What is a “Physician’s Duty of Care”?
The special relationship between a doctor and his or her patient is one of trust, confidence, and extreme good faith, and it creates a fiduciary duty towards the patient. However, even when an injured patient is able to prove the existence of a duty, he must also show that it was the physician’s breach of that duty that was the proximate cause of the patient’s injury. The breach of a duty alone is generally not sufficient to sustain a medical malpractice action.
Duty to Inform
Under ordinary circumstances, a physician has the duty to fully inform a patient or someone acting for the patient of the material aspects of his diagnosis. It is only when the patient becomes aware of the risks inherent in both his disease and treatment that he can make informed decisions about his care. However, some courts have recognized the therapeutic effect of withholding diagnostic information from the patient under certain circumstances.
A doctor who does not inform a patient about the results of a test can be found negligent, but a patient’s contributory negligence can be a defense against a medical malpractice claim. A patient’s failure to give a doctor updated contact information is an example of conduct possibly contributing to the injury and either negating or reducing the doctor’s liability.
When a physician knows or should know that he does not have the training, experience, skill, or equipment to give a patient the proper care, he has a duty to inform the patient about the need for different and more specialized treatment. Financial considerations should not be determinative of a continued course of medical care.
Duty of Continued Care
It is the obligation of a physician to continue caring for a patient until either the treatment or the relationship has been properly ended. The doctor must use reasonable and ordinary care to determine when treatment should be ended, and in the absence of an emergency or special circumstances, the physician must continue to care for the patient as long as the patient needs it.
A doctor/patient relationship can also be ended before a course of treatment has been completed. The parties may agree to end it, the patient may dismiss the physician, or the physician may withdraw from the case. However, before a doctor can withdraw, he must give notice to the patient and an ample opportunity to get another medical care provider. To prove that a physician has abandoned a patient, the patient must show that the doctor withdrew from the case during a critical stage of the treatment or disease and that the abandonment was the proximate cause of the patient’s injury.
A patient’s nonpayment is not a just cause for abandonment of a patient. However, a patient’s failure to cooperate might be just cause for a physician to withdraw from a case.
Duty of Diligence
A failure to treat a patient when a physician knows the patient’s need and has the opportunity to give proper treatment is a breach of the duty of diligence. After surgery, a doctor must use the same skill and care that he used during the surgery. During the post-operative period, the physician has a duty to protect the patient from commonly known and reasonably anticipated complications, modified by each patient’s medical history and age.
One of the most important factors that courts look at when evaluating whether a doctor has met his duty of diligence is time - the time it took the doctor to return a patient’s phone call, the time between scheduled visits, etc.
A doctor is generally not negligent if he stays in contact with a patient by phone when his physical presence in not needed, nor is he negligent by taking a temporary leave after making arrangements for the patient’s care and notifying the patient of the change.