When you meet with your doctor, the least you expect is that they’ll listen to you. You need to tell them about your symptoms, when they started, and any other related factors that you can think of. This helps the doctor make an accurate diagnosis.
However, studies show that doctors tend not to listen, and they’re likely to interrupt their own patients. Exactly how fast they do this depends on the study. In one, the median time was 18 seconds. In another, doctors were found to interrupt after just 11 seconds.
Regardless of the specific amount of time, this is a serious problem in the healthcare industry. Doctors who interrupt their patients aren’t paying attention and may be more likely to make mistakes.
A delayed diagnosis
One example of this is if you have a delayed diagnosis. Perhaps you’re trying to explain your symptoms to your doctor, but they cut you off quickly because they assume they already know what’s wrong. They tell you it’s a minor condition and that you just need to get some rest.
Your symptoms persist, and six months later, you’re diagnosed with cancer. You believe that the doctor could’ve recognized the disease much faster if they would’ve just listened to your story initially.
On top of that, the cancer has progressed. It may have been easily treatable through a simple surgery when you first came in to meet with your medical team. But because of the delay that the doctor caused, it’s now inoperable and can have much more severe ramifications. It could even become a fatal disease.
This shows why it’s such a problem that doctors fail to listen to their own patients. If you believe you’ve suffered due to medical malpractice, take the time to look into your legal options.
