When something is medically wrong and compromising your health, you seek out experts who can provide healing solutions. You want to trust that your doctors, nurses, specialists, and other medical team members will prioritize your health by designing the right treatment plan for your condition.
While many patients receive restorative care from their medical professionals, others experience substandard treatment and suffer from the consequences of medical malpractice.
To ensure you are not a victim of medical malpractice now or in the future, take note of these signs of medical malpractice whenever you seek help for any condition:
1. Your Treatment Seems Defective
When you seek medical help for your symptoms, you want your doctor to diagnose the issue accurately and provide healing care. In some cases, successful treatment will not show results immediately and can take time to begin working. However, if you have been undergoing treatment for a particular condition with no positive change to your health, you may be on a defective treatment plan.
Sometimes treatment requires trial and error until your doctor lands on a working solution. Still, if you experience no change or worsening symptoms on a treatment plan from your doctor, this could indicate medical malpractice.
2. Your Treatment Does Not Seem to Align with Your Condition
Bodies are incredibly complex. A medical ailment can cause you to experience symptoms that may look like a completely different issue. For example, you can experience abdominal pain and nausea from food poisoning, but an upset stomach is also a primary symptom of a peptic ulcer. It takes skilled expertise and detailed diagnostics to discover the root cause of your issues and create a successful treatment plan.
While diagnosis and treatment can be tricky, especially when symptoms could indicate a few causes, it is possible for your doctor to create a treatment plan that seems entirely out of line with what you are experiencing. If your doctor orders surgery for a nonsurgical issue, or if your doctor is not treating a severe condition aggressively enough, you may be a victim of medical malpractice.
3. Your Doctor Is Not Taking Proper Action
As mentioned, landing on the right diagnosis can be difficult, especially for severe or complex conditions. Your doctor should evaluate diagnostic results after advanced testing to determine any and all underlying issues.
If you suffer from a severe medical complication, but your doctor only orders basic lab tests, or if your doctor diagnoses you with a severe condition following basic testing, you could be experiencing medical malpractice.
4. Your Doctor Did Not Follow Up with You
If your doctor places you on a treatment plan for a condition, they will likely schedule a follow-up to observe your progress. It is essential to track treatment to see if your health is improving or if adjustments should be made to achieve better health.
Your doctor’s failure to follow up with you to observe treatment results could be a sign of medical malpractice.
The expert attorneys at Clark, Smith & Sizemore understand Georgia’s medical malpractice laws and will fight for injured patients! Call us today for a free consultation: 478-254-5040
Stay tuned for our six-part series on medical malpractice:
- Georgia’s Medical Malpractice Laws, Explained
- Stay Alert When It Comes to These 6 Types of Medical Malpractice
- 4 Signs of Medical Malpractice That Could Affect You or Your Loved Ones
- 5 Benefits of Hiring a Medical Malpractice Lawyer
- Understanding Medical Malpractice vs. Negligence
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice?