Is It Medical Misconduct if I Give Bad Medical Advice?

Day in and day out, patients may turn to you for your educated insight on how they can recover from their illness or injury. While your recommendations may usually be spot on, there may be times when a patient’s recovery does not go as planned, due to their unexpected adverse reactions to it or otherwise. Ultimately, a patient may subsequently place the blame on you. Well, read on to discover whether giving a patient bad medical advice is considered medical misconduct and how one of the seasoned New York physician defense lawyers at Walker Medical Law can help you argue against these allegations.

Is it considered medical misconduct if I give a patient bad medical advice?

You must be well aware that, yes, there are two specific circumstances in which your bad medical advice may be considered an act of medical misconduct.

For one, you cannot give any kind of medical advice to a patient being treated in a city or state different from where you are licensed. This is because this may be considered practicing medicine without a medical license. Further, you may get into serious trouble with the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) or Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) if something ultimately goes wrong with the patient’s treatment. That is, the OPMC or OPD may suspend or revoke you from practicing medicine in the jurisdiction where you were previously licensed.

Secondly, in a similar vein, you cannot offer medical advice to a patient if their health condition falls outside your realm of expertise. This is because doing so may fall under a clause known as negligence per se. And if the OPMC or OPD ultimately finds that your negligence had a hand in your patient’s damages, they may impose penalties far more than suspending or revoking your medical license.

What defenses can I make against giving bad medical advice?

If you are summoned to an OPMC or OPD hearing after being accused of giving bad medical advice, there are a couple of ways to defend yourself.

As an example, you may assert that you clearly communicated to the patient the potential risks of your recommended treatment plan. You may prove that the patient knew what they were getting themselves into when following your advice by supplying the Board with copies of relevant medical documents with the patient’s signature provided at the bottom. As another example, you may argue that you gave a certain piece of medical advice but that the patient detrimentally deviated from it. You may prove this with a copy of your written prescription and demonstrate its contrast with the treatment plan the patient actually ended up pursuing.

If you still have lingering doubts about how to proceed forward, then please consult with one of the competent New York physician defense lawyers. Our team at Walker Medical Law will point you in the right direction.