The care you receive from a pain management doctor can have a major impact on your daily quality of life. Many who seek this kind of care are doing so when other specialists cannot find a treatable cause, making this a last option for people who are often desperate for relief. If your pain management physician has failed to adequately assess and treat your pain, you may be eligible to take legal action.
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Pierce Skrabanek is dedicated to providing quality legal representation to injury victims. Our experienced team of medical malpractice lawyers is well-versed in cases of inadequate pain management care and is willing to help you fight for your rights. If you have suffered due to this inappropriate care, you can contact us online or by phone at (832) 690-7000.
Pain management is a skill that most physicians need to be knowledgeable of, at least to a degree. However, for patients with significant chronic pain, your doctor may also refer you to a pain management physician who specializes in treating pain.
This specialty requires additional education and training and, often, a specialty in the type of pain they work with, such as spinal, cancer, fibromyalgia, or other conditions that cause chronic pain.
Part of the role of a pain management doctor or any physician treating pain is to follow the standard of care. This is the level of care that a reasonable and appropriate physician may provide. When a provider fails to follow that standard of care, this can be an example of medical malpractice.
To bring a successful medical malpractice case, a patient usually needs to show four main things:
When we discuss inadequate treatment of pain, the short answer is that, yes, your physician can refuse to provide pain meds based on the situation.
Your doctor is tasked with using their clinical judgment to determine whether pain medication is a necessary step in meeting the standard of care. However, if they refuse to provide appropriate pain meds when other reasonable professionals would provide them, this may also be a form of malpractice or negligence.
There is no shortage of research in the last two decades showing the disparity of pain control between racial and gender groups. A recent article in JAMA further explored the relationship between racial bias and the pain outcomes between black and white patients. The findings showed that black patients faced more negative medical and pain management outcomes than their white counterparts.
These variations in the quality of treatment can be found between male and female patients in both research and clinical practices. A 2024 fact sheet addressing gender bias in pain management showed that women tend to receive more psychological referrals following reports of pain than men. Additionally, women are required to show higher levels of debilitation than men before their symptoms are seen as legitimate.
Managing appropriate care in pain management is a delicate balance and part of why proper pain management specialists undergo so much additional education and training.
With an increase in opiate lawsuits due to the misrepresentation and misuse of opiates and narcotics, physicians may not be well educated on the appropriate needs. The use of these medications may fall short of meeting the standard of care.
This failure to appropriately treat pain leads to unnecessary prolonged suffering for their patients as well as the potential for additional injury. Some of the ways in which negligent pain management care may appear in clinical practice include issues like medication error or surgery error. Negligent care from a physician or blatant malpractice can be a reason to sue your pain management doctor.
Examples of situations brought on by negligence may include:
If you are dealing with chronic or intense pain and your pain management doctor is not listening to your complaints, you may be wondering: can I sue my pain management doctor?
Considering all the factors above, the answer is: possibly yes, you might have a case. The best way to know for sure is to talk to an experienced attorney. You can call Pierce Skrabenek at (832) 690-7000 or reach out to us online.
We can help you determine if you have a case by determining if the situation is likely to meet the criteria of negligence, which involves three points:
Establishing that you had a relationship with your doctor as a patient means establishing that they had a duty to you. Part of this duty is to provide adequate care according to the standard of care. This relationship can generally be established with documentation from your provider, including discharge documentation, physician notes, or intake paperwork.
The next step to establishing negligence is to show that the physician somehow failed to fulfill their duty to you. In the case of pain management, this will generally surround inadequate pain control or overprescription of pain medication against the standard of care. This may be shown by providing medical records, prescription records, or documentation from a second opinion.
The next step in a successful lawsuit is showing that the breach of care caused you harm. This may be in the form of a lost job, pain and suffering, or further injury. This may be supported by witness statements from friends and family, documentation from your previous employer to show your reason for termination was related to your pain, or documentation of further injuries sustained because of inadequately managed pain.
One of the first steps in establishing validity for your claim against your pain management doctor is to find a second opinion. Documentation from another provider that shows what your previous physician may have missed or reflects a dramatically different treatment plan or diagnosis provides the initial framework of your case. Beyond seeking this second opinion, there are other things you may do to bolster your case.
It is critical that you follow the plan of care your initial physician provides. For example, if your physician refers you to physical therapy for an injury to treat the pain before prescribing narcotics, but you do not attend but still experience pain, this is not sufficient for malpractice. Though the narcotics will likely take away your pain, the standard of care requires physicians to consider non-narcotic options first.
However, suppose you engage in physical therapy for months with no reduction in pain. If your physician fails to provide adequate follow-up to determine why the intervention is not working and does not work with you on additional strategies for pain management, this might be considered negligence.
If you have followed the treatment plan your provider has given you but have concerns about consistent pain, keeping documentation is critical. It can benefit your case to keep records of the dates and times of appointments or conversations discussing your concerns and your physician’s response. This may be used to show a pattern of your physician’s failure to address your concerns and manage your pain appropriately.
Additional documentation that may support your case includes anything from second or third opinions that may show a dramatically different assessment or treatment, pharmacy records, etc.
One of the first considerations when suing for inadequate pain management is the timeline. Each state provides a statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims, which limits the time you have to file a lawsuit. Each state has its own guidelines for the timeframe, but most of the time, the statute of limitations will be anywhere from 1-3 years from the time of the incident or the time you became aware of the injury.
In many medical malpractice cases, one of the difficulties of making a case relates to a full understanding of medical terminology and the many pieces that may affect a clinician’s judgment. It can be difficult to make a compelling argument if you are unfamiliar with the complexities of the type of services you require. This is where it is critical to work with a knowledgeable law firm.
Meeting the burden of proof is often the most difficult part of a medical malpractice case. A recent article on the anatomy of a malpractice lawsuit discusses the burden of proof in a medical malpractice case, meeting the standard of a preponderance of evidence. This standard is lower than the criminal requirement of beyond a reasonable doubt but still requires adequate support for a jury to believe it is more likely than not that the physician was negligent in your pain management.
In situations where you successfully win a medical malpractice suit, you may still encounter barriers to recovering your full amount of damages. In recent years, we have seen some examples of tort reform that may result in a cap on compensation for noneconomic damages. So, while your physical costs of additional medical care for your injuries may be covered, any additional losses you suffered, such as quality of life or relationships, may not be compensated at full value.
People in search of pain management care are often people who are desperate for relief. Chronic pain from an injury or illness can be devastating, and you rely on your physician to listen to your concerns and provide appropriate evaluation and treatment for your pain.
If you suspect negligence or malpractice from your pain management physician regarding their failure to provide adequate pain relief, you should contact Pierce Skrabenek online or by phone at (832) 690-7000.
When you contact us and schedule a free case consultation, we can discuss your situation. This time can help us understand your experience and provide our insight on the legal approach that may be most appropriate for your situation. No one should suffer because they lack a medical background to stand against a negligent physician or facility.
