What constitutes abandonment of a patient?
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What constitutes abandonment of a patient?
Abandonment is a legal claim that occurs when a physician terminates the professional relationship with a patient without reasonable notice and when continued care is medically necessary. There is no reason physicians cannot go through an entire career without ever having an abandonment claim made against them.
Can a doctor dismiss you as a patient?
But although physicians retain the legal right to dismiss patients in most cases, if a dismissal is not carried out in accordance with state laws, they may find themselves facing charges of patient abandonment as well as disciplinary action from their state medical boards.
Can a doctor just drop you as a patient?
“From a malpractice and medical board standpoint, a physician can basically discharge a patient for any reason he wants, as long as it is nondiscriminatory and doesn’t violate [the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act] or other laws, or puts the patient’s health, safety, and welfare at risk,” says Kabler.
