When a patient undergoes treatment in a New York hospital, he or she expects that the hospital staff will help them with their medical needs. Unfortunately, hospitals are more understaffed than ever, and hospital negligence occurs regularly. When hospital administrators and their medical staff fail to meet the standard of care, patients can become seriously injured or even face fatal injuries.
If you or your loved ones have been victims of hospital negligence in New York, it’s important that you discuss your case with an attorney. Hospital negligence cases are complex, and the attorneys at Dell & Dean, PLLC have extensive experience navigating these cases successfully. Our legal team will work with you throughout the entire process so you can focus on your recovery. Contact Dell & Dean, PLLC to schedule a complimentary case evaluation.
Common Types of Hospital Negligence
Many different forms of medical negligence can occur in a hospital setting. Whenever medical treatment at a hospital fails below the standard of care and causes a patient to suffer an injury, hospital negligence occurs. If you suspect you’ve suffered harm because of hospital negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other damages. Some of the most common types of injuries caused by hospital negligence include the following:
- Dispensing the wrong type of medication or the wrong dosage of mediation
- Amputation of the incorrect body part
- Infection from amputation
- Bed sores due to laying in one position too long without being moved
- MSSA, MRSA, clostridium difficile, and other serious infections patients can acquire in a hospital
- Failure to monitor the patient’s fluid levels
- Failure to order the correct types of diagnostic tests
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to diagnose a condition correctly
- Delayed diagnosis
- Birth injuries
- Emergency room errors
- Improper patient supervision
- General failure to provide a duty of care
- Failure to monitor patients adequately after a surgery
- Incorrectly reading medical records and diagnostic
- Failure to administer an antibiotic
- Pregnancy and birth injuries
- Surgical errors
Additionally, forcing a patient with symptoms of a serious medical condition to wait too long in the emergency room can cause injuries. For example, suppose a hospital makes a patient with symptoms of a heart attack wait too long in the emergency. If the patient has a fatal heart attack in the emergency room and suffers severe complications or dies, the hospital can be held accountable through a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Injuries Caused by Hospital Negligence
Many different types of injuries can happen when hospitals fail to meet their duty of care. The type of injuries caused by negligence depends on the type of error. For example, when an anesthesiologist fails to administer the correct amount of anesthesia or monitor the patient properly, the patient can lose oxygen, leading to brain damage or death.
When doctors miss a diagnosis or wait too long to diagnose a patient properly, the condition can worsen. For example, if a hospital fails to diagnose a patient with cancer, cancer can continue to spread and become terminal. When surgeons make errors during surgery, they can puncture a patient’s organ, cause infections due to instruments inside the patient’s body, or cause a patient’s death.
Finally, negligence can result from a hospital’s failure to hire enough staff to monitor patients and administer medication properly. When staff is overworked, they’re more likely to prescribe the wrong medication or dose or fail to consider potentially serious interactions that a medication could have with medication the patient already takes.
Do I Have a Hospital Negligence Claim?
Some patients receive neglectful or even abusive treatment from doctors and other hospital staff. As a result, they may suffer even more serious harm, possibly leading to a patient’s untimely death. When hospital negligence occurs, some hospital administrators believe all they need to do is apologize to patients. Occasionally an official employee will speak to the victim directly to mitigate the hospital’s liability.
As an injured patient, you may wonder whether you have a right to pursue compensation for your injuries. Discussing your case with a skilled attorney can help determine whether you have a valid hospital negligence claim for compensation. You may be entitled to compensation if you can prove that the hospital employee or healthcare professional’s actions had a direct, causal relationship with your current injuries.
Proving Liability and Recovering Compensation
You must prove the hospital administration or staff caused your injuries to recover compensation. New York is a comparative negligence state. Any amount of compensation you can obtain through a medical malpractice lawsuit will be reduced by the percentage of fault. A doctor in the emergency room may have failed to diagnose due promptly. Still, you may have yet to come in for follow-up care after the doctor made a proper diagnosis, causing your illness to become more severe. Working with an attorney can help you prove that the hospital is responsible for your injuries and limit liability.
An attorney can also help you carefully estimate all the damages you have suffered and will suffer in the future due to hospital negligence. You may be entitled to compensation for your medical expenses, including medical care you need to treat the injuries caused by the hospital’s negligence. You can also pursue compensation for your lost income, loss of earning capacity, pain, suffering, and other damages.
Discuss Your Medical Negligence Case with a New York Attorney
The attorneys at Dell & Dean, PLLC understand what it takes to successfully obtain compensation for victims of hospital negligence in New York. Our trial-ready attorneys understand how to challenge hospitals, identify policy violations, and uncover evidence of hospital negligence. We will work diligently to obtain records, interview hospital staff, and conduct a thorough investigation.
While you focus on your recovery, we will pursue the compensation you need and deserve for your injuries. If you’ve suffered a personal injury due to an emergency room error or hospital negligence, contact Dell & Dean, PLLC to schedule an initial consultation to discuss your case.
