If a healthcare provider failed to conduct a proper medical history review, you may have experienced an adverse patient outcome. You might feel overwhelmed and unsure about what to do next. Medical mistakes, such as an inadequate medical history review, can change your life. You deserve answers and justice.
An experienced malpractice lawyer from Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg & Jeck, P.C., can closely analyze what happened during your medical treatment and explain your legal options. Our team has experience in trying complex medical cases in court and fighting for people who have suffered life-altering injuries. We know how to comb through medical records, question providers under oath, and present clear evidence to a jury.
If you think a medical history review error contributed to your injury or a loved one’s death, contact our law firm today for a free consultation. We can explain your rights and advise you on the next steps.
What Is Considered an Inadequate Medical History Review?
An inadequate medical history review happens when a doctor or other medical provider does not take enough time to look at a patient’s full medical background before providing care. It can lead to missing critical information like drug allergies, current medications, past surgeries, or chronic health conditions. Patients can suffer serious harm when a provider overlooks details in a medical history review.
For example, if a medical provider gives a patient a drug without checking for allergies, the patient could suffer a dangerous reaction. Similarly, if a doctor ignores a patient’s history of heart disease, they might order the wrong test or treatment. A rushed review can also lead to a missed or incorrect diagnosis.
Common review oversights include failing to consider a patient’s family health history, current medications, or records from other providers. Sometimes, medical providers rely only on what the patient says instead of confirming details in medical charts. Every detail in a patient’s medical history can affect their care plan, so an insufficient review can have a significant impact on patient safety.
How a Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help
If a doctor, hospital, or other medical provider failed to review critical parts of your medical history and caused you serious harm, you could have a strong medical malpractice case for compensation. Our experienced attorneys can help you build a solid lawsuit and push your case forward in court by:
- Gathering and reviewing your complete medical records
- Interviewing you to document all your symptoms and changes in your condition
- Speaking with your treating doctors to understand how the harm occurred
- Consulting with qualified medical experts to review the provider’s actions
- Filing a lawsuit in the proper court within the legal deadline
- Taking depositions of the medical providers and other key witnesses
- Requesting internal hospital records to uncover missing information
- Building a clear timeline of your care and the provider’s decisions
- Showing how the provider missed critical parts of your medical history
- Arguing in court that the provider’s failure caused your injuries
- Challenging the defense’s expert witnesses through cross-examination
- Preparing you to testify and explain your experience to a jury, if necessary
Consequences of Failing to Review a Patient’s Medical History
Medical histories help doctors understand the risks patients might face and how past health issues could affect new ones. Without background information, providers in the healthcare industry can make choices that affect patient safety and cause adverse events.
Below are some examples of what can happen when a provider fails to review a patient’s information:
- Doctors might make medication errors by dispensing medications to which patients are allergic, which can cause harmful reactions.
- Without knowing a patient’s full history, doctors could fail to accurately diagnose severe conditions.
- Providers might perform procedures without knowing past surgeries that affect the approach.
- Patients might receive treatments that clash with current medications or conditions.
- Doctors could administer drugs that affect clotting without checking for blood disorders.
- Providers might overlook urgent symptoms because they lack context from a patient’s chart.
- The patient’s ongoing condition could worsen without proper follow-up or planning.
- Doctors might skip tests or order the wrong ones due to gaps in the patient’s background information.
- Providers might recommend surgery or invasive tests the patient has already had, risking further harm.
- If a provider does not check other doctors’ notes, treatment plans could conflict.
Who May Be Liable for Medical History Errors?
More than one party could be responsible for a medical history error. In most cases, the doctor who treated the patient is ultimately responsible for the medical history review. If the doctor failed to ask key questions, ignored chart notes, or skipped checking records, that error could form the basis of a malpractice claim.
Nurses, physician assistants, and other medical professionals might also share fault if they played a role in collecting or recording the patient’s history or documenting patient information. Sometimes, healthcare providers take down the first versions of a patient’s history and pass them along to doctors through the patient’s chart or electronic medical records, for example. If they make mistakes and fail to include accurate documentation, it could lead to improper care decisions and medical errors.
Hospitals, medical practices, and clinics could also face liability. For example, a practice might have poor systems for tracking or updating electronic health records. If staff members cannot access the right information when they need it, the practice could be responsible for any harm that results. Inadequate training and record-keeping could also lead to a healthcare facility’s liability for such errors.
In many cases, multiple parties share responsibility for the legal consequences of an inadequate record review. Our lawyers are ready to examine each step in the care process to determine who could be liable in your situation.
Legal Options for Victims and Families After Harm Due to an Inadequate Medical History Review
If a medical history error caused you harm, you could have grounds to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Insufficient medical history review cases require strong medical evidence and testimony from expert witnesses. Our knowledgeable malpractice attorneys can review your records and investigate your medical history to build a case that shows how the error led to your injuries.
When filing a medical malpractice claim, injured patients may ask for compensation to cover the costs of medical treatment, lost income, and other related losses. If your loved one died as a result of an inadequate medical history review, you could have the right to bring a wrongful death lawsuit.
Most medical malpractice claims start with a full investigation into the patient’s care. Our experienced lawyers are ready to conduct a thorough investigation, identify criticall evidence, and work with medical experts to analyze it. We can also file your case in court and represent you at trial. If your case succeeds, a jury could award compensation based on the severity of the injury and how the error affected the patient.
Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney Now
If you or someone you love suffered severe harm because a medical provider neglected to consider key parts of your medical history, you could have a valid claim for compensation. The lawyers at Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg, & Jeck, P.C., are ready to review what happened and explain your legal options.
Contact us today to arrange your free consultation with a lawyer who can answer your questions and help you move forward.
BUSINESS INFORMATION
Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg, & Jeck, P.C.
1634 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA, 19103
Phone: (215) 585-2814
Email: info@erlegal.com
