What To Do If Telehealth Medicine Goes Wrong. Know Your Rights

Name: Vinkler Law Offices, LTD.
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On the surface, the addition of telehealth visits or virtual medical care looks so much easier for you, the patient. You sit in the comfort of your home, with no traffic, no getting ready to go out, and no effort at all but to learn how to sign on to see your doctor, psychiatrist, surgeon, or medical specialist.

But let’s take a closer look behind the scenes and see what your doctor is doing to prepare for those virtual consultations. Did you know that the average primary care doctor in America sees approximately 20 to 25 patients a day and can have as many as 3,500 to 3,700 patients in their practice? For a medical provider, in today’s work world, that can mean going from an in-person visit to quickly heading to an office to see you, the next patient, online. To manage a busy portfolio of patients, doctors move directly from one patient to another in quick succession.

Now, with telehealth, this means the medical provider must quickly transition from an in-person setting to a virtual one. This may sound easy, but when it’s your medical care, you want your health care provider fully present and updated on your medical tests and results before greeting you. Trying to manage both a physical exam and another exam over telehealth technologies is difficult, even for experienced medical professionals.

Telehealth visits and other telemedicine services continue to increase, presumably because these virtual visits make medical care more accessible and convenient. However, access to care does not guarantee foolproof or high standards of care. Legally, telehealth visits cannot be recorded; therefore, what happens during a virtual meeting requires your healthcare provider to closely monitor the clock, listen attentively, observe you, and take detailed notes in your medical records.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Technology doesn’t slow down, and telehealth visits have increased to even include smartphone telehealth applications. The technology for virtual care means there are new ways for your healthcare provider to make a mistake that could seriously harm you. How serious? Missing the key signs of early-stage cancer, misinterpreting symptoms that mean you have had a stroke, getting the wrong medication or the wrong dosage, and misreading a radiology image are just a sampling of what can go wrong. Telehealth can also result in confidentiality breaches where you or a loved one’s confidential health information is shared with third parties.

Do You Suspect You or a Loved One is a Victim of Telehealth Malpractice: What Should You Do?

Suppose you suspect you have been a victim of malpractice as a result of a telehealth visit. In that case, you owe it to yourself to have it investigated. You owe it to others who may also be victims of telehealth malpractice. Telehealth is here to stay, and the only way to improve virtual care is for mistakes to be identified and for healthcare professionals to be accountable for their mistakes. There is no improvement in telehealth services without accountability. If you suspect you or a loved one has been harmed by telemedicine, look for the experts in the telehealth malpractice field. Call Vinkler Law.

Vinkler Law’s medical malpractice attorneys have been helping people just like you for years. When it comes to telehealth malpractice, they are Chicago’s most trusted, respected, expert, and caring telehealth malpractice team. Vinkler Law will listen at no charge and conduct the necessary fact-finding to determine if you have been harmed by a telehealth medical mistake. Don’t waste another day worrying about what has happened; act now and call the caring legal experts at Vinkler Law. There is no charge for consultation and review. You have nothing to lose, and you will gain peace of mind knowing you took control of your health and are rightfully compensated for the harm caused to you or a loved one.