Medical Malpractice > Hospital and Nurse Negligence

Medical negligence lawyers encounter a variety of situations that fall under medical malpractice. And hospitals and surgical centers are the common setting for some of the most catastrophic medical injuries. Hospitals have a mission to treat, cure, and cause no harm. Unfortunately, due to their size and complexity, and the preponderance of humans involved in their operation, mistakes happen. There exists a hierarchy of hospital responsibility, headed by doctors, and  those under their direction—including nurses, technicians and therapists—have standards of care and routines to follow. 

At times, communication and execution within that hierarchy break down. In Indiana, the number of medical errors in a given year might far exceed 100. This includes errors such as operation on the wrong body part, objects left inside the body and pressure ulcers, to name a few. These errors more commonly happen when there is an environment characterized by staff that is under-resourced, overworked, inattentive or all of the previously mentioned. When standards are not followed and pain and suffering is the result, it’s a medical negligence lawyer who must fight for those who have been harmed. 

Common Types of Hospital Negligence

• Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose.
• Cancer: failure to identify, test or refer to the standard of care.
• Catastrophic or “never” events: operation on the wrong body part, operating on the wrong patient or equipment left inside the patient. 
• Surgical errors, birth injuries, anesthesia-related injuries.

Just reading through some examples of hospital and nursing negligence, it’s easy to see how communication breakdowns in an emergency room, operating room or surgical environment can have catastrophic implications for the patient. Medical negligence lawyers must rely on experience and knowledge of the hospital environment to discern what happened. Oftentimes, this includes bringing in trusted medical experts who can analyze nursing notes and assist the legal team in building the narrative and timeline of events. This approach is helpful in presentation of facts and moving toward fair settlement or judgement.