- Complete a Medical Advance Directive. Make sure you give a copy to the surgeon before going to the hospital to keep in your office records. Give a copy to the hospital upon arrival. Ask the person whom you give the directive to date, sign, and put the time it was received on your copy. This should avoid confusion later on if the directive is not followed. If the patient is in the intensive care unit, attach a copy of the directive to the top corner of the sheet. This will allow all people taking care of you to know you have a directive that you expect to be followed. Make sure all of your contact numbers for the proxy are written on that directive.
- Before surgery address the issue with your doctor or other health care providers that you will not sign papers of any kind unless you are in a heightened level of awareness. Tell them to refer all concerns and decisions to your proxy. Make arrangements for someone to be with you during your hospitalization or at least until you have recovered enough to be responsible for yourself.
- Do not let the surgeon refer you to someone of his choosing to evaluate you for surgery. Ask your primary care doctor to refer you for an evaluation and discuss with the doctor all areas of your body that needs to be evaluated for the safest outcome.
- Make sure, if possible, that your primary care doctor has privileges at the hospital where the surgeon will be admitting you.
- If you have doubts about the surgery or the evaluation for surgery get more then one opinion.
- Ask if the surgeon is board certified in his or her specialties. This really only assures you that they probably do the same surgeries many times.
- Educate yourself by doing research on the pros and cons of the procedure that will be performed on you. Discuss with the doctor in detail all of the risk factors. Ask for statistics or percentage involved with each area of risk.
- Ask the surgeon for names of associates that would be involved with your care especially in the worse case scenario.
- Ask who will be in charge of coordinating your care while you are hospitalized.
- Know your blood type in advance. Ask the hospital if your type of blood will be available should you need it. Make the determination in advance, if you want to have your own blood available should you need a transfusion.
- Finally, make sure all of your questions have been answered to your satisfaction.
- Do what ever it takes to research the doctors to make sure you are not taking on an additional risk factor. As harsh as it may sound the only way is to go to the Superior Court in the county your doctor practices in to find out about complaints, ultimately the decision will be yours. This is public information and there should not be a charge for this service. Many counties have this information online.
I hope I have successfully given you enough "food for thought" to enable you to make informed decisions.
Helpful Links
Summary of Medical Malpractice Law
California Medical Board
Riverside Courts
Los Angeles Courts
San Bernardino Courts
How to Contact the Courts
Settlement Strategies
Our Attorney-Brian Brandt |
