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Seven Rules for How to Make an Effective Complaint
Seven Rules for How to Make an Effective Complaint
If you have a serious issue with the quality of care you or a loved one has received in a health care facility or at the hands of a licensed health care provider, you have a number of options for making a complaint to government agencies that have oversight duties. We list contact information for these agencies on other pages of this site.
Here, we talk about how to make your complaint effective.
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Rule No. 1:
Put it in writing. Oral complaints are too easy to ignore or bury. -
Rule No. 2:
Be factual. You should set out your issues in a non-emotional, non-accusatory way. Just the facts. -
Rule No. 3:
Be specific. Avoid generalities (“the hospital is guilty of negligence”). Stick with the facts of what happened. If the events occurred over a span of time, try to take notes as you go so you can reconstruct events accurately later. -
Rule No. 4:
Be concise but complete. No investigator wants to read a long letter to figure out what happened. -
Rule No. 5:
Include at least the following information: Name and address of the facility Your name, address, phone number, and relation to the patient/resident Name of the patient/resident on whose behalf the complaint is made Date(s) and time(s) of incidents Specific complaints Names of witnesses (including other health care providers, such as hospital personnel, or family members and friends) Names of staff involved Records that should be examined -
Rule No. 6:
Follow up. Ask for the results of the investigation. -
Rule No. 7:
Make complaints to multiple investigative agencies, if your issue is serious enough. See the lists we have compiled on this web site. Also consider writing your Congressman, U.S. Senator, or state representative/senator.
