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Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke was approved by the FDA in 1996, but controversy remains regarding the risks and benefits of this therapy and the legal risk to physicians who administer it. Researchers reviewed the characteristics of 33 malpractice actions involving use of TPA for acute ischemic stroke that were identified from a review of seven legal databases.
Emergency physicians were defendants in 19 cases and neurologists in 6; all cases that named neurologists as defendants also named EPs. In most cases (22), the patient presented to an emergency department and the EP’s evaluation and treatment were the issues in the litigation; nearly half these cases (10) did not involve a neurology consu…