Hospital Negligence Lawyers

At TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm, we are dedicated to helping victims of hospital malpractice and their families assert their rightful claims to recovery. In all of the medical malpractice cases we take on, we are wholeheartedly devoted to finding out exactly what happened and how the hospital or physician negligence occurred. Our medical negligence lawyers are also dedicated to helping families receive fair compensation to ease the burden of caring for injured family members and for the unexpected loss of a loved one. With decades of experience serving clients across Kentucky and Ohio, our Cincinnati and Covington medical malpractice lawyers know how to get the results you need in your case. For a free case evaluation, give our legal team a call today at (800) 698-4054.

What Constitutes Hospital Malpractice?

When injured or sick patients arrive at hospitals and emergency rooms, they expect to get the medical treatment they need to address their symptoms and aid in their recovery. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Even though every healthcare professional has a fiduciary obligation to provide reasonable medical care based on set professional standards, breaches of duty of care are not uncommon. A doctor or hospital can be held liable for damages through a hospital malpractice or medical negligence claim if they carelessly breached their legal duty to provide the proper care to a patient and caused further injury or worsening of a medical condition.

If you or a loved one was injured due to substandard medical care from emergency room or hospital staff, do not hesitate to contact the experienced Covington and Cincinnati personal injury attorneys at TLF. We will work to recover maximum compensation for your injuries.

Common Hospital Mistakes and Injuries

There are many different hospital negligence claims stemming from the failure of a healthcare professional to provide proper treatment. These negligent actions can lead to severe injuries and even death, in some cases. Below are some of the more common types of hospital negligence we see at TLF:

Birth Injuries

Birth-related injuries caused by medical error can be devastating, often leading to a similar outcome of serious injury for both mother and child. Birth injuries can range from minor issues like lacerations or bruises to life-threatening complications like spinal cord injuries or brain damage. Our Ohio and Kentucky birth injury attorneys at TLF have handled cases involving child injury due to brain and whole body cooling errors, perinatal strokes, cerebral palsy, hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, shoulder dystocia, infant seizures, and much more. In the mother’s case, we have also litigated claims for injuries stemming from uterine ruptures, failure to perform a C-section, preeclampsia, and more.

Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents tend to fall more under the premises liability side of the law, but can still be caused by hospital negligence. The failure to provide a safe environment by not removing potential hazards such as spills and uneven carpeting can lead to these types of accidents and cause serious injury to potential patients. The failure to monitor patients and provide them with the medical equipment necessary to safely move around is also a common contributor.

Anesthesia Errors

An anesthesia error, including anesthesia overdose and other anesthesia-related mistakes, is a type of medical error that can have extremely serious consequences. Accidents can be caused when the anesthesiologist or other medical professional fails to properly monitor their patient or if they become distracted during a medical procedure. 

Hospital-Acquired Infections

Hospital employees must take the proper care to maintain a clean and sterile environment for all patients. Failure to do can result in individuals contracting diseases or infections that otherwise could have been avoided with proper maintenance and due care.

Medication Mistakes

A medication error is a preventable mistake that can lead to irreversible patient harm. This includes any time a medication is prescribed, dispensed, administered, or ordered incorrectly. The error can be the fault of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, or even anesthesiologists. More specifically, medication errors can result from misdiagnoses, poor charting, and poor communication. Sometimes, physicians or nurses read the chart wrong, and pharmacists can make critical errors in filling the prescriptions they receive. Medication error-related injuries can also be a result of failure to check the background of a patient; drug overdoses and adverse interactions can occur when patient history is not checked. 

Surgical Errors

Many surgical errors occur due to hospital negligence, poor communication, failure to follow procedure, or negligence on the part of a doctor or assisting nurse. A hospital mistake resulting from negligence or failure to follow procedure can be devastating, and due to the understaffing of hospitals, surgical errors and post-surgical complications are becoming increasingly common. Unfortunately, this type of medical malpractice often leads to further injuries and has lifelong implications for victims.

Diagnostic Errors

Medical misdiagnosis has several variations. It can mean that a patient’s illness or injury was wrongly identified, leaving him or her with the wrong treatment, wrong medication, or no treatment at all. It can also be the failure to diagnose in a timely manner, which often postpones urgently needed care and further progresses the injury or illness, or it can mean that no diagnosis was made by a medical professional, and thus no treatment was offered. For example, the failure to identify blood clots in a patient can lead to a potentially fatal heart attack or stroke. As you can see, the potential consequences of a failed or delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis can be devastating, and victims deserve to pursue compensation for the harm that this careless mistake caused.

Staffing Errors

Now more than ever, hospitals are understaffed and employees are overworked. Each is a problem on it’s own, but together, the result can be catastrophic for patients. Injuries and fatalities can also occur when health insurance companies dictate the use of hospitalists who are unfamiliar with the patient or with certain procedures, such as resuscitation, for example. Where a family doctor would have been aware of medical history, a hospitalist may not spend the appropriate amount of time with a patient. Hospitalists work for private medical corporations and contract with medical practices to cover hospitals in town. Often, the work overload and inability to take time with each patient can lead to a medical mistake at the hands of hospital employees.

Wrongful Death

Improper medical treatment can lead to far worse than even the most serious and life-altering injuries. In some extremely unfortunate cases, hospital negligence can lead to a patient’s death.

When the negligent actions of medical professionals lead to the death of a family member, it becomes an entirely different legal issue. Rather than through a medical malpractice or personal injury claim, surviving loved ones have a right to pursue compensation through a wrongful death claim. A successful claim can provide damages for things like funeral expenses, loss of household services, loss of consortium, and more.