Medicolegal liability in laboratory medicine.

The laboratory testing process, including the preanalytic, analytic, and postanalytic phases, is an area where errors frequently occur. These errors may impair the diagnostic process and compromise patient safety. Delay in diagnosis and failure to diagnose are common reasons for a medicolegal action. It is estimated that over 70% of medical decisions are made using laboratory data. For this reason, the laboratory is often involved either directly or indirectly in medical liability cases. The laboratory and hospital need to design systems that reduce the possibility of error and to rapidly identify and resolve the errors that do occur. Because the pre- and postanalytic processes extend into the clinical operations of the hospital, the laboratory can play an important role in promoting patient safety by assisting clinicians with test ordering, communicating test results appropriately, and aiding in the interpretation of results.