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{{Dial-A-Law TOC|expanded = health}}
==Legal duty to give proper medical careUnderstand your legal rights==All doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers have a legal duty to provide proper medical care to patients—and to any other people who need emergency medical care. But doctors do not have to accept everyone as a patient. They can refuse to take a person as a patient for legitimate reasons. For example, a doctor may lack medical knowledge and experience in a particular area. Or a doctor and person may disagree on the right medical treatment for the person. But doctors cannot refuse to take a person as a patient because of age, gender, marital status, medical condition, national or ethnic origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, race, religion, or socioeconomic status.
If a health care provider fails to provide proper medical care, a person can sue them for damages by bringing a claim for '''medical malpractice'''. The two main types of medical malpractice are when a health care provider is '''negligencenegligent''' and when a doctor does not get '''failure to get a patient’s informed consent'''. And in some cases, the failure to get informed consent may also be an assaultfrom a patient.
{| class="wikitable"|align=Negligence=="left"|'''Tip'''Doctors If you are concerned with a doctor’s conduct or healthcare providers are negligent if they fail the treatment you received, you can '''make a complaint''' to provide the standard College of care Physicians and Surgeons of BC, the body that a reasonable doctor or healthcare provider practicing in the same area would provide licenses doctors in similar circumstancesBritish Columbia. If the negligence causes injuries or illness to Our information on [[Making a person, then the doctor or healthcare provider may be liable to pay damages Complaint Against Your Doctor (money to pay for the harm doneScript 423) to the person. It’s no excuse for |if you have a problem with a doctor (no. 423)]] explains how to say, “I did my best. I just didn’t know any better.” If the doctor should have known better, they may be liable. For example, let’s say that you see your doctor because you are not feeling well and your doctor prescribes make a drug to treat the symptoms you described. You take the drug and it harms you. It turns out that it was not appropriate, considering your medical history and the other drugs you were already taking. If other doctors with complaint about a similar practice would not have prescribed the drug, your doctor may be negligent.|}
===If your doctor or health care provider is negligent=== A doctor or health care provider is '''Not every mistake or bad result means there was negligencenegligent'''—doctors and healthcare providers are not liable for every mistake. The law realizes that doctors often have if they fail to make quick decisions without provide the best information. The key question is this: did the doctor make '''standard of care''' a reasonable decision that other reasonable doctors doctor or health care provider practising in the same area would have made provide in similar circumstances. If the same situation—even if later it turns out negligence causes injuries or illness to be the wrong decision that caused a bad result. For exampleperson, you complain the doctor or health care provider may be liable to your doctor of severe head pain. They pay attention and examine you. They carefully take your medical history, listen '''damages''' (money to you describe your symptoms, and order pay for the right tests. Using harm done) to the results of this examination, they decide that you have an ordinary tension headache that will go away. Later, it turns out that your doctor was wrong, and the pain was not caused by a tension headache. The doctor’s diagnosis was wrong. But your doctor still provided the proper standard of care, the same care that other doctors would have provided in this case. The doctor was not negligent and you probably won’t win if you sue the doctor for malpracticeperson.
It’s no excuse for a doctor to say, “I did my best. I just didn’t know any better.” If the doctor should have known better, they may be liable. For example, let’s say you see a doctor because you’re not feeling well. The doctor prescribes a drug to treat the symptoms you describe. You take the drug and it harms you. It turns out the drug was not appropriate, considering your medical history and the other drugs you were already taking. If other doctors with a similar type of medical practice would not have prescribed the drug, the doctor may be negligent. ====Not every mistake or bad result means there was negligence====Doctors and health care providers are not liable for every mistake. The law recognizes that doctors often have to make quick decisions without the best information. The key question is this: did the doctor make a '''reasonable'''decision that other reasonable doctors would have made in the same situation — even if later it turns out to be the wrong decision that caused a bad result. For example, you complain to your doctor of severe head pain. They examine you, carefully take your medical history, listen to you describe your symptoms, and order the right tests. Using the results of this examination, they decide you have an ordinary tension headache that will go away. Later, it turns out your doctor was wrong, and the pain was not caused by a tension headache. The doctor’s diagnosis was wrong. But your doctor still provided the proper standard of care, the same care that other doctors would have provided in this case. The doctor was not negligent and you probably won’t win if you sue the doctor for malpractice. ====Your doctor or health care provider must meet a standard of care====The standard of care'''—this varies with the level of specialty of the doctor—the doctor. The standard may be higher for specialists. And it varies with time—today’s time. Today’s standard may not be good enough next year. You can’t always expect the best care available at the most sophisticated research hospital. The standard of care may be affected by the level of hospital that treats you.
In summary, not every mistake or bad result automatically means there was negligence. A doctor may take all the right steps and still make a mistake or get a bad result.
===If there is a delay in your diagnosis===If a doctor fails to diagnose a medical condition that a reasonable doctor in the same situation would have diagnosed, they would be negligent. The question then becomes whether the failure to diagnose '''Damages for negligencecaused any injury or loss'''—if to the patient. Sometimes, a delay in diagnosis can mean the difference between curing or not curing the condition. Other times, a delay in diagnosis may not have made a difference. In that case, the patient could not recover anything from the doctor. ===If you prove negligence, a court may award damages=== If you prove there was negligence and the negligence caused your injury or illness, a court may order the doctor, hospital, or healthcare health care provider to pay you '''damages ''' for the harm the negligence caused. This The damages can include lost earnings, medical and other expenses, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. This last category is the court’s attempt to compensate you for the effect of the negligence on your life, in general. The doctor is responsible only for the harm that their negligence caused. For example, say you consented to surgery that would require you to take 2 two months off work to recover, if done properly. But the surgeon was negligent and as a result you had to take 6 six months off. In this case, you would be paid only for the extra 4 four months of lost earnings caused by the negligence. You would not be compensated for the first 2 two months off because , as you had consented to taking thattime off already. And you You still would have had to take the 2 two months off if the surgery had gone as planned. ===If others may be responsible===If a doctor delegates work to someone else, the doctor may still be legally responsible for the work. If a doctor leaves a patient in the care of another doctor, both doctors may be responsible. If an inexperienced intern performs the duties of a doctor, the intern has to give the same medical care the doctor would give.
If you suffer an injury or illness after medical treatment, and it was a known risk that your doctor did not tell you about before you agreed to the treatment, it could be malpractice. A court will consider whether a reasonable person would have consented to the treatment if they had been told of the risks. In some cases, the failure to get any consent at all may also be an assault or battery. If you have experienced an assault during medical treatment, you can contact the police.
==A third, complicated type of malpractice=Your responsibilities as a patient===Besides negligence and lack of informed consent, there is As a third type of malpractice. Recentlypatient, courts you have said doctors may be responsible if they break the patient-power to manage your health care. You must give the doctor contractall the important information about your condition, your medical history, and any other relevant information. This is a complicated area of malpractice lawIf you don’t, and that leads to an error in diagnosis or treatment, it will be your fault, not covered by this scriptthe doctor’s. For exampleAs well, one issue may be who has a contract with the doctor: is not responsible for problems if you or don’t follow the doctor’s advice and your failure causes the Medical Services Planproblem. You For example, if you get sick after surgery, it would need be hard to prove that a lawyer to see surgeon was negligent in operating on you, if this applies you don’t follow the surgeon’s instructions for recovery. ==Practical considerations== ===There are time limits to your casesue for medical malpractice===Generally, you must start a medical malpractice lawsuit within '''two years''' of when the malpractice occurred. This is called the '''limitation period'''.
===The time and cost to bring a lawsuit=== Suing for medical malpractice can take a long time—often 2 time — often two to 5 five years or more from start to finish.
==Complaining to the College =Making a complaint about a doctor at the same time as suing===You If you are concerned about a doctor’s conduct or the treatment you received, you can file make a complaint with to the [http://www.cpsbc.ca/ College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC], the governing body for doctors in the province. There is no time limit for complaining to the College. And you can do this at the same time as you sue for malpractice and contact . The College cannot order a doctor to pay you money — only a court can do that. But they can discipline the police doctor or have them take remedial steps. Our information on [[Making a Complaint Against Your Doctor (Script 423)|if you think you were assaultedhave a problem with a doctor (no. 423)]] explains how to make a complaint.
[updated June 2018]
'''The above was last reviewed for legal accuracy by [https://www.harpergrey.com/lawyer/lindsay-johnston/ Lindsay Johnston ], Harper Grey and [https://www.harpergrey.com/lawyer/dionne-liu/ Dionne Liu], and edited by John BloisHarper Grey.'''
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