You may know for certain that the medical professional who was supposed to care for you instead left you a victim of a medical malpractice accident. While you may not have incurred a physical injury or illness to prove it, you may notice that you are now experiencing new or exacerbated mental health concerns. For this, please follow along to find out whether my negligent doctor could have possibly prompted my mental health issues and how a proficient New York City medical malpractice attorney at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. can help you prove this effectively in your legal action.
Can a negligent doctor cause my mental health issues?
A negligent doctor may not have directly caused you to incur a mental health issue. However, this may be the indirect outcome of their behaviors and actions. For example, your doctor may have sadly made you the victim of sexual harassment or assault. Now, you may experience anxiety with seeing other medical professionals for healthcare or even struggle with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder in your everyday life. This may be worse if you already struggled with generalized anxiety disorder and it is now aggravated to the point that it is debilitating.
In another example, your doctor may have failed to diagnose your once-treatable condition in a timely manner or provided inadequate treatment for your health concern. Under these circumstances, you may become depressed over how your quality of life and enjoyment of life have significantly declined. You may even go as far as requiring prescription medication and frequent appointments with a therapist or psychiatrist to carry out your everyday life somewhat normally.
Or, you may have been put under an extreme scenario where your doctor intentionally induced physical symptoms onto you. Here, you may have submitted to medical interventions that were, in reality, unnecessary. This is otherwise diagnosed as Munchausen by proxy. If you were made the victim of this, you may now be experiencing mental anguish and emotional distress over the undue turmoil you put your body through.
How do I prove this in my medical misconduct claim?
Claiming that your doctor’s negligent behaviors and actions subsequently led to your mental health issues is a complex argument to prove. This is because, unlike physical injuries and illnesses, mental illnesses are intangible and difficult to show evidence of. So, before making this case, we ask that you sit down with us for a serious legal evaluation. Here, we may explore potential ways to connect your mental health diagnosis with your medical malpractice accident. Namely, we may ask you to seek psychiatric help and collect as many relevant medical records as possible, if you have not done so already.
If you need legal representation fast, a talented New York City medical malpractice attorney is prepared to step up. The team at Mark L. Bodner, P.C. looks forward to meeting you, working with you, and helping you.