I'm no expert, but I doubt there are too many radiologists around who are going to misdiagnose a condition by mistaking an artifact caused by a faulty probe (which are usually pretty obvious in my experience) for something more serious.
Also, the last time I was at [3rd-Party Service Provider] I was quite impressed by their nifty probe testing equipment. I doubt that any OEM has anything much better.
Lastly, during some of my experiences in the ... umm ...
Third World (many years ago, admittedly) I came across a fair number of cases where sonographers were able to carry on doing useful work simply by being aware of the "straight black lines", or "black dots" (
etc.), created by what were obviously partially defective probes. They would make allowances for the defects, change the position of the probe, and try again a few times "just to be sure".
I'm not saying it's right; but just reminding of what can sometimes be the reality of the situation in some parts of the world.
On your last point Mike ... can you provide a citation (Chapter and Verse) where any of that has actually happened?
