When making an appointment with a doctor, a lot of people choose by location and convenience; however, patients should seriously look up their doctor’s background and credentials and take them into consideration.
There is a wealth of free information about your physician’s credentials out there. Most states have free websites where you simply input their name and their background will be pulled. In Virginia, the most common would be to look at the Virginia Board of Medicine Doctor Profile’s located here: http://www.vahealthprovider.com/
Some of the factors that may come up on the search and should be considered are:
- Are they licensed? Probably one of the most important one listed, if when searching your state’s Department of Health practitioner profile, you find your physician is unlicensed but still practicing, this is illegal, and you should definitely avoid at all costs.
- Are they board-certified? Most doctors are board-certified, so it may be saying something for those who are not. You may also want to verify that a doctor is actually board-certified by visiting the American Board of Medical Specialities (ABMS) here: http://www.abms.org/
- Where did the doctor do their residency or go to school?
- How long has the doctor been practicing?
- Have they published any medical records or findings?
- Does the doctor have any medical malpractice records? The most important factor past initial licensing that you should look for, is whether or not your doctor has had any medical malpractice lawsuits against them. This is incredibly serious and could potentially save your life or a lifetime of suffering.
Lastly, there are many review sites to look through by inputting your doctor’s name into Google. Although patient reviews are subjective, they are to be taken into consideration if your physician has many bad ratings.
Contact a medical malpractice lawyer Charlottesville VA trusts if you believe you may have been injured due to a physician or the hospital’s negligence. Martin Wren, P.C. has many experienced attorneys that can help you with a free consultation at 434-817-3100.
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