Do doctors have to follow guidelines for treatment for a specific problem or are they only recommended guidelines?
When doctors are studying, they learn the various ways to diagnose and treat patients. For many illnesses and disorders, doctors have found that certain methods and treatments work better for others. Also along the way, they've learned that some treatments don't work at all, may make the situation worse, or may cause other problems. To keep doctors up to date on what treatments work best and what the general consensus is, many specialties have come up with guidelines that should be followed in order to provide the best care possible. Because every patient is different, these guidelines are not written in stone, however, they are recommended. If a doctor wants to choose another method of treatment, he or she usually has a good reason for straying from the guidelines. If anything goes wrong during a particular treatment, experts will look to see what treatment was given and if recommended guidelines were followed.
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