It can appear that there is no way to avoid medical negligence lawsuits. It seems like the odds are against you. You can reduce your risk by following these steps:

Practice Good Medicine

It’s not something that any medical professional wants to experience, but malpractice suits can occur when you do not practice good medicine. Good medicine is defined by treating each patient as though they were a family member or close friend.

Do more than you have to and treat your patients like real people. It is not a proven method to avoid a malpractice lawsuit. However, providing a higher standard of care could prevent errors and, consequently, lawsuits and poor patient outcomes.

View Test Results

People often assume that bad news is better than no news. It’s true that this is sometimes the case, but not always. In the United States, doctors fail to report abnormal results of tests 7% of the times. This is one test in 14!

Doctors may be sued for medical malpractice if the test results are crucial to someone’s health. This could be avoided by implementing more robust protocols for measuring test results. If physicians are responsible for the test results after they return from a laboratory, fewer patients may not be informed about their health outcomes.

Never Assume Anything

You can make assumptions about your own experience as a health professional. Assumptions can get doctors into trouble. In a National Library of Medicine publication, it is stressed that postoperative fevers are rarely viral. Postoperative fevers are often attributed to viruses, when in reality they are caused by sepsis or abscesses. When you’re not 100% certain of the patient’s condition, run tests and get a second opinion. Then you can be sure that your diagnosis is accurate.

Don’t give up

It can be difficult to work as a healthcare professional. You might put all your hope in a certain therapy only to have your patient not respond. Personal injury lawyers are often hired by patients who feel that their healthcare provider didn’t do enough to diagnose and treat their illness.

Think outside the box if you are having trouble finding a solution to your problems. Consult with specialists, order testing, and explore other options. Another professional might miss something you do.

Consider Worst-Case Scenarios

We would like to believe that our patients will not receive the worst possible diagnosis. Even the simplest symptoms can sometimes be more serious than we expect. You can avoid misdiagnosis by always thinking about the worst-case scenario.

It is not possible to prevent a lawsuit for medical malpractice. Healthcare professionals might be better off prioritizing the above actions.