Communication mistakes often lead to medical malpractice

Medical malpractices cases in Connecticut can often be so frustrating for those who are injured because the whole thing feels so preventable. If you’ve been suffering due to something like this, you know exactly how this feels. Recent studies have backed this up, showing that one of the main reasons for medical malpractice is simply poor communication at one level or another.

So, how exactly did this manifest itself? The studies, in which patients were polled about their experiences, showed a variety of different issues, including the following:

— Physicians who simply refused to listen to the patients. — Physicians who did not talk openly. — Physicians who actually tried to mislead patients. — Physicians who did not tell patients about issues or did not warn them; this particularly showed up with newborn children and long-term neurodevelopmental problems. — Physicians who deserted their patients. — Physicians who were hard to get a hold of or who were usually unavailable. — Physicians who devalued the patients’ views or the views of the family. — Physicians who did a poor job delivering information. — Physicians who did not understand, willfully or otherwise, the patient’s perspective.

Communication between a physician and a patient is crucial if the correct diagnosis is to be made and the correct treatment is to be given. Doctors, however, often fall short on their obligation, perhaps assuming that they can use their own knowledge and experience to do things correctly, without the help of the patient.

If this has happened to you, you should know exactly what legal options you have open to you.

Source: NCBI, “Communication gaffes: a root cause of malpractice claims,” Beth Huntington and Nettie Kuhn, accessed June 12, 2015