I was always taught that the way to deal with a bully was to stand up to them, not to let them take your lunch money from them and not to let them steal your football cards.
It might be that you have to take a few hits in that process but most of the time the bully doesn't like it when people stand up to them. I guess history has shown that when that happens the bully tends to disappear.
I absolutely believe that patients should have a right to question their care in times of complication and even if no communication can but them at their ease, to select a route where other people question the care to make sure it was appropriate. What I absolutely object to is the threat of litigation or regulation as a 'tire iron' to leverage some outcome out of a clinician.
"I want my money back for a complication" is not reasonable. It doesn't happen outside of dentistry and it shouldn't be a given in times where things have gone wrong, particularly when that has clearly been discussed with patients at the outset.
The threat of "I'm going to take you to the GDC if you don't give me my money back" should be referred to the GDC. If that patient ever went under those circumstances to the regulator it should be pointed out that they used this threat first to try to leverage some financial gain.
No-one should excessively profit from a complication, certainly not the dentist but again certainly not the patient, particularly one that has been appropriately warned about the procedure they have undertaken and just may not have paid any attention.
Blog Post Number: 1113
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