“Disclosure of medical errors and adverse outcomes is expected by regulatory agencies and society as a whole.” This is a quotation from an article I recently read in a peer-reviewed medical journal. Peer-reviewed journals are the gold standard for medical journals and are the most reliable and authoritative publications in the field. Despite what the authors wrote and despite the expectations of regulatory agencies and the public, medical errors and adverse outcomes are hidden far more often than they are disclosed.
Unless they are caught red-handed with an undeniable mistake, doctors will rarely admit to their patients that something went wrong and that the patient was injured as a result. Even when caught red-handed, many doctors will still deny that mistakes were made. Injuries caused by medical errors are most often passed off as bad outcomes, which can happen even if the entire medical team does everything right. It ends up being the responsibility of the patient to figure out on his or her own that they were probably injured by someone’s mistake.
Not only is the patient left to figure out on her own what happened to her, she is also left to bear the consequences. Those consequences may be very minor or they may be extra weeks in the hospital, or extra surgeries, or a whole range of other expensive and life-changing events. Spending an extra week in the hospital while getting treatment for the adverse consequences of an undisclosed medical error is going to generate some big additional bills, which by all rights out to be paid by the health care providers who made them necessary. They should not be the responsibility of the innocent patient.
Hospitals and medical boards both profess to want transparency and disclosure. While I have my doubts as to their sincerity on this point, one thing is absolutely clear: when transparency and disclosure occur, they are usually met with adverse consequences. Hospitals and medical boards tend to investigate, and maybe even discipline doctors and nurses who transparently disclose mistakes that caused a patient to be injured. Doctors and nurses who transparently disclose mistakes that caused a patient to be injured often end up being sued by the patient as a result. Doctors and nurses who transparently disclose mistakes that caused a patient to be injured may find themselves paying higher insurance premiums and may even find themselves out of a job. In some admittedly rare situations, doctors and nurses who transparently disclose mistakes that caused a patient to be injured may find themselves being criminally prosecuted. With all these negative consequences flowing from transparency and disclosure, is it any wonder most medical professionals choose to keep their mouths shut about mistakes?
Patients are very poorly equipped to figure out that they have been the victims of a medical mistake. This is all foreign territory to them with medical terms and conditions about which they almost certainly have little or no knowledge. Everyone around them is part of the conspiracy of silence. They are damaged and they are vulnerable. Patients need someone to help them with this mess they find themselves in. This is where an experienced medical malpractice attorney can help. She or he is experienced in reviewing medical records and spotting the hidden problems that the medical providers would like to keep secret.
I hope you never find yourself with a significant, unexpected consequence as the result of medical treatment. But, if you do, consider asking someone who deals with these problems regularly to take a look at your records and see if there is anything there. You may end up getting the transparency and disclosure the medical profession claims to care so much about.
The post Transparency and Disclosure – Not Going To Happen first appeared on Sandweg & Ager PC.