Unethical practice on the part of medical professionals.

India
February 12, 2011 11:47am CST
Medicines can cure, but they can also kill. This can happen if the dosage is wrong, the doctor’s diagnosis is incorrect, or if there is severe adverse reaction of the drug used. No one knows this better than a physician. Yet, there are medical professionals who routinely and carelessly prescribe medications without even bothering to examine the patient properly or make a proper diagnosis based on scientific principles. So, don’t you think that the government should send out a clear signal to physicians that it would not condone such negligent, callous, unethical and unprofessional behaviour any more?
2 people like this
10 responses
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
12 Feb 11
doctordidi we the patients should not sit back and not be in on the orders and medications given to us. If we do not understand something or do not know what the medication if for or what side effec ts, my God we have to ask questions.You make it sound like all doctors are goofing up when most doctors are very careful and do c heck on their patients. I have bee with my primary care doctor for many years and have never had antyting bad happen. for one thing he explains why he iw doing certain things and what the medications are for and what side effects could occur.We as patients cannot afford not to ask questions and make sure we know that medication we are given and what it is for. Also be careful at the pharmacy as often they are very busy. One day I got my prescriptions and paid my copay. then did not check but just walked out. I do not remember what made me check the sack of medications but I opened it and none of the bottles had my name on them. they had a Mr.Thersaon's name of them so I hurried right back into the pharmacy and collided with a young man who was really upset.I got in line behind him. He said," look these are not my medications. they belong to a Mrs. uh um, Hatley". I tapped him on the shoulder." Are you Mr.Thersaon?' He said," and you must be Mrs. Hatley?" I smiled,"Got it, seems we got each others medications" so we handed the two sacks of medications to the pharmacist . He apologized, and made sure this time we each had the right prescriptions.It is not so much that all pharmacists are careless or all doctors careless, it is a fact the humn being can and do make mistakes. It is up to us as patients to open our mouths and ask questions. its our health and we must be proactive.
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
12 Feb 11
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
12 Feb 11
I, too, believe that the government should stay out of the matter. Currently the physicians themselves are supposedly policing the unethical and unprofessional members among them. But sometimes I wonder who is watching the watchers and think that should be us, the patients. We do have recourse in litigation but that gets carried to extremes at times. We, as patients, have the obligation to be responsible for our health and welfare to the extent that we should be aware of the medications and procedures available for our particular diagnoses. My physician has a notice posted in his office waiting room telling patients that if the patients have any doubts or questions to speak up. The doctor doesn't know our concerns unless we tell him.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
12 Feb 11
right on yoyo just what I was thinking we must not just sit like dumbies and not ask what this medication is for and what are the side effects. we must be proactive. its our health so why are we not safeguarding it?My doctor often says you have any problems tell me as I am not a mind reader. I had just remembered I felt I might have a bladder infection as he started to walk out the door.He said,so now you tell me. I will send the nurse into get a urine sample. He tested it and I was right so he prescribed antibiotics for me.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31636)
• United States
12 Feb 11
It is also the responsibility of the patient to stay informed, check their medication when it is dispensed and read the material that comes with it. If more patients were better informed there would not be so much damage from mistakes made by the doctor--they are not gods, they do not know everything. The government should stay out of it. Let the patients warn their doctors and watch out for themselves and their loved ones without government interference.
1 person likes this
• India
13 Feb 11
Of course, it is a bilateral phenomenon and so the patient must be stayed informed. But I think it is the responsibility of the doctor to inform the patient everything regarding the treatment, the plans of the treatment and the consequences of the medications and the disease process itself.
@celticeagle (157593)
• Boise, Idaho
12 Feb 11
I have always thought that physicians found negligate in the things you have mentions are severely punished. They have their license revoked, have to pay fines, etc. I really haven't heard of that much unprofessional behaviour these days. There have been afew pretenders and the ones I have heard of all have been caught. I am sure there are unscrupulous doctors just like in every other walk of life. It is hard to become a doctor and get a good position.
@celticeagle (157593)
• Boise, Idaho
13 Feb 11
And any negligence should meat with the strictest of consequences.
• India
13 Feb 11
To err is human. So a doctor may do a wrong judgement to a case. But he should never be negligent and should always stick to the ethics of the profession, he should always put 100% efforts for his patients.
1 person likes this
@jak2010 (1550)
• Papua New Guinea
16 Feb 11
You can say that if doctors do pratice such deliberately, but there is such a thing called human error, doctors as humanbeings are subject to such errors so we have to treatment fairly.
@emgee595 (335)
• Philippines
25 Mar 11
Hi there! Unethical and erroneous diagnosis should not be treated lightly. Aside from endangering the lives of unsuspecting patients it also cause unwarranted, unfounded and unnecessary anxiety especially when you are given a wrong diagnosis. Weeks ago I saw the news about a man who was given a wrong diagnosis and was made to believe that he was HIV positive for eight (8)...yes eight!!! years. I can't imagine the pain, the trauma, the cost spent for medication and of course the drama of being an HIV positive person then only to find out that you were not HIV positive at all. From what I heard from the news, the man sued the hospital and the medical practitioners for malpractice. I do hope there are remedies and appropriate legal actions on matters like this especially when it pertains to medical malpractice. Life should not be taken lightly. Doctors are paid well and even a short visit to their clinic entails costs to poor patients. They should be the first to protect lives and not endanger and destroy lives. Failure to do so should subject medical practitioners to proper disciplinary actions, penalties and appropriate professional evaluation. Have a good day and happy mylotting! :D
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
12 Feb 11
I've seen this kind of thing happen so often over the years! With medicines, one Dr ordered my Dad a topical with iodine in it, and didn't even notice the big red "severely allergic to iodine" written in bold at the top of his chart and on his wrist band! My one daughter took her child in because she was ill: high fever, stiff neck, etc. When my Dr (a Dr herself) told the ped. Dr that their day care was shut down because one of the caregivers was out with meningitis, the ped. just ignored her. Checked the baby's ears, and that was it 'no ear infection.' Hello...viral spinal meningitis! Wouldn't you think that they would make sure and rule THAT out?! Yes, I do think that a clear signal should be given to physicians, as well as other personnel, that negligence should not be tolerated!
@agrim94 (3805)
• India
13 Feb 11
Hi doc, First of all we should understand that doctors are humans too and even they can make mistakes. Since we both are from India and we know how much pressures are doctors are in India especially they are in government job and posted in rural area. They not only have to work 24 X7 as they are always on call duty plus they have to see about 100 patients a day and then look for so many other govt programmes like TB, malaria , tour subcenters and so on yet given no facilites and on top of it abusive rural population ( now dont say no as i have myself seen it) , so if a doctor has to see 100 patients a day , day in and day out, do u really think he can always be attentive, it is not hummanly possible, yet no one would understand. And compared to others whose mistakes can kill like police, lawyers, judiciary , army etc doctors on the whole as %age of cases make hardly any mistake. So before making one more law against doctors first think about their work load. Ask govt to let their doctors only see 5 to 7 patients a day like in west and give them facilites as in west along with pay and see the difference.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
14 Feb 11
One of the reasons that I think this happens as often as it does is because of the fact that there are many patients that are seeking medical care that don't have the patience to wait for proper diagnosis. What I guess that I am trying to say is that people should realize before they seek medical care is that they need to have patience so that the doctors are able to properly treat the patients that come in for care.
• United States
13 Feb 11
when my turns 2yrs old my sister and I took him to the childrens clinic for baby checkup includes the shot this nurse practioner was rude by telling us he will never growup so i decided to transfer his medical record to another clinic now my 10 year old is growing he's tall as my sister for the nurse practioner who made that comment is a making mistake