Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Missouri

Doctor not disclosing important information.

Can a doctor be held liable for not

disclosing information about a

medical condition? Specifically my

mothers doctor knew that she had

a broken back going back nearly a

year now. He never told her about

the break, she has been in

enormous pain - while the doctor

told her to 'Suck It Up'. Finally she

demanded an MRI - and when she

got one, the doctor that did the MRI

showed her the break. Mom later

found out that the doctor knew

about the break a year ago. The

reason he knew a year ago was

because she had fell, and was

immediately having pains - and so

asked the doctor for an x-ray, after

a week of delay he finally agreed

and after having taken the x-ray,

he told my mother at the time that

he didn't see anything wrong - and

that as for the pain, she should just

'suck it up'. There are now

ruptured discs as well as 'spurs'

(not sure what that is yet myself).

We are looking into seeing if there

is possible proof that the other

problems may be due to negligence

in treating the break.


Asked on 10/27/08, 1:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Spencer Farris The S.E. Farris Law Firm

Re: Doctor not disclosing important information.

What you have described is unusual and not what a patient should expect from a doctor. I often hear stories that make me think "no way this happened" - either the client got it wrong, made it up, or didn't hear all the facts. Occasionally, though, stories this hard to believe are true, and we file a lawsuit.

More often, there is a miscommunication between the doctor and patient, and not the type of mistake that apparently occurred here. Either way, you owe it to your peace of mind to look further into the matter.

I don't mean to cast aspersions on you- you should look at the medical records immediately! If the x-ray report or some other document shows that the doctor knew about the fracture and did nothing, your family should do something, whether that be a lawsuit or a complaint to the state disciplinary board.

My firm (and other trial lawyers) review matters like this every day, and I would be honored to discuss this further with you, at no initial charge.

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Answered on 10/28/08, 11:38 am


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