Preserving Digital Images for Legal Proceedings

The legal principles governing the use of radiologic images in court and other legal proceedings were developed before the introduction of computers in radiology and nuclear medicine imaging equipment. Modern digital images present a wide variety of new concerns that are not adequately addressed by the principles used by most lawyers and courts. This article discusses the most important of these new concerns, such as being able to prove that an image has not been altered and being able to prove that the hardware and software used to create it were scientifically reliable. A nonexhaustive set of recommendations are given to guide radiologists in beginning to review the image preservation procedures of their practices.