Page 70 - OB Risks - Delivering the Goods (Part One)

SVMIC Obstetrics Risks: Delivering the Goods

request for a same-day appointment which cannot be arranged

by scheduling staff. As a result, the physician was unaware of
the patient’s numerous attempts to be seen, both in person and

telephonically.

The office staff’s refusal to allow the patient to see a provider
at the time of a scheduled appointment, followed by the failure

to reschedule a timely appointment, proved indefensible.
Although it is possible the outcome of the pregnancy may not

have changed, the failure of the staff to have in place reliable
protocols for handling phone calls and office appointments was

an unjustifiable systems issue.

Medical Judgment

Medical judgment issues speak for themselves, but it is well-

known that not all mistakes in medical judgment equate to
medical negligence. The law does not require that physicians

exercise perfect medical judgment – only reasonable medical
judgment given the totality of the circumstances. Reasonable

medical judgment, even if it turns out to be wrong, may be
defended. However, if an alleged error in medical judgment

occurs in combination with one of the previously discussed risk
issues associated with patient harm, the case becomes much

more problematic to defend.

In the majority of SVMIC cases involving medical judgment
issues, a cause or contributing factor was usually pinpointed

as something else within the physician’s control, such as
communication, documentation, and /or systems issues

which impacted the decision-making process. From a liability

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