Hospital Malpractice: Negligent Protocols, Poor Training and Patient Risks

From hand washing to patient handoffs and accurate record keeping, there are scores of everyday tasks that hospital staff must perform well to ensure the safety of patients. But while these measures seem like a matter of common sense, they are most successful when supported by a hospital administration that creates and enforces strict training protocols. When such systems fail, the result may be injury or illness and a medical malpractice claim.

A recent Florida medical malpractice lawsuit featured devastating testimony from a former nurse at a Jacksonville hospital. "Patients are being murdered," she said during a deposition, repeating the message she delivered while warning her immediate superior and hospital administrators about the substandard way in which hospital staff dressed wounds. In the same case, evidence of repeated poor scores from Florida Agency for Health Care Administration inspectors was introduced to underscore the wound care problems. The plaintiff in the case suffered severe sepsis following bariatric surgery, which led to a heart stoppage and brain damage.

Negligent practices in hospitals can lead to a host of potentially serious mistakes, including medication errors (wrong dosage or wrong medication), anesthesia errors and wrong-site surgery. Of course, hospital malpractice involving poor implementation of proper protocols is not the only source of patient risk. Patients or surviving family members may suspect that injury or prolonged illness was caused by misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, a birth injury or another critical error by a doctor, surgeon or other medical professional.

In order for a medical malpractice action to succeed in Florida, a patient must have been harmed due to a medical professional's departure from the standard of care. This is a very complex area of law, and a great deal of effort and professional resources must be applied to prove a legal claim, including consultations with medical experts.

Fortunately for those who have suffered, or the family members who survive them, most Florida doctor negligence attorneys will review a potential case in a free initial consultation. If the law firm agrees to handle the case, attorney fees are usually handled on a contingency basis, meaning the plaintiff is only required to pay if the case results in a settlement or jury award of damages.