Hospital Malpractice
According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), at least 98,000 people hospitalized in the US die as a result of preventable hospital errors and 1 million more are injured every year.
According to the Center for Disease Control, hospital mistakes cause nearly 2 million patients to develop preventable infections in United States hospitals every year. At least 90,000 of these victims will die as a result of their injuries. Hospital born infections were the sixth leading cause of death to American adults in 2004, falling not far behind heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. Infections are just one of the potentially devastating damages that can result from hospital mistakes.
Hospitals are held to professional standards of care, just as individual healthcare professionals are. This means that a hospital and its employees must use the same degree of skill and learning, under the same or similar circumstances, that are used by other hospitals and healthcare professionals. When the actions or omissions of a hospital or its employees cause injury or death to a patient, the patient may have a claim against the hospital.
Hospital malpractice includes any type of medical negligence that occurs in a hospital setting, including errors by doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital staff. Some common situations that may involve hospital malpractice include:
- Improper use of anesthesia
- Incorrect treatment of a diagnosed illness
- Improper administration of drugs
- Failure to order proper tests or consult with a specialist
- Failure to monitor a patient or stabilize a patient
- Improper use of a medical device
- Birth injury or birth trauma
- Surgical procedures that are not necessary
Hospital mistakes can also involve prescription errors
which can result in serious harm to the patient. The U.S. Pharmacopoeia has received at least 360,000 reports of prescription errors in American hospitals since 1998. These are only the prescription-related hospital mistakes that are reported. The most common medication errors are prescribing errors, omission errors, improper dosage errors, prescribing medications a patient is allergic to, and more.
Other types of negligence include preventable hospital mistakes during medical procedures like childbirth or surgery. These mistakes can cause infections, delayed healing, brain damage, disfigurement, and other serious injuries. These errors can sometimes be so severe that a surgery is performed on the wrong patient or at the wrong surgery site altogether.
At The Law Offices of William F. Horsley, P.A. we have the experience and resources to take on important and challenging hospital malpractice cases and obtain significant compensation for our hospital malpractice clients. If you would like to learn more about hospital malpractice, please call us at 1-800-953-2542 or contact us through our
online form. You will speak with a qualified and experienced hospital malpractice attorney who can evaluate your case to determine your legal rights and options.
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