If You Weren’t Provided an Appropriate Patient Dismissal Letter, You Might Have a Claim for Malpractice

Patients in Wyoming trust their doctors to protect their health. They rely on physicians to recognize abnormalities in their health, to diagnose problems, and to provide treatment that either improves their condition or at least controls it and prevents it from growing rapidly worse.

When a physician terminates the doctor-patient relationship, the patient is no longer able to receive the ongoing level of care that they have relied on. They often suffer serious harm as a result. In some cases, the act of terminating the relationship can be characterized as patient abandonment, and the patient or their family members may be able to seek recovery through a medical malpractice lawsuit or wrongful death claim.

State regulations in Wyoming require physicians to follow specific requirements when terminating the doctor-patient relationship. This includes providing patients with an appropriate patient dismissal letter. Steps required will vary depending on the situation, so it is important to talk to a knowledgeable malpractice attorney to find out whether a doctor could be liable for patient abandonment. Here are some of the factors to consider.

Regulatory Requirements in Wyoming

Doctors may choose to dismiss a patient and end their relationship with that patient for numerous reasons. State regulations do not require a physician to have a specific reason for terminating the relationship, but they do require doctors to take appropriate steps to ensure that a patient is protected during and after the dismissal process. Moreover, state and federal laws prohibit doctors from dismissing patients on the grounds of protected factors such as race, gender, and religion.

With regard to dismissal requirements, 052-3 Wyo. Code R. §§ 3-5 requires a physician who wants to terminate a doctor-patient relationship to:

• Provide written notification to the patient that the physician will no longer treat that patient
• Notify the patient at least 30 days prior to the termination date
• Send the notification via certified mail (return receipt requested)
• Inform the patient that the doctor will continue to provide care to the patient for 30 days or until the patient provides the name and address of the patient’s new doctor (whichever occurs first)

Notably, the requirements do not apply when a doctor is treating a patient under emergency conditions, such as in a hospital emergency room.

The regulations also establish requirements doctors must adhere to when they want to move or close a medical office. Patients must have ample opportunity to learn about the change and their right to have their records transferred or provided to them.

When an Inappropriate Dismissal Letter Can Be Considered Malpractice

When a doctor fails to provide care according to reasonable standards in the medical industry and a patient suffers harm as a result, then the doctor can potentially be held liable for malpractice. It is necessary to establish what the prevailing standard should have been under the circumstances, show how the doctor failed to meet that standard, and demonstrate the harm caused by this breach of duty.

If a doctor informed a patient that the relationship was terminated immediately, without giving the patient time to find a new physician, that would violate regulatory requirements and also likely be considered an unreasonable action that could be considered malpractice. However, the patient would need to prove that they suffered actionable harm because of the abrupt termination. For instance, if the termination caused a delay in diagnosing a life-threatening illness and the patient suffered irreversible organ damage, that patient could seek damages for those injuries.

As another example, if a doctor terminated the doctor-patient relationship without providing any dismissal letter, the patient might believe that the relationship continued and that their care was under control when, in fact, they needed urgent treatment that they did not receive because the doctor was no longer monitoring their case.  

Of, if a doctor terminated the relationship with the patient with less than 30 days’ notice while a patient needed regular ongoing treatment to manage a critical condition, that might not have allowed sufficient time for the patient to locate a new provider and their care regimen might have been interrupted, allowing a dangerous condition such as cancer to worsen.

Concerns About the Way You’ve Been Treated by Your Doctor? Contact a Medical Malpractice Attorney Today

Doctors are not liable for malpractice every time a patient’s condition gets worse. But when a member of a medical team fails to provide care that meets appropriate standards and that failure causes a patient to suffer harm, then that medical professional and possibly the facility they work for could be held liable and required to pay compensation.

At Ragain & Clark, PC, we’ve been helping victims of medical malpractice in Wyoming for decades, and we know how to succeed in enabling patients to recover the resources they need to move forward after their losses. For a free, confidential consultation to discuss the assistance we might be able to provide in your case, call us at 307-388-6400 or contact us online now.