In the last several years, tele-medicine has become increasingly popular. Tele-medicine can provide convenient and efficient communication with health care providers, as well as saving money.
It is used in a wide variety of practices as a way to obtain convenient medical care without the hassle or trying to schedule a doctor’s appointment or spend hour in a waiting room to receive care. Further, many routine non-urgent visits can be easily address via tele-medicine. This includes routine pre-natal visits, psychiatric consultations, and other common diagnostic check-ups.
However, many wonder about the quality of care provided by tele-medicine and whether providers may be held accountable via medical malpractice lawsuits. In general, the same rules apply to tele-medicine as to any other health care provider. Health care professionals must adhere to the requisite standard of care and should they fail to meet that standard, and a patient suffers harm, they may be held liable in a medical malpractice action.
While currently tele-medicine enjoys fewer lawsuits than traditional practices, many believe this is because of its novelty and lowered expectations, rather than as a result of improved patient care. The concerns facing tele-medicine are widespread and include errors with patient identification, “sub-optimal” diagnosis and treatment, and communication errors – such as poor medical history taking. Each of these concerns has the potential for causing preventable medical errors with catastrophic injuries.
If harm should occur, it’s important to contact an experienced California medical malpractice attorney,
For more information or if you or someone you love has been harmed due to a preventable medical error, please contact the dedicated California medical negligence lawyers at Bostwick & Peterson, LLP for an immediate consultation.