Hospital patients are injured every year due to various types of actions that fall under the category of hospital malpractice. These include medical negligence, medical errors, dangerous drug interactions, surgical errors, and the otherwise incompetence of medical staff. Patients in hospitals in or around Miami Gardens and throughout the State of Florida face the risk of one or more of these and other failures made by medical personnel. Many times, these errors can lead to hospital acquired infections (HAIs). In fact, on any given day, 25 hospital patients acquire at least one HAI.
Hospitals generally employ nurses, medical technicians, and paramedics. If one of these hospital workers causes an injury to a patient through their negligence, the hospital may be held liable for the patient’s injuries. However, if the nurse working under the supervision of a doctor causes injury to a patient, the doctor may be held liable for medical malpractice.
Most doctors are not employed by the hospital itself. However, in some cases they may be an employee, agent, or independent contractor for the hospital.
Many times a patient admitted to the hospital will sign a form acknowledging that the doctor is not a hospital employee. However, when it comes to emergency room medical malpractice, in the rush of caring for the patient, the patient is often not told that the doctor is not a hospital employee. Therefore, if a patient suffers malpractice in the emergency rooms setting, they can often sue the hospital regardless of what they were not told.
To accurately determine who is liable for your injuries in a medical care setting, it is important to discuss your case with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer serving the Miami Gardens area.
Despite the continual increase in medical technology and state-of-the-art facilities in the healthcare field, thousands of hospital errors occur every year. Humans are also naturally prone to making mistakes, even when perfection is the goal. Regardless of whether a medical professional makes an honest mistake or acts out of total disregard for the patient’s health, hospitals and medical facilities must be attentive to and held accountable for any injuries, other harm, or death caused by their employees or agents.
Hospital malpractice comes in various forms, including:
- Surgical errors;
- Hospital infection;
- Failure to treat an illness or infection;
- Failure to order the proper tests;
- Improper use of a medical device;
- Wrong site surgery;
- Object left in the body during surgery;
- Failure to stabilize a patient;
- Administering the wrong drug;
- Administering an overdose of a drug;
- Administering a drug with deadly interactions;
- Failure to refer to a specialist;
- Failure to properly interpret a lab test or x-ray;
- Failure to stabilize the patient;
- Mixing up a patient’s records;
- Improperly treating a condition; and
- Failure to provide timely care to a patient.
