The ideal doctor’s visit is when you go in with a minor complaint, the doctor looks you over, diagnoses what’s wrong, and prescribes an effective treatment. In and out; nobody gets hurt.
However, in most interactions with a doctor, there will be a need for follow-up. Even with an annual physical, there will be blood test results to review and discuss. What happens if there is a failure to follow up? That can lead to serious health complications.
It can also be grounds for a medical malpractice claim. That is when you have to involve a Columbia medical malpractice lawyer to help gather evidence to build a strong claim.
Defining the Failure to Follow Up in Medical Cases
You put a lot of trust into your doctor. Whether you’ve built up that trust over years of care or you’re meeting a new doctor for the first time, you are not the medical expert.
You’re relying on that doctor to bring all their years of education, training, and experience into helping you with your medical concerns. A failure to follow up can leave you with uncertainty or worse.
This concept applies to many different scenarios. Consider the following:
Ignoring or Missing Test Results
If your doctor fails to review, interpret, or relay critical lab or imaging results, it can lead to serious health problems. For example, what if they miss a tumor on an MRI scan, which allows the tumor to grow?
That is an extreme case of negligence.
Lack of Post-Operative Monitoring
Proper post-operative care is critical to a patient’s recovery. If a surgeon or hospital staff fail to monitor surgical sites for infections, it can lead to new complications. They also have to evaluate for any adverse side effects from medication and check if wounds are healing properly.
Failure to Schedule or Re-engage
When a patient has a chronic condition that has already been diagnosed, it is incumbent upon the doctor to follow up and ensure the patient schedules any necessary routine evaluations.
Failure to Refer
There are certain conditions that your general practitioner might not be able to help with. However, they should refer you to a specialist in a timely manner to further your diagnosis and treatment plan. Even a few weeks can make a huge difference in many cases.
Proving Liability for a Failure to Follow Up
When a failure to follow up leads to further health complications, it becomes a liability issue. If the harm is serious enough, you would be entitled to seek damages not only for the additional required medical care, but also for the pain and suffering you experienced as a result of neglect.
Before you can file that claim, Kentucky law dictates that you must obtain a Certificate of Merit. This is a sworn declaration from an independent medical expert that backs up your claim that your doctor’s failure to follow up caused you harm. The doctor who will be providing your certificate of merit will be reviewing the evidence you present to them.
In other words, they’re not going to do the hard work of the investigation. Instead, you and your attorney will need to gather the following information in support of your claim:
- Complete Medical Records: You can request your entire patient file, including all your lab reports, physician notes, and communication logs.
- Communication Timelines: You’ll need to collect your communication timelines, including phone records, appointment reminder texts, and patient portal messages, to highlight the lack of communication from your doctor’s office.
- Second Opinions: As a result of the failure to follow up, you might have been forced to seek a second opinion along with additional treatment. All of those evaluations from your new doctor can help support your claim.
Once your medical expert has reviewed your evidence, they can present their findings in a report that will serve as the foundation for your claim. Your attorney will not only help you gather the evidence, but they can also secure the services of the right expert.
How McCoy & Hiestand, PLC Protects Injured Patients
The moment you discover that a doctor’s failure to follow up has caused you harm, the clock starts ticking. From that date, you only have one year to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Before that, you need to gather your evidence, obtain your Certificate of Merit, and probably negotiate with the medical provider’s insurer.
That’s why you need to act as quickly as possible by calling McCoy & Hiestand, PLC.
We’re a team of dedicated attorneys who have helped many families pursue a claim against negligent doctors and hospitals. We have a deep understanding of how complicated these claims can be. We’re also prepared to knock down any possible defenses that might be argued against your claim.
If we accept a case, it’s because we believe the evidence demonstrates that harm was caused by a failure to follow up.
You’ve already been through a lot.
It’s time to get some answers and find out what should happen next. Reach out to our office today to set up a free case evaluation.
Time is running out.
