In hospitals, emergency rooms, and urgent care centers, the rule is (as in all medical facilities) "First, do no harm." When a hospital or emergency care facility violates that rule, a patient may die or face a lifetime with a disabling injury. If you or a loved one has been the victim of hospital negligence, talk to hospital negligence attorney Jeffrey H. Penneys, Esq.
Death or severe injury that occurs as a result of “routine” treatments or surgeries where the hospital or doctor can give no reasonable explanation for the death or worsened condition of the patient, may give cause to consider that hospital malpractice may have occurred. Whatever the reason — inadequate staffing, inefficient procedures, a heavy patient load, poor staff training — there is no excuse for placing patients in danger by providing inadequate or negligent care, and if provable, good hospital malpractice lawyers will help you file your negligence claim and give you the best chance to get hospital negligence compensation for your injuries.
Call 1-800-injury-law as soon as possible to protect your rights.
Examples of Hospital Negligence Cases
No doctor available: When a patient does not see a doctor, symptoms may go unnoticed or may be dismissed by less knowledgeable health care workers. This is hospital negligence.
Failure to run tests: A busy ER or urgent care clinic may fail to run tests that are required under expected standards of care. That failure is hospital negligence, and to not diagnose could mean an illness will go undetected and untreated.
Misreading tests, x-rays: A hasty or unqualified reading of lab tests or x-rays is hospital negligence and could mean that a patient who needs treatment will be sent home.
Inadequate staffing: When patients are left without someone to monitor their vital signs or answer their calls for help, they may not receive the care they need to prevent injury. This is hospital malpractice.
Improper processes: When hospital processes and procedures fail to handle medications properly, have safety equipment properly installed, or have rigid cleaning standards, for example, it is hospital malpractice and patient safety and well-being will be threatened.
Hospital Malpractice Lawyers and Lawsuits
As hospital negligence lawyers, we prove your medical malpractice claim and if the hospital is found negligent, then you are entitled to recover “damages” to help you return to your condition prior to the negligence.
Most catastrophic injuries or deaths in medical malpractice cases occur in hospitals, and when due to provable negligence, most such cases usually involve multiple doctors and nurses who share the fault. Most nurses are employees of the hospital (although there are many exceptions to this rule) but almost all doctors are not employees of the hospital, thus the hospital is not legally liable for any negligence of the doctors.
Patients routinely sign a "Conditions of Admission" form when they enter a hospital for any reason, and these documents clearly state that the doctors, including radiologists, emergency room physicians, and others, are "Independent Contractors," and not hospital employees. Good hospital malpractice lawyers include all doctors who are involved in the care of a patient in a hospital who suffers a significant injury or wrongful death be named as defendants, along with the hospital.
Can Hospital Negligence Lawyers Help Me Collect Compensation?
Hospital negligence from system errors can result in significant injury or death of a patient, however proving connections between negligent care and outcomes of significant injury or death can be difficult. The vast majority of patients admitted to hospitals have significant pre-existing medical problems where the outcome caused by hospital negligence may be impossible to separate from the natural outcome of the underlying medical or disease process. Nonetheless, an experience Philadelphia hospital negligence attorney can often establish clear circumstances of negligence in hospitals where the pre-existing or underlying medical problem is itself significant. Where the patient is young and healthy upon admission to the hospital, a serious injury or death is far more likely to be due to negligence of hospital staff, including doctors and nurses.
See my Frequently Asked Medical Malpractice Questions
Hospital malpractice cases are very complex, expensive to pursue, and have a high risk of no recovery. If you live anywhere in Pennsylvania, talk to a leader among medical malpractice lawyers, Philadelphia attorney Jeffrey Harlan Penneys to determine if you may be entitled to hospital negligence compensation.
Free Consultation with Hospital Negligence Attorney
Contact Philadelphia hospital malpractice lawyer Jeffrey Harlan Penneys, Esq. I’ll schedule a time to visit with you, at my office, in your home, or in your hospital room. Call 1-800-injury-law as soon as possible to protect your rights.
