Medical Malpractice in Diabetes Treatment

What are "standards of care"? These are the minimum requirements for competent treatment of a medical disease or condition. A number of organizations, mainly the American Diabetes Association, have published guidelines that together make up the standards of care for treating diabetics in the United States.

If a doctor has violated these standards of care, he or she can be legally liable for the damage caused by the substandard medical care.

Some doctors are much better about following up-to-date treatment guidelines and standards than others. In diabetes, it can be important to regularly see a physician who specializes in diabetes. These doctors are called diabetologists or endocrinologists, a subspecialty of internal medicine. General internal medicine physicians can and do give excellent diabetes care, but some do not have the training, knowledge or interest to provide the high-quality care that diabetic patients need and deserve.

Standards of Care

• Complete collection of the standards of care. Your doctor should follow these standards when treating his patients for Diabetes. Composed by the physicians of the American Diabetes Association, it describes the goals a doctor must meet if he is to fulfill the minimum requirements for diabetes treatment. These include regular hemoglobin, eye, and foot testing, as well as patient education and the establishment of a clear nutrition and exercise program to minimize the cardiovascular risks of diabetes.
• 
  
• Consensus statement on general insulin use and blood sugar control.
• 
  
• [see also references 1 and 2 (glucose).]
  [it is also discussed in the comprehensive medical standards of care for diabetes treatment]
• 
  
• Prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy (blindness). This includes treatment guidelines for blood glucose control and dilated eye exams.
• 
  
• Prevention and treatment of diabetic foot disease.
• 
  
• Updated standard of care for the prevention and treatment of diabetic nephropathy (diabetic kidney disease).
• 
  
• Updated standard of care for the prevention and treatment of general diabetic neuropathy.
• 
  
• Standards for optometrists in treating diabetes-related eye disease. American Optometric Association
• 
  
• Treatment of diabetic retinopathy (blindness). American Academy of Ophthalmology
• 
  
• Managing diabetes in the long-term care setting. American Medical Directors Association
• 
  
• Standards for pancreas transplant in type I diabetes. American Diabetes Association
• 
  
• Standards for healthcare system and self-management education intervention in reduction of morbidity and mortality from diabetes. Federal Government Agency Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• 
  
• Medical guidelines for the management of diabetes mellitus : the AACE system of intensive diabetes self-management--2002 update. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

"Medical malpractice in managing diabetes", by Patrick Malone. (Reprinted with permission from Trial magazine, March 2004)

Contact Us for a free case evaluation.