When people in Baton Rouge experience unfamiliar health problems, they might consult with a medical professional to be diagnosed and treated. However, there is no guarantee they would receive the standard of medical care owed to them by the physician. Getting familiar with their rights to proper care and the signs of medical malpractice might be a good idea.
Unless it is an emergency, an excellent place to start might be to ensure the health professional they choose is licensed and has the necessary certification before arranging a consultation. The doctor can be found at fault if there was a patient-doctor relationship with an unlicensed professional, and the doctor’s negligence caused injuries.
No diagnosis and disregard
Sometimes, people go for general checkups and are sent home afterward with no explanation or documents to clarify the medical professional’s findings. If that patient develops a condition that should have been identified during the checkup, the doctor might be held accountable for negligence in the failure to diagnose.
Likewise, a doctor may disregard all the details, dates and times of symptoms a patient provides in seeking clarity. The patient is sent away after undergoing a medical examination without diagnosis or conclusion. If that patient seeks a second opinion and another doctor diagnoses a problem that needs medical care, the first doctor might be guilty of disregarding the patient.
Full disclosure and confidentiality
Patients might not know that the risk of proposed treatment or procedures significantly exceeds the reward. A doctor proceeding without labs and tests might be considered negligent, and the patient might have a viable medical malpractice claim.
Another protection patients might be unaware of involves their information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act prohibits the release of patients’ health information. Anyone in Louisiana who experienced any of these circumstances could explore the possibility of recovering damages by filing medical malpractice lawsuits in a civil court.
