Failure To Treat And Failure To Follow Up
Failure from your doctor to follow up may be negligent when the medical office is not proactive in communication, failure to comply on the part of the patient or even complete inability to contact a patient on the part of the doctor. There are many ways in which aftercare can be delayed or incomplete.
Good aftercare is essential for appropriate treatment; in a lot of cases, the results of failing to follow up can be damaging to the patient. Poor follow-up care could lead to a delayed diagnosis or a condition that gets worse. In either case, the resulting harm may range from additional or worse mild symptoms to severe symptoms, disease progression and even death, which can be especially serious when the patient’s condition is cancer or dementia. Not getting adequate follow-up care means not getting needed or recommended treatments, such as medication, therapy or lab work.
The ultimate consequences of all possible ways it fails or is inadequate vary. Poor follow-up care may lead to suffering from symptoms that could be avoided, chronic pain, worsening and progressing conditions, emotional suffering, disability, illnesses, more invasive treatments, extra medical bills, lost wages and, in extreme cases, death. All of this can then lead to a failure to treat.
A failure to treat can happen when a physician, nurse, or other healthcare professional fails to take the proper steps to treat or diagnose a condition in a patient, which leads to further harm.
Such harm can come from diagnosing a condition based on incorrect test results by incorrectly interpreting test results, which leads to a wrong diagnosis and treatment – also, failing to perform the required tests and procedures or failing to treat or diagnose a patient at all. After a patient is looked over by a medical professional, they should get the results back as soon as possible and let the patient know about all available treatments. Not doing so is a clear violation of the patient’s trust in their doctor. Another violation is not referring a patient to a specialist when the medical condition requires one and is a form of failure to treat.
When your doctor makes an error in treating you, they could face liability for a medical malpractice lawsuit. All medical providers, including doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, physiatrists, nurses and therapists, have a legal responsibility to prevent patient harm. Doctors are liable and can be sued for failing to provide care promptly if any conduct contributed to medical malpractice. Your medical professionals should be able to give you the adequate care you need to live a fulfilling life. If they contact Castel & Hall, LLP., we would be able to fight for your right to get treated and get compensation for the lack of initiative your hospital showed in your care.