In the UK, All Med Pro suggests that doctors can be expected to face a malpractice claim around once every 10 years. While less than 1% of these claims reach the legal stage, the potential damage to a doctor’s reputation and the financial implications can be significant.
Therefore, it is crucial for doctors to always be proactive in reducing the likelihood of such claims.
Despite doctors being primarily patient-focused, mistakes such as misdiagnosis or surgical errors can occur, and things can go wrong, such as a patient developing complications post-surgery. This is true whether working in the private medical field or for the NHS.
Thankfully, there are steps doctors can take to protect themselves against claims of this nature.
Clear Communication
Clear communication is not just a tool, but a source of empowerment for all doctors. It is the key to avoiding confusion and errors. In many cases, claims of malpractice are due to miscommunication, not actual mistakes. Patients are far less likely to sue if they feel heard and if you are empathetic to their situation.
Talking in plain, easy-to-understand language, encouraging patients to ask questions, explaining diagnoses, tests, procedures, and treatment options, and getting genuinely informed consent are great foundations for working from and help you build a great rapport with your patients.
Meticulous Record Keeping
Meticulous record keeping is vital to help prevent misunderstandings, prove nothing was missed or overlooked, and support the continuation of care.
Good record keeping looks like
- Dates and details of consultations
- Information discussed with the patient
- Clinical decisions made and why
- Consent forms, test results, and follow-up plans.
Stay Within Your Limits
If you start practising medicine outside of your professional limits, things are more likely to go wrong for you. The safest course of action is to refer anything outside of your skill set to another specialist care team for them to provide care and treatment.
This point is accompanied by the need for you, as a physician, to stay current with relevant training and upskilling and be informed about any new changes or breakthroughs in this field as a whole and in your speciality.
Malpractice Insurance
Even with the best intentions in the world, mistakes can and do happen. This is where medical malpractice insurance comes into play. It is essential for healthcare professionals in many countries across the world, and it can be a saving grace should you find yourself in this situation. Malpractice insurance covers costs, payouts, and potential damages in the event of a claim being made against you.
More than just a financial safety net, malpractice insurance provides a sense of security. It reassures you that if anything does go wrong, you are protected, enabling you to focus on treating your patients without the worry of being sued hanging over you.
Defensive Medicine
Practising defensive medicine is often seen as a great way to avoid missing anything, but there’s a fine line between enough tests and too many. You want to remain appropriately cautious—of course, with time and experience, this becomes easier to do. You also want to listen to the patient and address their concerns as much as possible to get the answers you and they need from the tests.
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