It should not be unreasonable to expect your physician to know what they are doing when it comes to your healthcare. Particularly if you like your personal care physician and have a good rapport with them, it can be difficult for you to fathom that your doctor could ever hurt you or accidentally prescribe the wrong medication or treatment. Even so, medical malpractice continues to be a big problem in the healthcare industry.
You can protect yourself from being hurt by your healthcare provider by knowing what steps to take to prevent it and advocating for yourself during and after treatment.
Be Proactive About Your Health
It can be very tempting to pass the responsibility of your health to your doctor. However, trusting your doctor fully with your healthcare should not be one of your approaches to staying well. While your doctor can recommend certain medical procedures or medications, you are your first advocate, and you alone should bear the brunt of responsibility in keeping yourself well.
Before you allow a doctor to give a medication to you or start a procedure, you should know full well what your treatment will entail and be aware of how it will affect your health. If you know your conditions and understand what medications and treatments to which your health responds best, this proactive stance will make it easier for you to negotiate with and assist your physician in keeping you healthy.
Speak Up If You Are Apprehensive
Even if you agreed to a treatment or medication, you always have the right, if not the obligation, to say no and refuse to go any further with your doctor’s plans. Your doctor may be approaching your health from a purely academic standpoint. They cannot physically experience your symptoms and reactions.
If your medication makes you sick, if your treatment hurts, or if you are suffering from extreme mental anxiety about your medical care, you must speak up for yourself and say that you will not go any further with the treatment. Not saying anything could lead to your being hurt or permanently disabled, if not killed, by your doctor’s medical negligence. As noted by a group of Syracuse New York medical malpractice attorneys, “Medical malpractice is a form of professional negligence that leads to more than 255,000 patient deaths every year, according to the National Institute of Health.”
Take Action After Medical Malpractice
It is probable that you will feel anxious, fearful, depressed, and saddened after becoming the victim of medical malpractice. However, you must resist the urge to give into these feelings of despair. If you want to prevent anything like this from happening to you or another patient again, you must hire a medical malpractice attorney and begin to build a case that will hold your doctor accountable.
You may find it very easy to trust your doctor entirely. However, you should be aware that every physician has it in them to make mistakes. Medical malpractice continues to plague the medical industry. You can prevent becoming a victim by knowing what to do before, during, and after your botched treatment.
Nadine Swayne offers this information to help those looking down the stethoscope of a healthcare procedure. Bottar Leone, PLLC, a firm of Syracuse New York medical malpractice attorneys, have represented thousands of patients over three decades, fighting vigorously to protect their rights and get the deserved compensation to their clients.
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