Medical negligence is an act of law as we must all know. Technically, we define medical negligence as an act by a health professional, which leads to injury to the patient. This includes any act of negligence, omission, or anything, that is away from the professional standards and leads to harm or injury to the patient.
We must know that medical negligence in almost all cases is to be taken into account and necessary actions can be taken against the health professional if medical negligence is proved.
We, being at the receiving end of healthcare must be aware of our basic right towards this. If at any point of treatment, the patient feels he has been affected in a bad way by the professionals providing him healthcare, he can always lodge a complaint against the medical negligence.
It will be interesting to know if we can write a proper complaint letter against medical negligence. But we also need to know the proper format and who to address. It’s very important to convey the proper message and to the right place.
The first and most important thing to know is where we are lodging our complaint. Generally, there is a regulatory authority that has been issuing the licenses of health professionals which needs to be addressed for such complaints. We can also file our complaint to the hospital administration where medical negligence happened.
The second thing is the proper identity of the person who is writing this complaint letter. It also needs information about the health professional who is reportedly responsible for medical malpractice or medical negligence.
Starting with the actual body of the complaint letter, we need to mention all the events in detail.
For example, I am writing this letter to complain about the doctor/nurse/psychologist, who did not treat me according to the protocol and standards. I was treated by them (write their name and designation and if possible, their complete professional details) on the 22nd of July 20XX, for my concern. Here, write down the reason why you needed to see the health professional.
He did not ask me proper history or examined me the way I was expected. He did not advise me of tests necessary for my condition and simply wrote a prescription without explaining to me why he was writing it or how to follow that. I was not informed about my condition properly. This led to delayed treatment, and I ended up in ER of another hospital the very next day.
I would like you to carry out a full investigation of the issue so that patients get proper healthcare the moment they enter the hospital.
In the end, you can finish the letter by thanking and mentioning your name and identity, with the date and details of your designation if you feel like so.
This helps in writing any kind of complaint letter when you wish to file a complaint against medical negligence. We have all the right to make sure that we are attended to properly because it’s a matter of our precious health and lives.
Sample Letter Template
Zara Clark
23 Lilly Street, Santa Clara Colony
Birmingham, United Kingdom
2nd August, 20XX
Dr. Bruise Ismay
Dean
Queen Victoria Hospital
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Respected Dr. Ismay,
It is stated to inform you about the recent medical negligence that occurred to me in your hospital. Last week I visited the dermatologist in your Victoria Hospital as I had some fungal infection on my toes which got worse with time. Dr. James was on duty at that time and instead of carrying out a detailed analysis of my infection, he simply had a glance at the infected area and declared it to be the athlete’s foot. I was sure it was not as worse as it looked but he insisted that I have an athlete’s foot.
He prescribed me medicines according to that diagnosis about which I was sure that he was not sure about. Even then, I complied with his directions and recommendations as he was a doctor with certainly more medical knowledge than me.
As soon as I started applying that medicine regularly according to the directions, the infected skin of my toes got worse, and blisters started to appear the next morning with fluid inside them. The level of pain and turmoil was extreme and unbearable for me. I thus immediately put an antiseptic cream over the infected area which gave me a comparatively soothing effect.
I visited another doctor’s private clinic near my residence and he told me that it was a severe case of the medical reaction of that medicine previously recommended and that it contained a chemical that was not recommended for fungal infection and such conditions of fungal issues on the skin. He then recommended and prescribed me another medicine which was also less expensive and healed my infection within a week’s regular usage.
Sir, this is undoubtedly a case of medical negligence where the doctor had no idea which medicine is suitable for sensitive skin, also because he did not analyze my infection in detail. He somehow seemed to be in a hurry which made me suffer even more later.
Hence, I want you to look deeply into the matter and check the expertise of that skin specialist so that such negligence is not repeated with other patients. Your hospital’s reputation would be at stake due to this, and the people might face irreversible loss related to their health in the long and even in the shorter run. I hope you would make sure such negligence is not repeated in the future. Thank you for your time and cooperation.
Yours sincerely,
Zara Clark
