How Medical Malpractice Can Affect You Mentally
December 2019 - Medical malpractice is often the stuff of nightmares: many of us don't want to
think about how it would affect us mental and physically if it were to ever happen to us. We put so much fundamental
faith in doctors that the thought of them betraying us or making a mistake can truly shake us to the core. If you have
suffered from medical malpractice and are worried that it is starting to affect you, then here are some reasons why
this may play a role in your mental health.
The Effects
There are a number of situations in which medical malpractice can affect us mentally:
- The trauma of seeing a loved one suffer, or indeed of losing a loved one
- Being put on unhelpful and inefficient medication
- An Incorrect diagnosis
- A delay in diagnosis (and the consequences of this)
The psychological effects of all of the above can be catastrophic if we don't receive the right help so
it's imperative that you seek justice if you believe you have been a victim of this.
Visiting www.the-medical-negligence-experts.co.uk for more information is advised if you feel this is the case.
Any shake-up or challenging period in our lives can cause us to experience mental health problems. In
fact, it's estimated that around a quarter of us will experience some form of psychiatric condition at some point in
our lifetime. These include:
- Anxiety: a sense that something bad is going to happen which is accompanied by symptoms of panic
attacks, shortness of breath and sometimes even nausea
- Depression: despite the common misconception that depression is a general feeling of low mood, it is
actually a more complex and profoundly debilitating illness. Not being able to leave your bed, or indeed feeling
anything quite emotionally, are just two symptoms of this condition
Medical malpractice could be the trigger for some people, particularly if they were badly neglected by a
medical professional. To find out whether you have developed one or both of these conditions as a result, it
is strongly advised that you seek help and advice from a psychologist or doctor.
PTSD
If medical negligence has been severe enough to make life-changing alterations to your body, or if you
found yourself awake during surgery, then this can sometimes cause post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). It's been
found that PTSD after anesthesia can easily develop
after seemingly temporary anxiety symptoms. Post-traumatic stress
disorder arises when we struggle to process a traumatizing incident and often results in our brain recreating the
incident again and again, which can be emotionally painful to those who suffer from it.
If you feel as if you may have developed mental health issues as a result of poor medical treatment,
then the first step you must take is to speak to a doctor. Getting help is the first and most important step in the
process. After that, you should consider more formal action - whether it's seeing a psychologist or carrying out legal
action against the accused professional.
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