Year: 2022

There are many reasons that doctors don't fully listen to their patients. They may work at a very busy medical practice or an understaffed emergency room where they only have a few minutes to spare for each patient. The patient may talk or look like someone they have worked with before who exaggerated their symptoms in an attempt to receive certain medications. Doctors frequently ignore or minimize self-reported symptoms from patients. They tend to prioritize medical issues that they can objectively affirm and quantify, as they may assume patients will exaggerate or outright lie to a medical...

Distracted driving is a significant issue that leads to serious car accidents every day. Much of the time, the distraction comes from a cellphone, but not always. People can also get distracted by passengers, for instance, or the GPS. This phenomenon is well-known in driving, but it’s important to remember that doctors can also get distracted. If you’re in a medical center, could this mean that you don’t get the type of care that you deserve? Are distracted doctors a public health threat? Some experts have gone so far as to say that it’s a public health threat to be as distracted by...

Most people know that medical malpractice can happen. They know that doctors make mistakes, for instance, and that patients may pass away from these mistakes or have life-altering injuries. People also know that errors can be made at many levels of care. For example, a nurse could give someone improper medication or a surgeon could operate on the wrong site. But many people think of these events as very rare occurrences. The vast majority of the time that you go to the hospital, no negative events are going to occur, they believe. And while this may be true in a percentage sense – in that...

All of us need medical intervention at some point in our lives. Sometimes, this is very minor but it can also be for serious and even life-threatening conditions. As the stakes are so high, it is important that doctors and other medical staff are well-trained and act with the utmost professionalism.  Part of these wider responsibilities includes communicating with each other about patients, treatments and other pertinent information. If communication breaks down, then the quality of treatment offered to patients can dramatically increase.  Outlined below are some of the more specific reasons...