Hospital Negligence

What is Hospital Negligence?

Patients turn to hospitals in their time of need looking for compassion and adequate care. Increasingly, however, corporate-owned hospitals are often understaffed or are unwilling to hire qualified attendants, resulting in staff negligence of a patient’s basic needs, or, in some cases, direct abuse and hospital negligence.

Hospital negligence may occur whenever a hospital staff member or employee has failed to meet the standard of care as determined by the medical community. Although negligence or abuse may be at the hands of an individual – including a physician, anesthesiologist, nurse, or other hospital employee – the hospital may be deemed responsible for the actions or omissions of their employees. This is known as respondent superior, or vicarious liability, and it means that an employer, such as a hospital, is responsible for negligent conduct by its employees.

In summary, negligence occurs when a duty has been breached and that breach causes injury or harm to a patient.

Hospital negligence, and medical malpractice cases in general, are extremely complicated as the bodies of law related to medical negligence is not only arduous, but most healthcare facilities have teams of lawyers and insurance carriers who will spend a lot of money to ensure that they are not held liable if and when they have made a mistake. For this reason, it is important to discuss your legal rights with an experienced hospital negligence attorney.

Examples of Serious Hospital Negligence

The most serious hospital negligence or hospital malpractice cases involve permanent injury or death. Cases in which a person has suffered the loss of the use of a limb, amputation, permanent brain injury, or death are some of the most complex to handle. Other types of hospital negligence include:

–Over-medication or prescription errors
–Failure to diagnose or misdiagnose an illness, disease, or injury
–Surgical errors
–Injuries from falls
–Birth injuries
–Retained sponge or object
-Improper care resulting in bedsores or serious infection

Reasons for Hospital Negligence

A hospital may be liable for hospital negligence if they have failed to properly supervise or train staff, for failing to ensure that non-employees have the proper credentials (e.g., an attending physician who is not an employee, but rather an independent contractor), or for not having enough staff to provide adequate care to the patients.

Steps to Take if You Have Experienced Hospital Negligence

If you believe that you or a family member has suffered an injury or death due to hospital negligence, it is important to gather as much information as possible so that you can present it to an experienced and dedicated advocate or lawyer. Things that you should start gathering include:

-List of medical providers for the last 5 years
-Timeline: Create a timeline beginning from when you first starting experiencing symptoms, to hospitalization, to the injury
-Make note of your current condition
-Start collecting medical records. A lot of medical malpractice law firms have their own medical advisors and/or team on staff. If you have medical records, then they can begin reviewing them immediately to determine whether or not you have a case.
-Start journaling. You should begin journaling your symptoms, changes in physical or emotional behavior, changes in daily activity level, etc.

The MedMalFirm.com law firm is comprised of a dedicated and talented team of lawyers with years of experience in the medical malpractice field, and in particular with hospital negligence cases. Our medical malpractice lawyers have won numerous state and national awards for their dedication to victims who have been injured or killed in hospital and medical malpractice cases.

Our law firm has the financial and legal resources to put your case in the best light, and better ensure that the judgment or settlement that you receive best compensates you for your suffering and loss.

Contact us for a free case consultation today or call us at 877-887-4850. It is important that you speak with a medical malpractice lawyer as soon as possible as there are certain state-instituted time limitations in which you have to bring a hospital negligence lawsuit.