People go to hospitals around the country everyday for different reasons. Some are admitted for overnight stays due to in-patient procedures and treatments, such as surgeries, or for the treatment of serious illnesses. Others may require diagnostic exams or other treatments that may be done as outpatient procedures. Whether the reason for a hospital visit is significant or minor, people often expect to leave feeling better or on the road to recovery. Patients and their families often don’t anticipate hospital negligence, but alas, it does happen.
With medical errors now being the third leading cause of death in the United States, more light is being shed on the subject as to how and why these medical mistakes are happening. While some medical errors result from individual physicians prescribing the wrong treatment plans or misdiagnosing patient, in some cases, a medical facility (such as a hospital) is found liable in its entirety for the overall neglect of a patient. When this happens, a hospital negligence lawsuit may result.
According to the ABPLA Board, medical negligence can occur in many different ways. This may not be due to one specific physician at a hospital, but instead, can be due to hospital protocols and/or a medical team’s decision or error. Some examples of hospital negligence include:
- Misdiagnosis
- Medication errors
- Poor follow-up or aftercare
- Premature discharge
- Misinterpreting results
- Failure to order proper testing
- Failure to recognize symptoms
- Not taking appropriate patient history into consideration
- Surgical errors, including wrong site surgery and unnecessary operations
The Office of Disease and Health Promotion has also raised awareness on another form of hospital negligence: hospital-acquired infections. The organization reports that at any given time, about 1 in 25 inpatients have an infection related to hospital care. Because hospitals are usually treating a significant amount of ill individuals, it is their duty to ensure these illnesses do not spread to other patients. Without taking proper precautions, harmful viruses, fungi, and bacteria can spread throughout the hospital. In other cases, a hospital-acquired infection may not be due to the spread of a contagious illness, but rather from neglecting to follow important safety protocols that can put patients at risk for urinary tract infections, surgical site infections, and so on.
If you were the victim of hospital negligence and you’re waiting to receive a settlement from a medical malpractice lawsuit, contact USClaims today if you’d like to explore other options. We may be able to offer you your lawsuit money sooner.
