Physician exceeding authority?

My doctor asked me to fill in a questionnaire about how I felt about suing the insurance company for compensation after a car accident. When I got home I began to feel suspicious because if the insurance company got hold of the confidential information from the survey that could go against me. Kindly advise.

 

You should never fill out surveys about how you are progressing in your physical and mental condition when you have a matter with an insurance company. Experience has shown that some doctors could ‘inadvertently’ pass on the information to the insurance company. There was a precedent to this effect where the doctor tried to leave the country before the matter was formally heard. If your doctor passes the information to the insurance company, that would be a very serious breach. It could constitute misconduct which would be serious enough to suspend the doctor from practicing for some time. In any event, you should always obtain a copy of the survey you filled in. Also, ask the doctor what he was going to do with the survey you filled in and on whose behalf it was done and if he is going to send a copy of it to the insurance. If he refuses to answer those questions, write a complaint to the Medical Board.

NEGLIGENCE

NEGLIGENCE – THIRD PARTY: My sister was seven months pregnant when she had a car accident. She was injured, but not seriously. Later when the baby was born the baby had injuries. The specialists told her that injuries could have been a result of the accident. Can she claim anything from the insurance?  

There is a precedent similar to the circumstances you mentioned – the Turner case. In that case the child was born with serious cerebral problems when it was proved on balance of probabilities that the child’s injuries were caused while still in the womb. This case took many years to complete but the Court awarded the injured child one million dollars damages against the (the mother) – the insurance even though the mother was negligent and caused the accident. The critical thing is for the medical specialists to confirm that the injuries the child sustained were received directly or indirectly from the motor vehicle accident. In an almost similar case more recently the child was unable to get compensation because the evidence was not convincing enough to show that the injuries were caused by the accident but rather through its birth.  

Medical assault

SEXUAL CLAIM AGAINT (MEDICAL) DOCTOR: My younger brother who is nine years old told me that he had to go to the doctor, only a few blocks from where we live, for some tests. The doctor told my brother to undo his pants and the doctor put his hand on my brother’s private parts and told him to cough. But the doctor kept his hand on my brother’s genitals for too long and he even start to message his private parts gently. Can doctors do that?

Of course doctors can’t do that. There is a tendency by the occasional professional  to psychologically dominate and bully young boys – and those in a much weaker position by their sheer high status of being a doctor. If you have a good talk to your brother to ascertain specifically what the facts are and you agree that the doctor went too far, you can proceed with the matter. See a lawyer to formalize your complaint. There is an exception in law about the ‘presumption of the innocence’ until proven guilty. In this matter, in any civil hearing or Medical Tribunal, your brother could claim through his solicitor that there is in law ‘undue influence. There would be a reversal of the onus of proof, i.e.  the doctor (or anyone in authority – teacher, parents, lawyers, priests)  who would have to prove that he/she is innocent of the complaint. The issue of undue influence applies to all professionals and others where one party is in a clearly dominating position.

PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE

I’m a thirty five year old female. Some three months ago I was concerned about my left breast and I went to a (medical) doctor, who after examining me gave me a pain-killing prescription. Recently I felt strongly that I should see a second doctor about my condition. This second doctor said that I could have breast cancer and referred me immediately to a specialist for in-depth testing saying that I’d be in a much better position healthwise if I had gone to see him earlier. He was right. I have now been diagnosed with breast cancer. I am very upset and hurt about the delay. Do I have a case against the first doctor?

Of course, doctors have a professional ‘legal’ and ‘tortious’ duty of care to their patients. It would be a very serious breach for a doctor not to have diagnosed you properly, especially if you mentioned to the doctor that you felt something was wrong with your breast. If you take the doctor to court for negligence, basically – simplistically put – you have to prove the doctor had a duty of care to you, that there was a breach of that duty, that ‘injury’ was done and that the ‘injury’ was foreseeable. Because the matter is very serious and would need an in depth investigation, I strongly recommend you see a your lawyer immediately.