Delayed treatment is a major concern for patients and healthcare providers in British Columbia. Failure to treat patients in a timely manner can lead to severe and often lasting consequences. Victims are often impacted physically, emotionally, and financially. In the worst cases, delay of care may even result in a patient’s death. While delayed treatment is considered medical malpractice, these cases pose significant challenges in court. If you or a loved one experienced harm due to a delay of care, working with a lawyer is your best chance at recovering damages.
Understanding Delayed Treatment and Medical Negligence
Medical negligence cases involving delayed treatment hinge on proving that doctors, nurses, or other healthcare providers failed to meet the required standard of care in a timely manner. When there is a delay of care, patients sometimes suffer preventable harm that causes an increase in recovery time or the development of new conditions. Establishing medical negligence in this situation depends on four main elements:
Duty of care
Healthcare providers owe a duty of care to their patients, meaning they are legally obligated to provide a certain standard of care. Physicians, nurses, and other providers are judged by what an ordinarily competent healthcare professional would do in similar situations rather than by an idealized, perfect standard.
Breach of duty
A breach occurs when a provider’s actions fall short of a basic standard of care. However, it’s essential to remember that negative outcomes do not automatically imply negligence on the healthcare provider’s behalf; the court will base its decision on whether the healthcare provider’s actions align with the choices or actions others would make under the same set of circumstances.
Causation
Victims have to show that a healthcare worker’s breach of duty directly resulted in their harm. A delay in treatment must contribute to the patient’s injury or worsen their condition.
Damages
Victims and their dependents, such as spouses and children, face financial burdens following medical negligence. Damages include medical expenses, long-term rehabilitation costs, or lost wages incurred by the delayed treatment and its subsequent impact.
Consequences of Delaying Medical Care
The consequences of delayed treatment often profoundly affect patients in various ways, including:
Emotional and physical impacts
Patients may suffer stress, anxiety, and an overall reduced quality of life as they wait for care and the chance to recover.
Worsening conditions
Health conditions can worsen over time without prompt medical attention and could even result in irreversible damage.
Prolonged pain and suffering
Delay of care may lead to increased, extended pain for the patient.
Extended recovery time
If a patient’s condition worsens, it will likely take them longer to recover. Long-term care, such as rehabilitation, may be required.
Risk of death
In the most extreme cases, delayed care can be fatal.
Legal Challenges in Delayed Treatment Cases
The biggest hurdle in delayed treatment cases is proving that actions or inactions taken by healthcare providers were outside of the scope of standard care and that those delays directly caused preventable harm to a patient. Evidence must also show that other healthcare providers in the same field would have acted differently, such as taking prompt steps to treat a patient. Courts have to evaluate all angles of these cases realistically, which means recognizing that medical providers are not expected to perform perfectly under every condition, even under optimal circumstances. If other providers had followed the same steps as the accused, a court likely would not consider the case medical negligence. Victims and their loved ones must seek out experienced lawyers like the professionals at Stephens & Holman to review their cases and see if there is a path to compensation.