Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in North Carolina
One issue might be doctor abandonment and related is a credit bureau that won't remove a delinquency from my credit report. The "delinquency" was the fault of the credit agency. They said they tried to contact me but they had the wrong address.
As to the doctor issue, the doctor's office closed suddenly without notifying me in advance. A doctor on call gave me 1 month of medication and gave me a phone number to call to make an appointment with another doctor. (It would have been unlikely I could have found another doctor to refill my Rx within 1 month due to my medical circumstances. It would have been very dangerous to stop the medicine.) I made the appointment with the agency the on-call doctor recommended but the soonest available appointment was same day my medicine would run out. A day before the appointment the agency cancelled it and said it would be months for me to get another appointment! I explained that I was out of medication and so forth but they only recommended that I go to the ER for a refill. The doctor on call also recommended I go to the ER for a refill. The same company owns both the medical centers.
It was the company's fault I had to go the ER. They didn't give me the chance to see a regular doctor so I had to go to the ER. The ER diagnosed me with a panic attack. Also, I wasn�t given enough medication to last until I could find another doctor. The harm was also my reputation (the bizarre delinquency on my credit report), and financial. I had an emotional disability but the company, and credit bureau worsened my condition for most of this year. When the doctor office closed without warning me, they should also have made sure I had enough medication to last until I found another doctor. But they didn't. I've talked with lots of people and they either blame me or ignore me. I'm in the middle of an appeal now with the company and they seem to not have even listened to my appeal. Or, like they are trying to frustrate me. Maybe their incompetence is their way of getting rid of me as a patient. It is a free clinic and I was told I was "way ahead" of other patients , etc.
I want to get rid of the delinquency charge. I'd like the company to help, even indirectly, with my ER medical bill. I'm not sure what to do. Was this patient abandonment or something else, what can I do other than complain. Any help at all is strongly appreciated.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Unfortunately, I agree with the folks who you have spoken to. Without knowing more about why the doctor's office closed and how much notice they gave you it is hard to say if they breached any duty to you. For instance, if a license was lost, then the former doctor would have been prohibited from proscribing you more medicine. Also, depending on your medication, a longer prescription may have been illegal. Also, the new office had no duty to you until you actually attended an appointment became a patient.
You need to speak to a medical malpractice attorney.
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