These are notes linked to from other pages on this site
A.Other doctors will rush to treat your injuries
Wrong answer. Other doctors believe in and stick up for other doctors. No one will record what you tell them. Get your medical records afterwards and you will see. Not only is that their practice, that is a matter of written policy.
Meanwhile, their reluctance to diagnose anything that could indict another doctor could make it so that you never get diagnosed or treated. See white wall of silence.
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B. The police will launch an investigation
Wrong answer. The police will tell you that there won’t be any witnesses so there is no point in filing a complaint (see silence versus safety for why there will not be witnesses).
Didn’t you ever wonder why doctors become as brazen as Dr. Allan Zarkin and Dr David C Arndt? Those two got caught only because this time they indulged in behavior that automatically left tracks. Medicine is arranged so that there rarely will be tracks in order to prevent lawsuits (see risk management).
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C. You will be stymied and sued
Correct answer. There is no political will to pursue miscreants in medicine. Other doctors will not help you. The police are not smart enough to help you. The state medical board is run by doctors who understand the doctor who raped you (or whatever) more than they understand you. If you speak too loudly about what happened to you, you will be sued. You are not the first person in this position. They have a very well oiled machine for dealing with people like you.
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How many nurses does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Our nurses do not remember the light bulb of which you speak. We have no records that could identify which, if any, of our nurses might have been present for said light bulb. And if, on your own, you should happen to determine who they might have been, they certainly will not be allowed to speak about it.
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Linked to from above and from white wall of silence and
from medical information release
and osmb
A matter of written policy
For instance, the “Physician’s Guide to Ohio Law” states that in their charts physicians should avoid “Criticizing the care that the patient received from other providers and facilities.” One would think physicians at least would report “patient claims” when something untoward happens, but they don’t.
The effect that this has on the ability of injured patients to get treatment is unstudied and unappreciated.
In schools in some states, if a child complains of abuse at home, teachers and administrators are required by law to report it immediately and can lose their licenses if they do not. But a patient reporting the same thing to a doctor cannot even get it entered in his or her records, let alone get anyone to diagnose the injuries or call the police. Shouldn’t the requirement to avoid criticizing other providers be changed to include some expectation that effort is expected to be made to protect patients as well, instead of assuming that the only people who need protection are other health care providers?
[from the Physician’s Guide to Ohio Law: in a section titled “Medical Record-Keeping” under the subheading “Charting pitfalls that physicians should avoid,” sentence number 5 states that physicians should avoid “Criticizing the care that the patient received from other providers and facilities.”]