It is a stressful experience to go to the hospital to receive treatment. You may be anxious about surgeries, invasive diagnostic exams, and blood tests, but one thing you don’t expect is to be a victim of medical negligence.
Not receiving the minimal standard of care in a hospital can leave you with significant injuries and losses that put a strain on both your health and finances. If you have suffered negligence at a hospital, you may be able to file a hospital negligence claim against the provider who failed in performing their duty of care.
But can you pursue legal action against the hospital too? Let’s break it down.
Medical negligence, also called medical malpractice, occurs when a healthcare provider’s conduct falls below the expected standard of care, and thereby, results in injuries to patients. To begin such a claim, you must first establish that the provider owed you a duty of care, meaning a doctor-patient relationship existed.
You will then need to show that the provider breached that responsibility by not providing the expected level of care. Proving this involves demonstrating that another professional in the same field would not have made the same mistake. In Delaware and Maryland, this process involves getting an affidavit of merit from an expert witness who certifies that your claim is valid.
Finally, you must establish that the provider’s conduct resulted in compensable injuries (i.e., injuries for which you can be compensated).
Any medical professional can be held negligent, from lab technicians to nurses and doctors. The following are some of the most common forms of medical malpractice that occur in hospitals.
Not receiving the right medications can lead to side effects while also preventing you from getting the treatment that you need to address your existing conditions. Doctors can fail to thoroughly assess your medical history or could prescribe medications that could interact with other drugs you’re taking. Additionally, a medication error could also occur at the hospital pharmacy. The pharmacist or technician could mistake one medication for another or fail to notice that you’re taking a drug that could be dangerous to mix with the new prescription or is not supposed to be taken while pregnant.
Nurses administering medications can also make mistakes. They may give you the wrong dose or incorrect medication during procedures, leading to complications and extending your stay at the hospital.
A medical professional who fails to correctly diagnose your condition or injury could be considered negligent. This can occur if they don’t take your symptoms seriously, don’t refer you to a specialist when necessary, or don’t order diagnostic tests. A delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis can occur as a result of misinterpreting test results as well. These errors allow medical conditions to worsen and could lead you to receive treatments you don’t need or miss ones you require.
There are always risks when going through surgery, but those risks can increase exponentially if the providers involved in your care make preventable mistakes. For instance, a surgeon could operate on the wrong patient or body part, or perform the wrong procedure. They could harm internal structures like nerves or muscles, leading to long-term health problems.
Sometimes, surgeons leave instruments inside the patient, which can cause severe harm and require further surgical interventions. Additionally, patients can suffer anesthesia errors during procedures. Receiving too much or too little anesthesia can be equally catastrophic for a patient. Similarly, if the sterile field is breached or any instruments used during surgery have not been sterilized correctly, contamination can lead to health issues as well.
Healthcare facilities must monitor the mother and baby from the gestation stage to the delivery process. Failing to address maternal illnesses, delaying necessary C-sections, not monitoring fetal vital signs, and using too much force during the delivery can all lead to birth injuries. Oxygen deprivation for the baby is a serious problem that occurs all too frequently during difficult births. Many times, it can be prevented with appropriate actions by the care team.
Emergency room errors can include delayed treatment, misdiagnosis, improper discharge, and triage issues. These mistakes can lead to substantial harm or even death to patients in need of emergency care. They can occur because of a lack of communication, disorganization, and a variety of other issues at hospitals, which are often preventable and should never harm patients or their loved ones.
At all times during your visit or stay at a hospital, healthcare providers must do everything they can to prevent infections among patients. This requires maintaining cleanliness protocols and ensuring that each and every item is sterilized, as needed. If a provider fails in this duty in any way, they can introduce pathogens to patients who are already vulnerable.
After medical procedures and during hospital stays, providers must monitor patients to catch complications and make necessary adjustments to treatments. For example, patients who are bedbound must be shifted every few hours to prevent the formation of pressure ulcers (or bedsores), which can lead to serious infections. Also, safeguards should be in place to protect patients from any consequences of tripping or falling off their beds.
If you suffered injuries because of hospital negligence, filing a medical malpractice claim can help you recover your losses. Now, the question arises: who is responsible for what you suffered? Yes, the providers themselves may be liable because they breached their duty of care, but there might be other entities you can file against for damages.
The hospital is one of these. If the person who committed the negligent act is an employee of the facility, then the hospital could be legally responsible for their actions. Vicarious liability laws apply in these cases. Accordingly, the principal (say, a hospital), bears responsibility for what their agents do in the scope of their work. If the healthcare provider is not an employee, as is often the case with doctors, you will likely not be able to sue the hospital. To ensure that you are able to identify all potential defendants, it is important to speak to a medical malpractice attorney in your area.
In medical negligence cases, you can potentially seek both economic and non-economic damages. The exact compensation you may be entitled to will depend on the severity of the injuries, how they impact your life, how long it will take you to recover, and how liable the defendant is for such injuries.
Economic damages address the quantifiable losses you have sustained because of hospital negligence. For instance, these damages can cover your medical expenses, including future care, along with any special needs you may have as a result of the injury.
After suffering serious harm, you may not be able to go to work for weeks or months. You can receive compensation for the income you lost. If you can’t return to work in the same capacity or at all, you can be compensated for your lost earning potential.
If a loved one dies because of hospital negligence, you may have the right to receive damages that address funeral costs, as well as compensation for any services that your loved one provided, like childcare. You can receive the income they would have made throughout their working lifetime, too.
Some losses aren’t so simple to quantify because they don’t come with a set price tag. Non-economic damages help to cover these intangible injuries you sustained, including the physical and emotional distress you experienced.
If you can’t navigate through your days as you used to before the hospital negligence that caused your injuries, it’s possible to receive compensation for loss of enjoyment of life.
You may also be entitled to compensation for loss of consortium if a loved one died due to hospital negligence. This type of compensation strives to cover the loss of support and companionship you faced as a result.
If you have suffered losses because of hospital negligence, you have rights. Filing a lawsuit against the responsible healthcare provider and, in some instances, the hospital, allows you to receive the financial assistance you need to navigate the path forward. Because these claims are complex, it’s essential to seek a lawyer’s help. With the right legal team by your side, you can give your claim the best chance of success and effectively pursue the justice you deserve.
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