The case of a doctor who has been gaming the system of payments for medical care has been in the headlines in the last few days. That doctor, a prominent cancer doctor, has been giving healthy patients chemotherapy. Those patients didn't need chemotherapy because they didn't have cancer. That doctor, Dr. Farid Fata, will be facing the sentencing phase of his trial during which he find out how long he will spend behind bars. He faces a total of up to 195 years for all the charges he was convicted on. While this case didn't happen in Pennsylvania, it does bring up a harrowing situation in which doctors put money before patients.
Misdiagnosis and erroneous treatments are medical malpractice issues
When a patient goes to the doctor with a medical issue, the patient has the expectation that an accurate diagnosis will be made. When the doctor's diagnosis isn't the correct diagnosis, the patient can suffer harm because of the incorrect treatment and because of a medical conditions that is allowed to run free in the patient. In the case of the cancer doctor, one patient who underwent chemotherapy and didn't need it reported that he only had one tooth left because of the devastating effects of the harsh medications. That is a small sampling of what can happen when patients undergo erroneous treatments.
Doctors can face criminal charges and civil complaints for malpractice
For the patients who suffered harm under the care of Dr. Fata likely find little relief in knowing that the doctor is facing those harsh criminal penalties. Those patients, as well as any patient who is subjected to erroneous treatments, might choose to seek compensation through a medical malpractice lawsuit. Filing a lawsuit is only one step in the process for seeking compensation. Generally, patients will have to show that the doctor made a diagnosis that a prudent doctor in the same situation wouldn't have made. This is usually done by using the medical technique know as differential diagnosis to show that another doctor wouldn't have made the same diagnosis for that exact case.
Building a medical malpractice case takes experience
Proving that a doctor prescribed erroneous treatments or made an incorrect diagnosis can often be complex. Medical malpractice attorneys (such as those from McLaughlin & Lauricella, P.C.) work closely with medical experts to determine what diagnosis should have been made in a case. The best medical malpractice attorneys know how to pull the medical information from the case into the legal case to show the complainant's side of why compensation should be awarded. When the case comes together and compensation is awarded, patients might be able to afford the aids they need to live life while coping with the effects of the erroneous treatment or incorrect diagnosis.
Share
