Medical Malpractice And Psychiatry: Doctor Mistakes Don't Just Happen In The Operating Room

This week we covered the story of a medical malpractice lawsuit involving a woman who was mistreated by her psychiatrist during her five-year-treatment for sexual abuse. During the court case, witnesses and evidence revealed that the doctor, famed in his area of practice, had asked his patients for inappropriate information regarding her sexual relationships and set her up with a number of his male patients during a time when she was emotionally vulnerable and unbalanced. The jury awarded the woman with $650,000 in damages.

When most people think about medical malpractice, they think of mistakes in the operating room or cases of misdiagnosis. However, therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists can also make harmful mistakes or neglect their patients’ needs. What are some examples of psychiatric medical malpractice?

• Your doctor or therapist fails to obtain proper information.
• Your doctor or therapist fails to properly treat your disorders or conditions.
• Your doctor or therapist does not appropriately assess suicide risk, self-harm risk, or violence risk.
• Your doctor or therapist does not obtained informed consent.
• Your doctor or therapist is sexually inappropriate with a patient.
• Your doctor or therapist breaches confidentiality.
• Your doctor or therapist misdiagnoses your condition or does not properly diagnose your condition.
• Your doctor or therapist makes a harmful medication mistake.
• Your doctor or therapist does not properly supervise a patient.
• Your doctor or therapist abandons you as a patient during an emergency or during treatment.

Psychiatric malpractice may or may not lead to direct physical harm (from medication, restraints, or suicide), but it can be severely emotionally damaging. If you suspect that you or a loved one has been a victim of this type of medical malpractice, it is best to speak with a knowledgeable malpractice attorney about your case.