A radiology employee at Perry Hospital, a 45-bed facility 30 miles south of Macon, GA has been indicted by a Houston (GA) County Grand Jury on charges she entered into a computer or signed off on as many as 1,289 mammography results without a physician's review.
Hospital officials announced last week that their own review of the incident indicates the former employee, who the hospital identified as Rachael Michelle Rapraeger, acted alone. A hospital statement says that the District Attorney's office has filed 10 counts of reckless conduct and 10 counts of computer fraud over the incident.
News reports said the mammograms were done on patients who underwent the exams between late 2008 and early 2010.
Hospital spokeman Victor Moldovan describes the employee's actions as "inexplicable. For whatever reason, she did what she did."
"Perry Hospital supports the District Attorney's decision to proceed with a criminal indictment," the hospital said in a statement.
"Although our initial estimate was that approximately 900 patients were impacted, after a complete and thorough investigation (we) concluded that an additional 389 patients could have been affected by her actions." The hospital says it has taken steps to notify each patient.
"We at Perry Hospital and Houston Healthcare sincerely regret the actions of Ms. Rapraeger and the consequences such actions have brought by her unauthorized and inexplicable acts," the statement said. "However, due to patient confidentiality and the ongoing criminal investigation, we cannot publicly address specific patients."
According to news reports, Moldovan said the inappropriate signing off on these mammograms without a radiologist's review came to light April 2. Subsequently, the individual confessed on April 5 that she had signed off on the mammograms as if she were the radiologist.