Suing problems today.

WoW! There is a lot going on in society today. Everyday people are getting sued for more and more little things. Some people are suing movie producers because of offensive things that were in the movie. Other people are suing people because they messed up their new iPhone. In the EMS field people are getting sued for not doing things the way the patients or patient’s family thinks they should be done. Still others are being sued for a simple recording error.

Many EMS personnel are being sued because of documentation errors. In the emergency world everything must be documented. If you go to someone’s house on a call and they refuse care it must be written, signed, witnessed, and signed by the witness. If a person puts a c-collar on a patient and forgets to document a c-collar was placed on the patient the family can come back and sue by saying the proper precautions we not made in treating the patient. In the emergency world if it is not documented it was not done and that rule follows in court. If someone is suing you and there is nothing you can do to prove them wrong except what you say because you did not document it properly.

Almost all EMS personnel are taught how to properly do paper work by another member of their department or they may take classes on how to document properly. This is becoming a more prevalent issue because people are suing over every issue because they want money.