If You Think Your Doctor Didn’t Listen To You, You May Be Right

Just securing an opportunity to speak with your doctor can take a lot of work. First, you have to call the office and explain to someone in the scheduling department why you need an appointment. Then you will wait until your scheduled appointment, which could take days or even weeks.

When you attend your appointment, you will typically need to tell the person working at the reception desk why you are there. Eventually, a nurse will call you back to one of the examination rooms, at which point you will explain to that individual yet again why you are in need of medical evaluation.

It could be 10 or 20 minutes past your official appointment time before you ever see your doctor, and then, they may rush through your appointment and be back out of your room within minutes. If you feel as though your doctor did not listen to you at your appointment and may have made a diagnostic mistake as a result, you may be right.

Many doctors don’t have the time to listen

A doctor rushing through their time with you doesn’t do it out of maliciousness or even intentional negligence. Instead, they just have too much pressure on their schedule. They may have to see dozens of people after you, which means they don’t have time to really analyze your situation or anyone else’s.

They often rush to conclusions and may start interrupting you before you fully explain your experience. Researchers have found that the average doctor only listens to a patient for 11 seconds before interrupting them. If you aren’t very clear about what you need to communicate to your doctor and persistent at your appointment, you may walk away without a diagnosis or the wrong diagnosis because they didn’t hear the information you needed to share with them.

Misdiagnosis is a common form of malpractice

When doctors make mistakes because they rush through the diagnostic process, their patients could suffer dire medical consequences. They might undergo treatment that they don’t require or fail to start treatment in a timely manner for a condition that is progressive and rapidly getting worse.

Bringing a medical malpractice claim when a physician fails to treat you can compensate you for your medical losses and potentially motivate their employer to change company practices to better prioritize patient care.