Studies have found that doctors definitely have a tendency to interrupt their patients. The patient may come to the office for a consultation or a check up. On average, the doctor is going to interrupt after about 11 seconds. Some do allow patients to talk for longer, of course, but this means that there are also doctors who only give their patients a few seconds.
This can lead to medical malpractice cases. The doctor may have been negligent in not giving the patient the proper attention or gathering all of the evidence they need to make an accurate diagnosis. So why is it that doctors do this? Why do only a third of all doctors actually give their patients the time they need to explain their situation?
Some reasons are positive
First and foremost, not all interruptions are negative. For instance, a patient may mention that they’ve been dealing with chronic pain, and the doctor may quickly interrupt to ask when it started. This is very relevant information as they try to make a diagnosis. That doctor may then let the patient return to their story, and there’s no issues with negligence or malpractice.
But in other cases, the doctor may just be in a hurry. Doctors tend to have very packed schedules with numerous appointments. If a doctor isn’t thinking about the patient but is just trying to rush through one appointment after the next, then that could be an example of negligence. It’s not the standard of care that the patient expected.
Do you feel like your health has been negatively impacted through malpractice? Be sure you know exactly what legal options you have.