4 Signs Of Hospital Negligence And What To Do Next

What Are the 4 Signs of Hospital Negligence?

Four warning signs show up again and again in hospital negligence cases:

• Your recovery took longer than your original condition explained, especially if new injuries appeared that had nothing to do with why you were admitted
• You experienced poor triage in the emergency room, with paperwork and delays coming before urgent care
• Your life changed in ways your original condition should not have caused, such as a lost ability or permanent impairment traceable to your treatment rather than your illness
• You caught an infection or communicable disease during your hospital stay

None of these proves malpractice by itself. Each is a reason to have the records reviewed, because the proof of negligent care sits in the hospital's own chart.

Identifying negligence early matters. Evidence is easier to preserve, and every state puts a deadline on malpractice claims.

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How Do You Bring a Hospital Negligence Claim?

The law gives injured patients recourse against a careless hospital, but the claim only pays if it is built and filed correctly.

The three steps that matter most:

1. Seek the Help of a Lawyer

One of the best ways for you to successfully win through your hospital negligence claim is by seeking the help of expert lawyers. Obviously, this isn't something that you can just do on your own. You need a lawyer to ensure that all the requirements in the law are met and that your case gets heard.

Moreover, hospital negligence claims can be a long and arduous process, especially when you don't know where and how to begin. It's through the expertise of a lawyer that you're guaranteed a fair day in court.

2. File Before the Lapse of the Statute of Limitations

Going hand in hand with the point above on hiring a lawyer is what's known in the law as the Statute of Limitations. This refers to that timeframe where you've got to bring up your case and file your claims. Otherwise, if you wait for when the time has elapsed, you may be going beyond the deadline.

When you don't file within the specified period, you're forever barred from bringing your case to court in favor of the hospital. It'll be considered that you've slept on your rights to file, thereby now losing the ability to do so.

Keep reading to learn more about the different medical case limitation deadlines you have to meet.

3. Prove That the Hospital Made Your Existing Condition Worse

This is the tricky part now, as for every hospital negligence claim to prosper, it's important to prove that the hospital made your condition worse. If you aren't able to prove this, then, unfortunately, you don't have a case against the hospital.

Typically, you've got to gather all the necessary documents to prove your time at the hospital and the care they gave you. Also, a third-party doctor will be needed to assess the level of care given to you by the hospital to show and testify if there's anything that the hospital could've done better.

This is another point as to why it's very important for you to be working with a lawyer rather than go through all these processes by yourself.

 

 

The Signs of Hospital Negligence

There are many signs that can help you determine that you've suffered from medical malpractice due to hospital negligence. Some of these are:

1. You Needed to Take More Time Off to Recover

When you're sent to the hospital, this is so that you can heal and recover from whatever health issue it is you're suffering from. Not for the hospital to add injuries, thereby resulting in your need for more time to recover.

So, if you or your loved one suffered from an injury and then after that, it took you so much more time to recover than usual, then this is a sign that the hospital has been negligent in their duty of care towards you.

Typically, a telltale sign here is when you suffer from injuries or health difficulties that aren't related at all to the medical condition as to why you were brought to the hospital in the first place. You're entitled to compensation for the days you had to take time off from work just to recover from the injuries that the hospital has caused you.

2. You Experienced Poor Triage in the Emergency Room

In most instances, before you're given a thorough check by the doctor, you'll go through the emergency room first. This makes a big difference as to the level of care you're going to receive, if it'll be a good one or not. This is especially true when you've just experienced a serious emergency, like a motor vehicle accident.

Triage in the emergency room should move without delay. From the moment you walk in until treatment begins, the process should flow, with care coming first and paperwork second.

The emergency nurses and doctors should learn only to focus first on the information that relates to your emergency care. Anything else can be filled up later on after the appropriate care has been afforded to you.

Unfortunately, there are many instances wherein there are still emergency room health workers that don't know how to prioritize certain information from those that can wait. There are too many forms to fill up before a patient is given the care they need. In these instances, precious time is lost. In most instances, this can spell the difference between good care and one wherein your problem would've gotten worse because of these delays.

So, as early as now you're treated in the hospital's emergency room can already give you telltale signs as to whether or not the hospital has been negligent.

3. You Had a Change of Lifestyle

Depending on the kind of condition you suffered from, there are those that could suffer from a change of lifestyle. In determining this, you'll need to weigh whether or not the change of lifestyle you're going through is directly related to your initial medical condition or not. If it's the latter, then this means it's because of the additional injuries that the hospital has done to you because of their medical negligence.

For instance, your accident wasn't that severe for it to warrant losing your limbs. But because the hospital was negligent in giving you the appropriate care and treatment, you lost your limbs. Now, you can no longer do the daily activities you used to do. You couldn't work and can't enjoy your hobbies.

The hospital can be held liable for this. Had they exercised the duty of care required of them, then you should still have your limbs.

4. You Caught a Communicable Disease or Infection During Your Hospital Stay

A hospital is a very dirty place to be in. There really is no other way to deny this. However, this doesn't mean that the moment you leave the hospital, you'll contract another disease that you shouldn't have. Hospitals should be able to practice top hygiene practices to ensure that patients don't get any bacteria or viruses.

For instance, there's a pandemic outbreak right now, and you were brought to the hospital to deliver your child. Because of the sensitive nature of your hospitalization, you and your baby and everyone else in the maternity ward and nursery should be given extra sanitation practices to ensure that the newborn babies are safe. Unfortunately, you and your baby suffered from hospital-acquired pneumonia and COVID.

In this case, it's safe to construe that the hospital was negligent. If other hospitals can protect high-risk patients like pregnant women, newborn babies, and even cancer patients seeking treatment from getting the virus, then the hospital you're in should be able to do the same as well.

The same negligence framework applies to bacterial infections picked up during a hospital stay. For the litigation specifics on MRSA, C. diff, sepsis, and surgical site infection claims, see our hospital acquired infection lawsuit page.