnosis.
We order firms by how much of their work is medical malpractice, the results they publish, what their clients say, their experience, their standing with the regulator and the recognition they have earned, all from public records and the firms' own sites. How lists are made
Radiology errors lawyers by state
The rules change from one state to the next, so the lawyers near you are the ones to call.
If a misread scan or an abnormal finding that never reached your treating doctor harmed you, a malpractice review may be worth considering. A reviewer asks whether the care fell below the standard that applied, changing what happened to you. An error isn't enough by itself. Before asking a lawyer in your state to review what happened, gather the images and written report that help explain it.
What a radiology error means
When errors happen in radiology, they involve medical imaging, including X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and mammograms. The image may have been misread. Even if someone identified an abnormal finding, they may never have reported it to the doctor responsible for treatment.
The failures aren't the same. Before checking what your treating doctor received, separate what the image showed from what the report actually said. Even when a finding appears in the written report, that alone doesn't tell you whether an urgent message reached the person who needed to act.
According to Gunn Law Group's discussion of radiology malpractice, potential problems include misinterpreted images or failures to communicate essential or urgent findings. Separate those concerns first. Someone may have read the image incorrectly, or your concern may be about how they communicated the finding (or both).
How to recognize a concern worth reviewing
Reading the scan yourself isn't your job. Ask your treating doctor to explain the report if you think someone missed something, including whether it addresses the concern that prompted the imaging.
Follow the message if you're worried that someone didn't communicate a finding. To trace it, ask what finding needed to reach the treating doctor and who should have received it. Check what the chart says about that contact next. The scan wasn't necessarily normal just because nobody spoke.
Keep both explanations if the later one doesn't seem to match the original report. To understand the difference, ask the doctor.
Ask what a finding means for your care if you don't understand it in the report, including whether anything remains unresolved.
Note who told you and when if someone says an earlier scan was misread. Instead of relying on memory alone, request the records that support what they said.
Ask for records if an urgent finding wasn't communicated, so you can see when someone reported it and when your treating doctor received it.
Although these concerns need explaining, they aren't proof of malpractice. Don't mix medical questions with legal ones. While your treating clinician can explain the care you need now, a lawyer can assess whether the earlier events support a claim.
Although that figure counts errors, it doesn't give the percentage of patients with valid malpractice claims. To determine whether someone negligently read your scan or a different reading would have changed your care, you can't rely on it.
Before deciding whether your care fell short, the review must establish what the circumstances required. Ask how the lawyer will arrange an evaluation of the original images if you believe someone misread the scan. If someone failed to communicate a finding, ask how they'll review the reporting process.
Even with a later diagnosis, questions remain. Along with the surrounding chart, the reviewer needs the earlier report and actual images from you. To understand what still needs a medical opinion, ask which questions those records answer.
Causation: connecting the error to the injury
The review then turns to harm. If someone had read the image differently or the finding had reached your treating doctor on time, ask what would have happened, including whether the alleged error caused harm.
Identify the treatment decision you believe the error affected, then focus on what happened between the imaging and the later diagnosis. Avoid generalities. To understand whether your records show the connection the law requires, ask a lawyer in your state to explain it.
Harm: documenting what changed
If you believe the error harmed you, describe how. Putting a dollar amount on it isn't something you need to do yourself. When explaining what changed, include the medical care you received afterward and expenses you want the lawyer to consider; describe missed work or changes in your daily life in your own words.
According to DeFrancisco & Falgiatano's radiology malpractice page, someone hurt by a radiologist's negligence may be able to recover compensation. Although compensation is possible, that doesn't predict what will happen in your case. To learn which claimed losses could apply under your state's rules, ask a lawyer.
Build a record of what happened
Begin simply. When you ask for help, you don't need a finished theory of the case. Explaining what worries you shouldn't require you to guess which medical terms to use, either.
Preparing for a radiology malpractice review
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Write a short chronology
When you write down the imaging date and when you received the result, also note when you learned there might be an error. Include the facilities' names. If dates are uncertain, label them.
2
Request the images and reports
To begin, request the original images and written report. If you know of a later report or revised reading, ask for that, too. Rather than replacing the earlier report with the newer one, keep every version.
3
Collect the surrounding chart
To trace what happened, ask for the relevant treating doctor's notes and records of communication about the finding. Ask the reviewing lawyer what other records they need before you spend time gathering material that may be unrelated.
4
Describe the suspected injury
If someone missed or didn't report the finding, describe what you believe changed because of that. Gather the bills and relevant correspondence supporting your account. Separate what a clinician told you from what you suspect happened.
5
Ask about review and timing
To assess the standard of care and causation, what does a lawyer in your state need from you? If a filing deadline needs immediate attention, ask about that, too.
Don't discard your own messages, either. If you can identify the date and the person you contacted, a note saying “I called about the result” tells more. When you send the lawyer anything, including your chronology, save a copy.
Which part of the care needs review?
You can't choose a defendant just by looking at a name on the imaging report. To identify who was responsible for the action you believe failed, ask the lawyer to examine it. Before they can answer, they'll need to examine the records and the rules that apply to your situation.
If you're concerned about a missed or delayed diagnosis, our Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis page offers related reading. Keep your imaging records alongside it as you read. Even with a later diagnosis, you don't have proof that someone negligently read the earlier scan.
See Hospital & Nursing Negligence if you're concerned about how a hospital handled a reported finding. As you prepare for a consultation about emergency department care, the Emergency Room Errors page may help with your questions.
Deadlines differ by state
There isn't a nationwide statute of limitations for radiology malpractice claims. The deadline depends on the state. After finding your state through our U.S. state pages, ask a local lawyer how those rules apply to the dates in your case.
Learning of the suspected error doesn't necessarily mark when the clock started. Along with the date you discovered the concern, give the lawyer the date of the imaging. Explain any gaps in your timeline instead of presenting estimates as facts about when things happened.
What to ask at the first consultation
To explain your concern, you might start with: “The report said this, but I was later told that.” Explain that an abnormal finding apparently never reached your doctor if that's what worries you instead. Rather than giving a long list of conclusions, offer a short account of the facts so the lawyer has a clearer starting point.
When you review the written reports, will you also look at the original images?
To assess whether the reading or communication fell below the standard of care, what medical opinion would help?
If the alleged error changed my treatment or what happened to me, which records could show that?
To check which state's filing rules apply, what dates do you need from me?
When reviewing a possible case, how does your firm handle the costs, and how are fees charged?
If the lawyer can't assess your case yet, ask what's missing. Rather than an early opinion based on an incomplete chart, a specific request for records may give you something more useful to take home.
When imaging care falls below the applicable standard and causes harm, radiology malpractice may be involved. A misread X-ray, CT scan, MRI or mammogram may be at issue. If an essential finding wasn't communicated, that may raise a concern, too. Because a mistake alone doesn't establish a claim, ask a lawyer in your state to review what the records show about your care and how it affected you.
Can I sue over a misread scan?
If a scan was misread, legal review may be worthwhile. A lawsuit doesn't follow automatically, though. Before a claim can proceed, the review must address whether the reading fell below the standard of care and that failure harmed you. Alongside the written report, bring the original images if you have them. To find out whether further medical review is needed, ask a lawyer in your state about the case.
Can failure to communicate an abnormal finding be malpractice?
According to Gunn Law Group's discussion of radiology malpractice, failure to communicate essential or urgent findings is a potential problem. If you're considering a claim over that failure, what happened and the resulting harm matter. To identify who received the finding and when it was reported, request records that also identify the finding itself. Under your state's rules, a lawyer can assess whether that communication concern supports a claim.
Does a later diagnosis prove the radiologist was negligent?
It doesn't. Even after a later diagnosis, questions remain about the earlier reading and whether it caused an injury. Rather than relying on the later diagnosis alone, ask the reviewer to examine the original images and report. Before deciding whether a different reading or timely communication would have changed what happened, they'll need to consider what care was required at the time.
What records should I gather for a radiology malpractice consultation?
The original images and written reports come first. Along with messages about the results, include relevant treating doctor's notes and any later or revised reading. To show when the imaging happened and when you learned of the suspected error, write a short chronology. If you've requested missing records, tell the lawyer which ones. While you're assembling the chart, ask about a filing deadline rather than waiting until you're done.
How long do I have to file a radiology malpractice claim?
Because the rules differ by state, there's no single national deadline. After visiting our U.S. state pages, ask a lawyer in your state to check your dates. When you explain when you learned of the suspected error, include the imaging date, too. Even if you discover the problem later, you don't necessarily get a particular amount of additional time.
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