19 hours ago · First Example: Failure to Notify Patient of Mass Found on Chest X-Ray. Take, for instance, the following hypothetical ( based on an actual case): A patient with chest pain visits … >> Go To The Portal
Appreciate that failing to contact a patient about abnormal test results is a source of successful malpractice claims. Learn the legal standard that is applied to a failure to contact a patient about test results that require follow-up action. Describe some steps that might reduce the harm from failure to act on abnormal test results.
Research indicates that doctors can fail to communicate test results to their patients over 7% of the time. This may not seem like a common problem, but such failures can result in serious injury or complications, even if the test results do not indicate that anything is wrong.
A doctor might fail to disclose test results for several reasons. For one, they may simply forget to tell the patient about the test results. More often, test results can be lost or confused along the chain of communication in a hospital .
Depending on the case, it may also be possible to hold the hospital itself, responsible for patient harm due to negligent failure to communicate the results of medical testing.
Failure to report errors may subject clinicians to disciplinary action and increased risk for legal liability. Beneficence and nonmaleficence are ethical concepts that are violated when an error is not reported. Practitioners often fear they will gain a reputation for committing mistakes and may not self-report.
If a doctor fails to obtain informed consent for non-emergency treatment, he or she may be charged with a civil offense like gross negligence and/or a criminal offense such as battery or gross negligence which is the unauthorized touching of the plaintiff's person.
When a doctor or another medical professional fails to disclose the risks of treatment, they take away a patient's right to make an informed decision. If you or someone close to you suffered harm because of a failure to obtain informed consent, you may be able to file a claim against the at-fault party.
What is an Example of Lack of Informed Consent? The most common examples of a lack of informed consent includes a physician not letting a patient know the known risks associated with the procedure.
In both medical and legal terminology, this is called "informed consent." If a doctor does not get informed consent from a patient, and the patient is injured, the patient may have grounds to sue the doctor for medical malpractice.
Failure to obtain consent properly can lead to problems including legal or disciplinary action against you, or rarely criminal prosecution for battery (contact with an individual without consent.)
A lack of informed consent refers to a physician or hospital neglecting to provide a patient appropriate information about the risks, benefits and alternatives to a surgery or treatment with medication in a non-emergency setting.
Informed consent creates trust between doctor and patient by ensuring good understanding. It also reduces the risk for both patient and doctor. With excellent communication about risks and options, patients can make choices which are best for them and physicians face less risk of legal action.
Several exceptions to the requirement for informed consent include (1) the patient is incapacitated, (2) life-threatening emergencies with inadequate time to obtain consent, and (3) voluntary waived consent.
In most situations the doctor cannot act without a patient's "informed consent." In order for patients' consent to be "informed" and thus valid, they must be able to make a well-informed logical decision. If they agree to the treatment, understanding what it involves, they have given informed consent.
There are 4 components of informed consent including decision capacity, documentation of consent, disclosure, and competency.
Informed consent is a crucial part of enrolling in a clinical trial because it gives the potential participant all the information they need to understand what they are volunteering for. Without informed consent the subjects may not fully understand what they are participating in.
If this negligence caused you to suffer financial damages, you could be entitled to recover compensation for these damages through a medical malpractice claim. To learn more, contact our team at Baizer Kolar, P.C. today to set up your initial consultation in our Chicago office.
Failure to disclose any relevant information about a medical procedure is an act of medical malpractice because it robs the patient of the ability to provide his or her informed consent to the procedure. Patients have the right to know what is being done to their bodies and why. They also have the right to decide not to undergo a specific medical treatment, which is a determination frequently made after weighing the risks and benefits of the procedure.
The nurse noted the results in the health record, but did not notify the ICU practitioner because he assumed the practitioner was returning to the unit to reassess the patient. The patient’s blood pressure two hours after the second unit of plasma was reported as 63/21 mmHG. The nurse notified the on-call resident of the blood pressure and ...
The blood bank records indicated that the blood was available 20 minutes after the stat order was received. One hour later, the ICU nurse had not received the blood and noticed the oncoming shift had arrived. He gave the oncoming nurse report regarding the patient and even though both nurses were concerned that the blood had not arrived ...
While these are convincing reasons to report incidents, they may not be persuasive enough. For an individual to report an incident, the most important factor is safety—not the patient's, but his or her own. The people must feel safe from undeserved disciplinary action or retaliation. A study of hospital nursing units found that higher reporting rates were correlated with unit members' perception of the risk of discussing mistakes openly. ( 17) Where there was a climate of fear, willingness to report mistakes was reduced. Other factors that are known to influence reporting ( 18) are: 1 uselessness (perceived attitudes that management would take no notice and was not likely to do anything about the problem); 2 acceptance of risk (incidents are part of the job and cannot be prevented); and 3 practical reasons (too time consuming or difficult to submit a report).
Other factors that are known to influence reporting ( 18) are: uselessness (perceived attitudes that management would take no notice and was not likely to do anything about the problem); acceptance of risk (incidents are part of the job and cannot be prevented); and.
First, the child received an overdose of antibiotics. By not acknowledging the mistake, the health care team made no attempt to inform the parent of what happened so that potential effects could be mitigated. Second, and just as important, a learning opportunity was lost.
The emergency department (ED) physician ordered Rocephin (the brand name for the antibiotic ceftriaxone), 450 mg intramuscularly (IM), for empiric treatment of a urinary tract infection (UTI) to be given immediately.
Health care organizations can do the same. If the patient cannot be reached by the available contact information, try other means including online sources as warranted by the clinical importance of contacting the patient. Assess how reliably individual patients are likely to be contacted and customize your approach.
Whatever is done should be documented in the medical record for the usual reasons: to communicate to others what has been done and to provide written or electronic documentation in case the failure to contact becomes the subject of a lawsuit.
The ultrasound technician did not notice the abnormal test result or the fact that the chlamydia infection had not been treated. The following day, a different OB/GYN clinic nurse tried to call the patient with the ultrasound results, and again no one answered the phone.
However, the radiologist or cardiologist dictates a formal report and sends it to the doctor who ordered the test. That doctor is responsible for following up the results, and if there is additional treatment or a further study required, the doctor who ordered the test is responsible for informing you.
When the plaintiff then returned to pick up a copy of his X-ray at the office of the cardiologist, the cardiologist noticed the report for the first time, and he told the plaintiff then — for the first time — to get a CT scan.
Take, for instance, the following hypothetical ( based on an actual case): A patient with chest pain visits her doctor, a cardiologist, who orders a routine chest x-ray before a planned cardiac catheterization. Unfortunately, due to the “routine” nature of the chest x-ray the cardiologist does not follow-up to review the x-ray images or radiology report, which revealed that the plaintiff had a sizeable mass in one of his lungs.
The radiologist who interpreted the x-ray recommended that the plaintiff undergo a follow-up CT scan to obtain further information about the mass — specifically to determine whether it was cancerous. However, the report was simply filed away and the patient was never notified of the results.
If you have tests done in the ER or in your clinic, it’s important to be certain you always follow up on the test results. If you or a loved one has not received the critical results of a diagnostic test until long after the test was done, and you have a medical condition that has deteriorated as a result, you probably have some recourse under ...
According to medical research studies, patient test results are often reported improperly or not at all to physicians and medical professionals responsible for a patient’s care. When this occurs, a patient may suffer injuries or medical complications from an illness or disease.
Although medical testing is usually ordered by a patient’s attending physician, the actual test is typically administered by a medical technician in a laboratory, clinic, or hospital. When image tests are ordered, a trained radiologist or pathologist normally performs the test.
Patients who suffer injuries caused by medical procedures and treatments can file a medical malpractice lawsuit based on medical negligence. While some diagnostic and testing errors may be seen as reasonable, patients can suffer harm that stems from inadequate communication as the result of negligence on the part of medical providers.
If your doctor has failed to disclose the results of your medical exam, you may be entitled to legal relief. You should contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible while the events are still fresh in your recollection. An attorney can help specify your course of action if you have been injured as a result of your doctor’s errors.
A doctor might fail to disclose test results for several reasons. For one, they may simply forget to tell the patient about the test results. More often, test results can be lost or confused along the chain of communication in a hospital . Test results are often relayed between several different people, such as from a nurse to ...
These records and receipts may be useful in reminding yourself and others what tests have been performed on you and what test results you are currently entitled to receiving.
As the patient, you are entitled to know the results of your medical exams. All medical professionals are held to a high standard of medical care, and that standard of care includes informing the patient of the outcome of any medical test or examination, such as a colonoscopy or a mammogram, that is performed on them. Your doctor should also inform you of the purpose of the medical exam, and also of any dangers or side effects that might result from the exam.
Additionally , you may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit if your injury is particularly serious. You will have to prove in court that you received actual injuries as a result of the doctor’s failure to communicate test results. Also, you will need to prove that the failure to communicate test results is directly traceable to your doctor.
The same study also reported that one-third of physicians do not always notify patients of abnormal test results.
Research indicates that communication problems are a factor in up to 80 percent of medical malpractice cases. One study concluded that physicians did not acknowledge 36 percent of abnormal radiologic results. Another study found that 17-32 percent of physicians reported having no reliable method for ensuring that test results are received. ...
Among the leading causes of medical misdiagnosis is a failure to communicate diagnostic test results. Communication of a diagnosis is arguably as important as the diagnosis itself. Patients deserve to know the results of the medical tests they receive in a timely manner. Test results should also be communicated from the lab or testing facility to the medical providers responsible for the patient’s treatment.
For instance, if test results that reveal cancer are communicated too late and the patient has to then undergo intensive treatment because of the advanced stage of illness, the patient may be able to show that unnecessary harm was caused by the negligent delay in reporting the test results.
Medical testing can also be categorized as laboratory tests and imaging tests. The former includes testing of blood and other body fluids as well as tissue samples, while the latter includes tests such as X-ray, MRI, CT, and EKG.
Three scenarios, however, were identified as the leading causes of communication problems: Failure to notify the patient of the test result. Telling the patient an incorrect test result. Failure to notify the referring clinician.
Harm, however, must be suffered, as a patient who suffers no injury after a failed communication will probably have no basis for a lawsuit. Note, however, that harm can include the progression of an injury or condition.