How to protect your medical care from false accusations

False accusations are everywhere in society, and in the health area, they are more common than we can imagine. And for you to be able to protect yourself from false accusations, good arguments are not enough, it is necessary to have proof. Therefore, we present to you Apolo Safe Clinic, a tool that brings security to your care and prevents health professionals from being unfairly accused.

You have certainly heard about the judicialization of health, where “judicialization of health care” describes the use of rights-based litigation to demand access to pharmaceuticals and medical treatments. This problem is implicitly linked to private consultations carried out in the most diverse clinics or doctors' offices.

The growth of judicialization concerning health has become something of concern for the most diverse specialties in the area, which has led physicians in general, and surgeons, in particular, to seek Medical Liability Insurance for their protection. Professionals in the area of Dentistry have also had this same concern, for this reason, Dentist Liability Insurance has also been in great demand. But did you know that in addition to contracting this type of insurance, you can start your security through the system for clinics that you use? Continue reading and we will explain how this is possible.

Before we continue, we need to know: Do you already know the system for health clinics Ninsaúde Apolo? The Ninsaúde Apolo medical software has an agile and complete agenda, personalized electronic medical records for each specialty, and with legal validity, teleconsultation, financial control, health insurance billing, and much more. Schedule a demo or try the Ninsaúde Apolo medical clinic system right now!

It is possible to state that in the current scenario, approximately 7% of Brazilian doctors face some type of lawsuit, whether in the civil, criminal, or administrative area. Compared to the US average, where the number reaches 9% when it comes to doctors responding to some process, we can say that the number of doctors who go through this situation is quite high. About the specialties, we can say that the main areas that suffer judicialization in health are: Gynecology and Obstetrics (27.14%), Orthopedics and Traumatology (15.71%), Plastic Surgery and General Surgery, both with 10%, and other specialties such as Cardiology, Pediatrics, and Ophthalmology, which account for less than 10% of cases.

Judicialization in the area of dentistry has also become recurrent in the courts. In Brazil, hundreds of lawsuits have been registered in recent years and more than 40% of cases were linked to the specialty of implant dentistry. Usually, the accusation alleges a lack of quality in the work performed by the professional or even failure to provide all the necessary information to patients, something also common in accusations made by patients in the medical field.

Common accusations in the judicialization of health

Before we talk about how to protect yourself, it is necessary to understand what exactly you need to protect yourself from. In this sense, it is important to know which types of accusations are most common in the judicialization of health. Among them are:

Overdose - Caused by the accidental or intentional use of a medication, whose maximum dose was specified in the leaflet;
Efficacy of the drug - Just like overdose, its opposite is also cited in court cases. Therefore, the lack of effectiveness of certain medications prescribed by the health professional may be one of the reasons that lead the patient to bring the Judiciary into action;
Relationship - Problems in the relationship between the professional and the patient also generate inconvenience. In these cases, the patient can claim that he was poorly attended to, humiliated, or experienced an embarrassing situation;
Medical negligence, malpractice, or imprudence - In addition to the aforementioned factors related to medications, accusations may also occur alleging the inappropriate use of medical equipment, lack of hygiene, and asepsis, as well as surgeries or any other procedures in which the patient does not obtain the desired result. The patient may also claim that he was not adequately instructed regarding his treatment;
Sexual harassment - Cases of harassment are frequently reported by several patients, not only female but also male, whether they are young or even older people;
Discrimination - Accusations involving discrimination within offices may relate to racial, religious, and social discrimination, concerning the patient's sexual orientation, among others.

How to protect your calls from false accusations?

The first decision to be taken, so that you can have protection in cases of false accusations, is to have Medical or Dental Liability Insurance. These types of insurance are intended to protect health professionals from possible damages, guaranteeing the payment of compensation and legal advice. These types of insurance are intended to protect health professionals from possible damages, guaranteeing the payment of compensation and legal advice. Therefore, attorney fees, sureties, succumbence, and other attorney expenses with transportation, accommodation, and similar expenses may be covered by the insurance you contracted.

The second point is to work with a tool that can provide proof that the accusations are false. For this, we recommend using the Ninsaúde Apolo system for clinics, as with it you will be able to take advantage of the Apolo Safe Clinic* functionality. Apolo Safe Clinic was developed to bring more security to health professionals because it allows their appointments to be recorded. In addition to its main objective, which is to avoid medical litigation, another advantage it has is that even if a patient raises false accusations and takes them to the Court of Justice, Apolo Safe Clinic can be used as an auxiliary tool for insurance doctor, allowing the health professional to prove his innocence.

But after all, is recording consultations legal under the law? Simply put, yes. The recordings made by Apolo Safe Clinic are only audio files, that is, there are no images in the records. It is not possible to use or exploit it improperly by third parties, and, even more important, is the protection of the image when there is an unauthorized recording, on video, by the patient. Thus, it is understood that if the patient is authorized to perform such recording, the health professional is also authorized.

How to use the Apolo Safe Clinic

Next to the chart screen of the medical software Ninsaúde Apolo, the health professional will be able to record the entire conversation with the patient during the attendance, through audio capture. This information will be attached to the patient's medical record, but it is important to emphasize that this action does not replace the medical records, serving only as a complement. To use the functionality, you must first activate it in the Applications menu, in the Apolo Store. After activation, a microphone button on the right side of the screen and the medical record indicates that the audio has been captured, and to start recording, just press this button.

In addition to storing the audio files within the patient's history, this data can also be accessed through the Apolo Safe Clinic panel, a screen that only the clinic's health professionals will have access to. In this area of the system, the health professional will also be able to print a notice to place in his office. This warning is intended to make the patient aware of the audio capture, something that also helps to avoid possible lawsuits. In addition, it is also recommended to sign a consent form, which, when well prepared and easily understood by the patient, contributes to a safe and quality professional practice.

It is important to emphasize that this type of recording is only intended to protect against false accusations, therefore it should not be shared on social networks, Whatsapp conversations, or the press. Making this type of information available to third parties could result in serious consequences, and in addition to being liable for the violation of voice, the health professional could also be sued for breach of medical confidentiality.

*Apolo Safe Clinic is a tool available in the Ninsaúde Apolo medical software that has an additional cost. For more information, contact our sales team.

So, did you like the tips? Keep following the blog for more content like this. Are you a healthcare professional but still don't use management software? Get to know the system for Ninsaúde Apolo clinics.

Written by Michele Martins
Translated by Karina Romão