A medical malpractice lawyer has offered three tips to help people get the best care possible the next time they go to a hospital.
Tom Bosworth’s video posted five days ago has since earned more than 31,000 views and dozens of comments from health professionals who endorsed his advice.
They are: never go to the hospital without a witness, always know who the attending physician is and make sure doctors communicate their plan of care.
Bringing a friend or relative to the hospital means having a witness if things go sideways – they are misdiagnosed, given the wrong medicine, etc – and the person who tags along can bolster the patient’s case for medical malpractice or simply better communication with doctors and nurses.
‘It’s always good to have someone there,’ he said.
Knowing the doctor in charge – the attending physician – is also crucial to ensuring you get the best possible care.
Often, patients are treated by resident physicians who are medical doctors but are still in training and not yet certified to practice medicine unsupervised.
He added that doctors and nurses should be forthright about what their diagnosis is, the kinds of interventions doctors will take, whether it’s a course of antibiotics or blood tests, and if they are not, patients should speak up and demand answers.
‘So you need to be your own advocate and figure that out,’ he said.
Tom Bosworth’s advice is to never go to the hospital without an advocate, always know who the attending physician is, and make sure doctors communicate their plan of care
Medical errors, such as incorrect diagnostics or medication dosing, kill an estimated 200,000 Americans or more every year, and harm around 400,000 people annually.
They also lead to thousands of medical malpractice claims filed every year.
He said: ‘I know that you don’t always have that power but if you can bring someone with you because you need a witness in case something happens and the doctors deny what you say happened.’
It’s possible that a witness would need to testify in a case or be deposed, and it lends validity to the patient’s testimony.
A common problem, according to nurses as well as patients, is that doctors often don’t communicate effectively with patients, particularly when it comes to discussing what kind of treatment course they plan to take.
Withholding a treatment plan can also erode trust between the patient, their advocate, and the doctor.
This can be highly distressing for patients and their advocates. Without knowing the course of treatment in full, patients can’t give informed consent, an ethical bedrock of medicine.
Mr Bosworth, who specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury, practices in Philadelphia.
His video has garnered almost a hundred comments, with one saying: ‘That just happened to me at the emergency room.
‘I passed out because I was dehydrated and the nurse wrote in my notes that I had my head in the toilet. My sister-in-law was with me thank goodness.’
Mr Bosworth, who specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury, practices in Philadelphia
Medical errors, such as incorrect diagnostics or medication dosing, kill an estimated 200,000 Americans or more every year
Another commenter said: ‘They almost double dosed me with strong pain meds 1.5 hours apart. Fortunately, I caught it. My tip: text time & dose of all meds so someone else knows also.’
And a third said: ‘As a former ER nurse, former med mal defense lawyer, and current med mal plaintiffs lawyer, I agree with this advice.’
While residents may not be fully qualified yet, there are some advantages to being treated by one.
Having two medical experts to weigh in, including one fully trained and can correct diagnostics and treatment plans when needed, can help when dealing with a particularly tough case.