Personal Injury Law

Lab recalls erroneous test results, possibly largest test recall in 20 years

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

Quest Diagnostics, the largest medical laboratory company in the U.S., has acknowledged that it has provided possibly erroneous lab results to thousands of people, prompting what some consider to be the largest patient test recall in the last 20 years. The erroneous results occurred when Quest was testing people?s vitamin D levels. The erroneous testing has consisted primarily in overly-high test levels, although lower than actual levels were also recorded. The erroneously high result may have resulted in patients not receiving vitamin D supplements when they should have. Erroneously low test results carry a potentially much more serious consequence; in rare instances, if patients were wrongfully prescribed supplements, the dosing error could lead to a toxic overdose of vitamin D, resulting in serious injury or death. The company issued letters to thousands of doctors, listing the names of patients who may have received the erroneous results and offering free retesting to those individuals. Quest Diagnostic says that they have identified and fixed the problem that had caused these errors.

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Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).