When you visit a healthcare facility, it is with the expectation that the facility and its staff will work in your best interest to improve your health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, sometimes you may receive substandard care or poor-quality treatment that may either harm or injure you or hinder your treatment.
Taking legal action through the legal system not only seeks compensation for victims of hospital negligence, but can also lead to improved safety standards, potentially preventing similar incidents in the future.
Due to the critical impact hospital negligence can have on a patient’s health and life, U.S. law allows you to sue a hospital for negligence. It is important to obtain legal support from specialized attorneys when pursuing a claim against a hospital for negligence, as they can help you navigate the complexities of the legal process and improve your chances of a successful outcome. Here’s what constitutes hospital negligence, along with what and how much you can sue for.:
What Counts as Hospital Negligence?
Hospital negligence is when a hospital employee acts in a way that causes harm or injury to a patient receiving care at the hospital. Although often used interchangeably, medical malpractice and hospital negligence differ in that medical malpractice involves the actions of a physician. In contrast, hospital negligence refers to actions of the hospital as an entity. The hospital is held responsible for the actions of its administration and staff, including the medical staff responsible for providing appropriate medical care and treatment.
Examples of hospital negligence include:
- Giving the wrong dosage of medication
- Wrongful amputation
- Infections acquired from the hospital
- Misdiagnosis
- Surgical errors
- Medication errors
- Delayed diagnosis
- Inadequate staffing
Negligence can take various forms, including misdiagnosis, surgical errors, improper medical treatment, medication mistakes, and inadequate patient care.
To establish hospital negligence, the injured party must demonstrate that the hospital breached the standard of care owed to the patient. Proving hospital negligence often requires expert medical testimony to establish what the standard of care was and whether it was violated.
To file a successful lawsuit against a hospital for negligence, you need to establish four key elements: duty of care, breach of care, causation, and damages. The first element is showing that the hospital had a legal obligation to provide a certain standard of care to the patient. The second element is demonstrating that the hospital or healthcare provider fell short of providing the expected standard of care. The third element is establishing a direct connection between the breach of duty and the harm suffered by the patient. The final element involves presenting evidence of the actual harm experienced by the patient due to the negligence.
Hospital negligence cases often arise when medical staff fail to provide proper medical care or medical treatment, leading to hospital negligence claims. Common examples of hospital negligence include surgical errors, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, medication errors, inadequate staffing, and poor sanitation leading to infections.
Can You Sue a Hospital for Negligence?
According to a legal theory known as “respondeat superior,” you can sue a hospital for negligence if you incur any injury or harm due to the incompetence or negligence of its staff.
Respondeat superior—a Latin term meaning “let the master answer”—suggests that you can sue employers if you were hurt by their employees who were on the clock at the time of the injury. Therefore, if you were hurt or injured by any hospital employees, such as medical technicians, nurses, and support staff, you can sue the hospital for negligence. Hospitals often employ skilled attorneys to defend against malpractice lawsuits, making legal representation by a qualified attorney essential for victims.
There are three reasons for why you can sue a hospital for negligence:
- Wrongful death: The avoidable death of a patient caused by medical errors
- Medical malpractice: A mistake made by a healthcare provider, who is aware of the possible consequences of an omission or action, that leads to harm or injury (unfortunately, medical malpractice deaths per year amount to a shocking 251,000)
- Medical negligence: An honest mistake by a medical professional that leads to harm or injury
Medical malpractice lawsuits are complex legal processes that require the expertise of a medical malpractice attorney or an experienced medical malpractice lawyer to navigate the legal process effectively and pursue justice. Consulting a qualified attorney is one of the first steps in the legal process, and legal representation is crucial for building a strong case.
The steps in the legal process typically include: consulting an attorney, gathering evidence such as medical records and treatment history to support your claim, filing a lawsuit to officially initiate the case, entering the discovery phase where both parties exchange information and evidence, and engaging in settlement negotiations, as many hospital negligence cases are resolved before going to trial.
Keep in mind that you must file your claim within a certain time period after your injury or its discovery. This is known as a statute of limitations on medical malpractice. To speed things up, it’s best to consult an attorney such as a nursing home abuse lawyer, for your case.
Proving Negligence
Proving negligence in a medical malpractice case is a critical step for anyone seeking justice after suffering harm due to hospital negligence. The legal process can be complex, requiring a clear demonstration that the hospital or healthcare provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care, directly resulting in injury or worsening of the patient’s condition.
To succeed in a medical malpractice claim, the injured party must establish several key elements. First, it must be shown that the hospital or healthcare provider owed a duty of care to the patient. Next, there must be evidence that this duty was breached—meaning the care provided fell below what is reasonably expected from medical professionals in similar circumstances. Finally, the plaintiff must prove that this breach directly caused harm, leading to damages such as medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, or other financial losses.
Building a strong medical malpractice case often requires gathering compelling evidence. This can include detailed medical records, expert medical testimony, and witness statements that help demonstrate how the standard of care was not met. Medical malpractice attorneys play a vital role in collecting and presenting this evidence, ensuring that every aspect of the hospital’s actions or inactions is thoroughly examined.
How Much Can You Sue a Hospital for Negligence?
There is no standard amount that you can expect to receive from a hospital negligence claim because every case is different. Compensation in hospital negligence cases is divided into economic damages—such as medical bills, lost income, and rehabilitation costs—and non-economic damages, which include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. These amounts can vary significantly depending on the severity of the injury, the impact on the patient’s life, and the patient’s condition. Fair compensation is the central goal in these cases, aiming to address both the financial and personal losses suffered by the victim.
In many cases, you may be offered a settlement offer. However, you should not accept a settlement unless you feel that it is fair. Punitive damages are generally not available in Illinois medical malpractice cases, but cases involving gross negligence can result in higher settlement amounts. If a victim is found partially at fault, their compensation may be reduced by their percentage of blame.
Recent statistics show that medical malpractice settlements can reach substantial amounts. For example, a case involving a fatal overdose due to a pharmacy mistake resulted in a $12 million settlement. In Illinois, the average payout for a medical malpractice claim in 2022 was $1.3 million, with a median payout of $500,000. The highest medical malpractice payouts over the past decade averaged from $19.5 million to $27.5 million. Catastrophic cases, such as those involving permanent disabilities or birth injuries, consistently lead to the highest settlements, with top-paying cases in Illinois ranging from $5.5 million to $22.5 million.
Medical malpractice settlements and potential compensation can vary significantly, with average settlements typically ranging between $250,000 and $1 million, and catastrophic cases exceeding that. The potential compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages can make pursuing a claim worthwhile. Compensation can be awarded as a lump sum or as a structured settlement, and it can play an essential role in helping victims access necessary medical care, rehabilitation, and support after hospital negligence.
Expert witnesses and medical experts are critical in determining the value of a claim, and their fees can reach tens of thousands of dollars. Hospital negligence lawsuit amounts are primarily determined by the severity of the injury, total medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering, including both physical pain and emotional distress.
The average payout for a medical malpractice suit in the US is about $242,000. How much you sue a hospital for negligence depends both on the individual case and the harm caused as well as the state you live in. To get an idea of how much you can sue for a hospital negligence claim, take a look at a few past cases:
Negligence in Appendicitis Cases
-Virginia (2019)
Verdict: $1,500,000
Case: A man visited the emergency room complaining of abdominal pain, which was caused by a ruptured appendix resulting in stroke. The radiologist incorrectly interpreted the CT scan, because of which the plaintiff’s condition worsened.
-California (2015)
Verdict: $10,000
Case: A boy came to the hospital with symptoms of appendicitis and was treated. However, the plaintiff contended that the hospital had failed to diagnose and treat his appendicitis in a timely manner.
Anesthesia Malpractice Cases
-Texas (2022)
Verdict: $8,300,000
Case: A woman underwent surgery in which the anesthesiologist injected her with the wrong medication, causing permanent brain damage.
-South Carolina (2018)
Verdict: $600,000
Case: The anesthesiologist was unable to monitor the patient’s compromised breathing, leading to hypoxic brain injury and death.
Emergency Room Malpractice Cases
-South Carolina (2020)
Verdict: $1,000,000
Case: After falling down a flight of stairs, a senior citizen was taken to the emergency room and discharged shortly thereafter. His condition worsened and he died a few weeks later.
-Maryland (2019)
Verdict: $1,750,000
Case: A man came to the ER with chest pain but the physician did not recommend a CT scan. The man presented again the next day and was diagnosed with an aortic dissection, but did not survive after the surgery.
Of course, if you’re ready to start the process of a lawsuit for a medical negligence or malpractice case, be sure to reach out to an experienced attorney at Strom Law to make sure you receive the compensation you or your loved one deserves.