How your doctor, or other health care provider, interacts with you can significantly impact your treatment experience. It certainly can have an effect on your mental well being during treatment. Dismissive physicians often leave patients feeling ignored and powerless regarding their care. While poor bedside manner is unprofessional, it does not necessarily equate to medical malpractice.
The medical malpractice lawyers at Freedland Harwin Valori Gander understand the difference between poor bedside manners and malpractice and when legal assistance is warranted.
Understanding the Difference: Bad Bedside Manner vs. Medical Malpractice
Bedside manner refers to how a medical practitioner treats and interacts with patients. Bad bedside manners can cause a patient to experience a lack of compassion, respect, or understanding from a health care professional. Although poor bedside manners are not ideal for patients, they don’t always mean the doctor’s treatment fell below the legal standard of care or caused harm to the patient.
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor’s care falls below the acceptable standard of care, causing injuries and damages. In Florida, the prevailing professional standard of care for a given health care provider is the level of care, skill, and treatment recognized as acceptable and appropriate by a reasonably prudent health care provider in the same position and under the same circumstances.
While bad bedside manners do not automatically mean there are grounds for legal action, sometimes the conduct overlaps with medical malpractice.
Examples of Bad Bedside Manner
Terrible bedside manner is often associated with a provider’s poor interpersonal skills and negative interactions with patients, including the following:
- Communicating ineffectively
- Condescending or rude attitude
- Disregarding a patient’s fears or concerns
- Failing to clearly explain treatment options
- Rushing through appointments
- Exhibiting a dismissive attitude toward emotional responses
There are instances where poor bedside manners can have serious consequences on the overall patient experience. If a provider exhibits a condescending attitude or comes across as uncaring, patients can feel anxious or apprehensive about their care. It may even result in decreased patient compliance or a reluctance to follow up with the doctor. That can affect treatment outcomes.
Examples of Medical Malpractice
Many types of medical malpractice can leave patients with devastating injuries, emotional distress, and financial losses. Here are examples of common medical malpractice claims.
Diagnostic Errors
A misdiagnosis occurs when a health care providerr does not provide the right or accurate diagnosis despite having the tools and training to reach the correct one. The wrong diagnosis takes time away from treating the real issue and can compromise thepatient’s chance of recovery.
For example, being told you have a vitamin deficiency rather than an accurate cancer diagnosis could lead to the disease spreading to other parts of the body and becoming more challenging to treat. If other physicians would have reached the correct diagnosis, you may have grounds to bring a medical malpractice claim.
Delayed Diagnosis
Sometimes, a doctor fails to reach a diagnosis in a reasonable amount of time. A delayed diagnosis could worsen the patient’s condition and decrease the likelihood of successful treatment. Factors that might delay a diagnosis include:
- Failing to send specimens to the lab
- Not reviewing test results promptly
- Misinterpreting test results
- Failing to recognize patient symptoms
- Not communicating test results to the patient
Incorrect Treatment
When a doctor recommends an insufficient or incorrect treatment, a patient could suffer severe side effects or worsening conditions. For example, a qualified physician who recommends herbal supplements rather than appropriate medication to treat a serious infection could face legal action for negligence if the damages are serious.
Errors With Medication
We trust care providers to practice the standard of care when prescribing medication. Wrong medication or incorrect prescription dosages can cause irreversible harm or even deadly results for patients. Situations that could lead to medication errors include the following:
- Not recognizing possible adverse interactions
- Not obtaining a thorough medical history that led to the improper adminstration
- Failing to factor in a patient’s allergies
- Making mistakes when transcribing or entering the prescription in the system
- Confusing two different drugs
Surgical Errors
A surgeon’s carelessness can lead to mistakes during the procedure. Some examples areoperating on the wrong body part or leaving surgical instruments inside the patient. Negligent practices could also lead to avoidable post-surgical complications, such as infections.
Anesthesia Errors
Administering anesthesia incorrectly or failing to monitor a patient under anesthesia is considered medical malpractice when the patient suffers injuries as a result. It’s also possible for an anesthesiologist to be underqualified for the job, which ultimately could affect the patient’s outcome.
Birth Injuries
Medical errors, delayed treatment, and failure to monitor during labor and delivery or immediately following birth can cause severe and long-term injuries that change a baby’s life forever. Common birth injuries include brachial palsy, bone fractures, and hemorrhaging.
“There are so many examples of medical malpractice. I mean, some of the more classic examples are a birth trauma case. So a mother comes into the hospital, she’s perfectly healthy, the baby is healthy. There’s a delay in delivering the child, and that can sometimes cause profound brain damage to that child. You have surgical errors where a patient comes in and what is expected and should be a routine surgery, and something takes place that shouldn’t, that causes a significant injury. “
When Does Bedside Manner Become Malpractice?
There are cases when poor bedside manner does contribute to medical malpractice. A doctor’s poor communication efforts could lead to misunderstandings about treatment, medical errors, and patient injuries.
For example, dismissing a patient’s questions or concerns about a treatment option is bad bedside manner. However, this behavior may result in the patient having insufficient facts to provide informed consent to a risky procedure. If the patient suffers an injury because the doctor did not obtain informed consent, it could rise to the level of medical malpractice.
Another scenario in which poor bedside manners can become malpractice is when neglecting a patient leads to a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis. Not listening carefully to a patient’s symptoms or failing to give them opportunities to voice their symptoms can prolong the diagnostic process and cause further health issues.
Legal Help for Medical Malpractice Cases
If you or a loved one suffered injuries and damages because a medical professional was negligent in their care, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. The skilled medical malpractice attorneys at FHVG can investigate, determine whether you have a case, identify your damages, and pursue the compensation you deserve.
As a nationally recognized injury law firm with over $2.6 billion recovered for our deserving clients, we have the skills and experience to fight for your family. Our passionate and aggressive attorneys employ all resources available to ensure you receive the maximum recovery available in an ethical way. Contact us online or call (954) 467-6400 to get started on your case today with a free consultation.
