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Hospital malpractice occurs when a patient suffers damages as a result of a medical professional's failure to follow the standards of care set forth for his/her medical field. Hospital malpractice can be the result of an intentional act or negligence which causes injury to a patient. Hospital malpractice is often the result of a heath care provider failing to prevent injury or illness to a patient as a similarly situated medical professional would have done.
Hospital malpractice causes injury to over one million people every year. Hospital malpractice claims the lives of approximately 98 thousand people in the United States annually. Hospital malpractice is the sixth leading cause of death in American hospitals. Medical errors and hospital malpractice costs $2.85 billion dollars every year in America. Emergency, surgical, and OB/GYN departments have the highest rates of hospital malpractice, though hospital malpractice can occur in any field of medicine.
There are several common types of hospital malpractice that can cause injury to patients. Autopsy studies have found that between 35 and 40 percent of all cases studied involved a missed diagnosis, where medical professionals failed to properly identify a patient's medical condition prior to death. Hospital malpractice can involve a failure to diagnose a patient's condition, a wrong diagnosis, or other diagnosis complications.
Hospital malpractice can also involve surgical or procedural mistakes. An Institute of Medicine study found that forty-four percent of all hospital malpractice cases involve a technical error during a treatment or surgery. Surgical errors can involve poor or inadequate surgical technique, operating on the wrong body part, wrong patient, or performing the wrong technique, failure to accomplish the goals of surgery, failure to prevent complications, and the unnecessary use of force during surgery. Anesthesia complications are also a common type of hospital malpractice, as the administration of anesthesia can sometimes be more dangerous than the surgery itself.
Another common area of hospital malpractice is prescription drug errors. A medication error occurs when a patient does not receive the right medication, at the right dose, at the right time, with the right frequency of treatment. Hospital malpractice medication errors can be the result of a doctor's failure to prescribe the right medication, failure to take into account drug allergies and medical history, problems with medication dispensing, and problems with administering a medication. One government study found that 360,000 medication errors were reported to the agency since 1998.
Hospital malpractice is generally any negligence or act committed by a medical professional that results in injury to a patient. If you or a loved one has suffered losses as a result of hospital malpractice, you may wish to contact an attorney who can help you explore your legal rights and options. Please contact us to speak with an experienced attorney who can evaluate your case to determine if you are eligible to file a hospital malpractice lawsuit to seek compensation for your losses.
Additional Resources for Florida Hospital Malpractice:
Florida Health Stat - Where Florida Health Data Resides
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