When you’re sick or injured, you implicitly trust your medical providers to take the best possible care of you. Unfortunately, far too often, the standard of care falls short and patients are harmed when physicians make bad decisions regarding care or misdiagnose medical conditions. This can result in deterioration of health or even death. If this is the case, you may have a claim for medical malpractice or negligence. If so, you need a reputable, experienced medical malpractice lawyer to help you.
Here are three signs you may have been the victim of medical errors:
#1 Your Medical Condition Remains Unchanged or Worsens
Whether you are receiving medical care in the hospital or on an outpatient basis at a physician’s office, if you are properly diagnosed and treated, you should see improvement (unless you’ve been diagnosed with a fatal or deteriorating condition). If you worsen rather than improving, you may not be receiving proper or accurate care. If you are following doctor’s orders to the letter and nothing gets better, your doctor may have made a mistake. If the mistake has permanently ruined your health, caused you severe pain or injury, you should consult an ethical medical malpractice attorney for advice on making a claim.
#2 Your Doctor Refuses to Answer Questions
Medical care should be interactive. You tell your doctor the symptoms you’re experiencing, they ask questions to help diagnose you and then begin a course of treatment. If you ask questions about your diagnosis, ask why a treatment isn’t working or making you feel worse or any other questions that your doctor dismisses or refuses to answer, this is a red flag. Combine this with ongoing pain or discomfort and a lack of improvement or a distinct worsening in your condition and you may want to consult a reputable local medical malpractice attorney to see if you should make a malpractice claim.
#3 Your Doctor Refuses to Perform Medical Tests
You should be proactive in your medical care and if you know you are at risk for an illness because of genetic or hereditary factors, you may request diagnostic testing to get a jump on a potential disease. Likewise, if you are ill and know from research or experience that certain diagnostic tests are standard, you may request them. In either case, if your doctor refuses to run them, this is a warning sign. If you later develop the suspected illness and your prognosis is worse or you suffer injury as a result of the delayed diagnosis because of this refusal, you may have a claim for medical negligence.
Medical Malpractice Is Shockingly Common