Personal Injury Law

Do Doctors Scare Patients On Purpose, and Is It Legal?

By mbrickley

Have you ever had a doctor tell you that the potential outcome of whatever illness you’re suffering from is far worse than you expected or than it should be?

Take, for example, a friend of mine who recently dropped a cardboard box on her foot, got a paper cut from it, and found herself in the hospital the next day.

The cut got infected and swelled badly - causing the emergency room doctor to put my friend on antibiotics. The doctor also said that if the swelling didn’t go down and the infection didn’t subside, amputation might be necessary.

You can imagine my friend’s reaction - “Amputation from a paper cut?! You have to be kidding!” - and the doctor admitted that an outcome like that was incredibly unlikely. Okay, so then why did she even say it, and is she allowed to give drastic prognoses like that?

Legally, yes. There’s no way to know if the doctor truly believed that amputation would be necessary, but if the infection did get bad enough (it didn’t), amputation may have been a valid solution. That doesn’t make it right to say so, though.

Whether doctors scare patients on purpose remains to be seen - the situation and doctor in question vary, of course. But these scare tactics are not considered medical malpractice.

Sometimes doctors say things that scare patients without even realizing it - it’s like when you think out loud and other people hear you. You think it, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you believe it. If this happens to you, say something to your doctor - ask them to clarify, and ask them why they said what they said.

If some kind of injury happens to you because of a procedure, shot, surgery or technique a doctor uses on you, don’t hesitate to get in touch with a personal injury lawyer and ask questions about medical malpractice.

Words aren’t enough to press any charges against a medical professional, but as in anything, actions speak louder than words. If you think you’re a victim of medical malpractice, ask a local personal injury lawyer.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on June 02, 2009 (boomark / email).