It seems like this suit may have a chilling effect where Doctors won't even be willing to get on the phone for consults, given that they're taking on extra liability by doing so. Do you think that's a risk here?
It seems like this suit may have a chilling effect where Doctors won't even be willing to get on the phone for consults, given that they're taking on extra liability by doing so. Do you think that's a risk here?
You can do consults, but they have to be consults. I think what happened here is that these two organizations are playing fast and loose with the essential distinction between a consult and a referral. The decision to admit has to come from this physician, so really, it was not a consult. Because the original physician had little to no power. (I'm almost ready to argue that the original physician had essentially no power over the decision, but I'd need a bit more information to make that call.)
EDIT:
Friend just pointed out that some people may not understand the difference between a consult and a referral. Basically, in laymen's terms, a referral is a request that you assume care of the patient. Whereas a consult is a really just a request for, let's call it, "advice", for lack of a better term. Kind of like, "Hey man, can you give me a second opinion on this?" But the patient is still under your care. You still make the final calls on things. As opposed to, "Woah, dude... you're gonna have to handle this one, I'm no cardiologist, so I'm not even gonna try to do a cath, much less a PCI."
He made a decision, contrary to the examining doc’s opinion, that was final and without some crazy new information, asinine.
If the doctors involved weren’t the ones responsible for allowing a patient to be transferred to the hospital maybe you could more reasonably claim you were giving advice.
But by denying the transfer to the hospital and misdiagnosing them, they were making (and effectively enforcing) those decisions.
I don't really understand your point here I'm afraid. The courts won't give a shit about the Alexa bit, no?