Medical malpractice in the age of COVID-19 has grown, and more patients are seeking compensation for their doctor’s failure to mitigate exposure.
What is Clinical Negligence
Clinical negligence of any sort is the failure to take reasonable care to avoid causing injury to another person.
Too many healthcare administrators are not doing enough to protect their patients, and scientists do not have a cure for the virus.
What You Need to Know
These failures are increasing lawsuits and financial losses for the liable hospitals and medical practices.
Failing to Clean the Practice or Facility
New health protocols require healthcare workers to clean the practice and the facility more thoroughly and several times each day. The new practices are about eliminating COVID-19 from the facility and reducing the risk of exposure for the patients. A failure to keep the facility or practice cleaned appropriately leaves the practice or facility owner at a risk of a lawsuit.
With more protocols in place, patients are more aware of where they go every day. This makes it easier for them to pinpoint the source of exposure, and this helps them eliminate other places where they could’ve contracted the virus. Patients can find out more about these personal injury clinical negligence claims by contacting an Abogado de accidentes now.
Wearing Masks and PPE
All healthcare workers are required to wear face masks and other PPE when they are around patients. A failure to wear the PPE appropriately may expose the patient or themselves to the virus.
Medical practices and hospitals must enforce the proper protocol throughout each shift and prevent exposure. All it takes is one worker to come in contact with a patient without a mask, and the facility and the worker face liabilities if a patient develops COVID-19.
Using Telehealth Services
Telehealth services eliminate all potential for exposure to the virus. More doctors and hospitals are moving toward telehealth services because patients get a doctor’s visit without coming into contact with other patients, and it lowers the potential for patients and the staff from getting the virus. Doctors can complete medical examinations and set up appointments for labs and further testing.
Requiring Symptomatic Patients To Get Tested
Medical facilities have taken steps to protect in-office patients by requiring any patient that is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to get tested. Many cities throughout the country are providing free and low-cost COVID-19 testing opportunities. Before the patient can enter the practice, they must present negative test results.
Pinpointing Exposure to the Virus
When starting a legal claim, the patient must pinpoint exactly where they were exposed to the virus. Since so many places are locking down and require less travel around the areas, it is a little easier for people to determine where they have been.
What is Clinical Negligence Law?
If their travels within the last two weeks are limited to their home and the doctor’s office, it is possible to pinpoint the doctor’s office as the culprit for exposure to the virus.
If the staff has tested positive for the virus, the patient has a chance to pinpoint a worker who could’ve exposed the patient to the virus.
A medical malpractice can end a doctor’s career, however, during the current pandemic doctors must do everything they can to protect their patients. A failure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 introduces more severe liabilities for the doctor.