Once a doctor-patient relationship is established, your physician must deliver all necessary treatment to a patient until the relationship is ended by the patient or by the physician, provided that the physician gives the patient adequate notice to find another way to obtain medical treatment. Where a physician deliberately neglects to continue care or treatment for a patient, they can be held responsible in specific situations for any resulting injuries using the principle of medical abandonment.

In demonstrating that a doctor abandoned a patient, a patient will have to show that (1) the doctor became unavailable to treat the patient at a time when the doctor recognized the patient was at a significant stage of treatment, and (2) the physician either failed to give sufficient notice to allow the patient to get another physician or didn’t request a good physician to look after the patient in his or her absence. Unfortunately, the failure to continue treatment is often equally as harmful as providing negligent treatment and often ends in serious injury or death.

Various things must be considered in determining whether or not unwarranted medical abandonment has taken place:

• Was the medical treatment unreasonably discontinued during a period when the doctor knew the patient was at a critical stage of treatment?
• Was the discontinuance of medical treatment against the patient’s will?
• Did the doctor give enough notice to allow the patient to secure another doctor and request a qualified physician to look after the patient?
• Did experience suggest that discontinuance of treatment would result in physical injury to the patient?
• Was actual harm suffered by the patient?

A personal injury attorney needs to have practical experience representing individuals injured due to medical abandonment. To learn more about submitting a claim as a result of medical abandonment, you need to speak to a law firm in the Augusta and Evans GA area for consultation.

Select an Augusta GA Personal Injury Attorney immediately if you have been affected by an accidental injury.

A Wrongful Death Attorney in Augusta Georgia may be able to help you get the compensation that’s rightfully yours.

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