A patient always hopes for the best and most professional care from his or her doctor, but unfortunately, the best is not what is always given. In fact, a doctor may be downright unprofessional when he or she thinks no one will find out. In Maryland, or in any state, physician negligence can negatively affect the patient.
A man went in for a colonoscopy in April of 2013 at a large medical institute in another state. The patient happened to make a recording on his phone of his entire examination because he forgot to stop the recording after receiving his doctor's post-operative instructions. What he heard was shocking. After falling asleep, the doctor, anesthesiologist and the surgical team mocked the patient throughout the procedure, sometimes to one another, and sometimes their mockery was directed at the sleeping patient.
The man filed a lawsuit that states that the anesthesiologist said things about the patient having syphilis and made derogatory comments about his genitalia because of a rash the doctor's found. The suit also claims that she joked about how much anesthesia it took to sedate the patient and made claims to falsely record on his medical chart that the man had hemorrhoids, among other inappropriate comments. After a recent three-day trial, the patient was awarded $500,000 for defamation, medical malpractice and punitive damages.
Doctors are expected to remain professional at all times while on the job. Patients should never be mocked or insulted, whether they can hear the taunting or not. If a patient feels like they have been a victim of physician negligence in Maryland, they have the right to pursue justice and compensation.