When a person in New York, Pennsylvania and across the nation sees a doctor, they do so under the expectation that they will be heard, listened to, and to have their potential health problem treated with the seriousness it deserves. Unfortunately, some medical professionals dismiss the patient’s statements. This is an understated factor in people facing a negative outcome because of a medical mistake.
Often, people equate a medical misstep with a misdiagnosis, surgical error, medication mistake, and other common issues. When a person has been injured, become ill, had unexpected conditions, or outright lost a loved one and a doctor error is believed to have caused it, it is essential to know how to hold them accountable.
Report finds that doctors ignoring or dismissing concerns is a growing concern
According to a report from ECRI, patients expressed concern over doctors ignoring their complaints. This makes it more likely that they will be misdiagnosed, their conditions will get worse, or treatable health issues will be missed.
Surprisingly, medical professionals simply not listening to patients was more worrisome than commonly cited problems like questionable results from artificial intelligence and misinformation. A survey conducted in 2023 found that an overwhelming percentage of participants – 94% – believed doctors were not taking their complaints seriously.
This was called “medical gaslighting.” An example of what doctors might do is to reduce the importance of what patients are saying. Or they could interrupt the patient while they are speaking, behave condescendingly, or hold the patient responsible for what ails them.
According to the participants, 58% said their symptoms got worse after having their statements dismissed by a doctor. Twenty-eight percent asserted that they suffered from a health emergency in the aftermath of the doctor’s behavior.
If doctors are acting like this, it puts patients in jeopardy because their medical problem is not being adequately addressed, if it is being addressed at all. Although researchers do not overtly say doctors are trying to manipulate their patients, the workload and pressures that accompany the job are believed to factor in with believing they know how to treat a patient without delving deeply into what the patient is saying.
People victimized by a medical mistake should know how to proceed
When people seek help from a doctor or a hospital, they expect to get an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Mistakes can happen for many reasons. It is vital to investigate how they occurred while gathering evidence. Since people can suffer illness, injuries and death, it is critical to recognize medical malpractice and to have advice with what steps to take.