Many expecting mothers and their families carefully choose their OB/GYN,
often long before the due date is even put down on the calendar. Patients
will look at a physician’s reviews, reputation in the community and
any past personal experiences with the doctor before making any final
decisions. What some patients may not realize is that nursing care and
delivery room staff are often just as important as the doctor when it
comes to delivering a baby safely.
Both nursing negligence and medical malpractice can be cause for a civil
lawsuit in Texas. While the two concepts aren’t identical, both involve
members of a profession who have deviated from the proper standards of
patient care for their field. In a medical malpractice case, a licensed
professional, such as an OB/GYN, surgeon or primary care doctor, fails
to adhere to the accepted practices of his or her profession. For instance,
an OB/GYN who orders a C-section because he or she is in a hurry, rather
than for legitimate medical reasons, may be committing malpractice.
Hospital negligence, which includes nursing negligence, can be just as
threatening to a patient’s well-being. Negligence is a bit more of
a general term than malpractice and generally refers to behavior on the
part of a nurse, orderly or other hospital staff member that is deficient
in care. Negligence is also defined as “carelessness” or behavior
that differs from what a “reasonable person” would likely do
under the same set of circumstances. Examples of nursing negligence include
failure to give a proper dosage of a medication or failure to treat an
infection; it also could include not monitoring patients closely enough
or even rushing through paperwork and making harmful errors in the process.
One of the main differences between nursing negligence and medical malpractice
is the fact that non-medical personnel can be negligent, but only a professional
can be accused of malpractice. For instance, a janitorial service that
spills a slippery substance on a hospital floor and fails to clean it
up could be accused of negligence if a patient falls and gets hurt as
a result. A hospital volunteer, CNA, receptionist or other non-professional,
however, cannot be accused of malpractice. For more information on the
differences between malpractice and negligence, it can be highly informative
to speak with a malpractice attorney.