Malpractice cases are pretty common in almost every profession, but medical malpractice cases have exponentially increased over time. It is recorded that such cases impact nearly 50 percent of healthcare physicians.
The most common reasons are sexual misconduct, injury due to negligence, and below-par behaviors. If you are already going through such suits, there are great Miami medical malpractice lawyers who can help you out.
If you are a doctor or just an administrator running some medical business, we have compiled for you all the ways by which these malpractice suits can be avoided.
Contents
Develop a healthy patient-doctor relationship
No matter how well educated, well trained, and well-qualified doctor you are, you are always at the risk of being sued if you do not know the nuances of common courtesy. Being courteous and empathetic is not only in the patient’s interest but also in the doctor’s interest as well unless he wants the risk of being sued.
It is incredibly tiring and time-consuming to deal with lawyers, therefore spend that time instead in building a healthy relationship with your patient and bid farewell to such suits.
It is also important to remember that yes, you are required to be courteous but do not shy away from being transparent with patients. Give them honest feedback to their questions and keep them in the loop about their medical condition.
Develop strong documentation
It is vital to develop a strong patient-doctor relationship, but it is equally essential to have robust administrative documentation. Hospital administration must ensure that doctors and other medical staff followed the documentation framework religiously and put it into practice.
For example, in the case of a life-threatening situation, it is standard procedure to make the patients sign consent form. The doctors cannot take only a verbal affirmation no matter how strong they have a relationship with their patients. By putting it in writing, hospitals mostly forego any liability in case of fatal incidents as they have already informed the patients of risks at hand.
Develop a good sense of acceptance
As a doctor, you are going to meet a lot of people who belong to different racial and ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, do not buy into stereotypes and see all of your patients as equal human beings and forego the embedded racial prejudice.
Many malpractice suits revolve around racist remarks being voiced by the doctors. Even if patients do not complain about such comments immediately, they are going to start seeing you as a biased person and will never want to develop any relationship with you.
Develop systems at par with the standards
This suggestion addresses both doctors and administrators because firstly, administrators must make sure that they have developed a system at par with the standards.
Hospitals administrations must ensure that they are up to date with the current policies because they change from state to state regularly, and being oblivious to these changes can cost a lawsuit.
As far as the doctors are concerned, they must make sure that their practices are in line with the current standards. Even in the face of policy and administrative issues within the hospitals like under staffing and lack of facilities, doctors must hold their own and decently do their jobs.
Develop an urge to ask for help
As a doctor, you must know your limitations and your area of expertise because the medical sciences are so vast that you cannot expect to be an expert in every area.
Therefore, if you come across a patient who is showing symptoms that imply a different area of medical science, consult an expert. Otherwise, you may end up crafting a lawsuit for yourself in the pursuit of treating every patient yourself.
