Is Inadequate Follow-Up Care Medical Malpractice?

When a patient dies or has sustained injury due to receiving negligent medical care, the physician, hospital, or other health care professionals may be liable under the medical malpractice laws of New York.  Under the medical malpractice laws, all health care professions are legally and ethically obligated to provide patients with safe and responsible treatment when caring for their patients.  The standards for medical care apply to all health care providers, including doctors, surgeons, nurses, midwives, dentists, psychiatrists, psychologists, chiropractors, podiatrists, hospitals, and nursing home, making them all subject to medical malpractice laws.  Inadequate follow-up care may also be considered medical malpractice.

Generally after a doctor has performed a surgery or administered new medication or other type of treatment to patients, they provide subsequent aftercare to determine whether the treatment has helped or hindered the patients care.  This is particularly important once a surgical procedure has been done, as follow-up care can be critical to ensuring that a patient has begun healing properly.  When there has been a failure to provide such care to patients, leaving them to their own devices, it can be dangerous for the patient’s health in the long run.

If after undergoing surgery or receiving medical treatment, patients have suffered health complications but are not provided with adequate follow-up care, they may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.  The circumstances surrounding each patient’s medical malpractice claim varies.  Each situation must be looked at on a case by case basis to determine if there is a valid claim.  Under the law, patients who have been injured because of a doctor’s breach of duty to provide a reasonable standard of care can seek compensation for damages they have injured because of the health care providers negligence.

If you or a loved one has been injured because a health care provider had not provided you with adequate follow-up care, contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible to evaluate your case.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.