Medical negligence

Common examples of complaints about medical practitioners

Here are some examples of common complaints about medical practitioners:-

• Failure to attend or treat a patient speedily;
• Failure to refer a patient to another doctor who is a specialist in the relevant disease or injury;
• Delayed referral to specialists;
• Wrongful diagnosis;
• Delayed diagnosis;
• Failure to explain a medical treatment and warn the patient adequately of the risks involved in the treatment;
• Failure to advise the patient of the various options for medical treatment;
• Failure to arrange a follow-up session or further tests for the patient;
• Failure to obtain proper consent to treatment from the patient;
• Careless surgical procedures;
• Use of unsterilised instruments;
• Failure to remove a surgical instrument from the patient’s body following an operation;
• Medication errors;
• Misinterpreted X-rays, screening, and other testing;
• Liability for hospital-acquired infections;
• Administering an inoculation despite contra-indications.

It is important to bear in mind that the unsatisfactory outcome of a medical treatment in itself is insufficient to support a contention that the medical practitioners treating you had been negligent.  You cannot sue your doctor for medical negligence simply because your illness has not been cured after a series of treatments.