What you never expected to happen has happened: you’ve been harmed by the hospital that was supposed to help you. Unsurprisingly, the hospital refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing. So who will advocate on your behalf to make things right? Hospital negligence lawyers—they’re the type of attorney you should call for this type of case.
Defending yourself against a hospital is like trying to make your voice heard in a huge crowd! But with their knowledge of both law and medicine, hospital negligence attorneys can boost your voice above the din. They can hold hospitals accountable and ensure you receive maximum compensation.
What is Hospital Negligence?
Making a mistake on the job may not be a big deal when you’re an artist, carpenter, or accountant. You can always go back and fix it. But when you’re a doctor, mistakes can cause great harm, and sometimes they can’t be fixed.
Hospital negligence happens when a hospital doesn’t provide proper care for a patient, and it results in harm or injury. It could be due to mistakes by doctors, nurses, or other staff members.
There are some differences between medical malpractice and hospital negligence. The main one is that in cases of hospital negligence, the actions of the hospital as an entity are in question, not a single person.
For example, a hospital might not follow proper hygiene guidelines, and a patient could get sick with an infection as a result. If a hospital knows that a doctor is harming patients and lets them keep working anyway, that could also constitute hospital negligence.
Types of Hospital Negligence
Hospital negligence can happen for many reasons. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out exactly what happened and who’s responsible. However, hospital negligence lawyers are trained to sort through the circumstances of a case and determine where the negligence occurred.
Common causes of negligence in a hospital include:
- Misunderstandings or lack of clear communication among healthcare professionals
- Staffing shortages or overworked staff
- The hospital doesn’t provide proper training for employees
- Hospital equipment malfunctions or is improperly maintained
- The hospital keeps inaccurate or incomplete medical records
- Lack of supervision of patients
- Not following established medical protocols
- Mistakes in prescribing, administering, or monitoring medication
- Poor hygiene practices or inadequate infection control
- Failing to correctly diagnose a medical condition or delaying the diagnosis
All of the events above have the potential to harm a patient. However, sometimes mistakes happen without causing any harm at all. When that happens, suing for negligence isn’t possible. Likewise, hospital negligence lawyers can’t file claims for harm that occurred in a hospital but wasn’t directly caused by negligence.
Can I Sue for Hospital Negligence?
Were you or a loved one injured while under a physician’s care in the hospital? With the help of hospital negligence lawyers, you may be able to hold the hospital liable for damages.
But in addition to a knowledgeable, competent attorney by your side, there’s one more thing you need to make a case: causation. You have to prove that the hospital’s error was the direct cause of the injury.
Should you decide to file a lawsuit, your lawyers will help you establish four elements:
- The hospital owed you a “duty of care” (in other words, you need to prove you received treatment in that hospital)
- A medical professional breached the duty of care. (This means the hospital didn’t act according to reasonable medical standards. To prove this, you may need expert testimony from doctors who work in the same field.)
- The hospital’s mistake was the direct cause of harm or injury. (You have to prove this using medical records, and perhaps some expert opinions).
- You suffered damages (either economic or non-economic). This makes you eligible for financial compensation.
You also need to ensure that you’re within your state’s time limit for filing a hospital negligence lawsuit. This time limit is called the statute of limitations. It’s different in every state. But in most states, it’s 2-3 years for medical malpractice cases.
In addition, some states limit the amount of damages you can recover in medical negligence cases. Your hospital negligence lawyers can advise you about the specific limitations of your state.
Legal Help Is Available Now
If you’re seeking justice and compensation for a hospital’s error, call us to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation. The hospital negligence lawyers at Hampton & King have the expertise and experience needed to win cases against hospitals. As the top medical negligence firm in the Houston area, we’ve won millions of dollars for hundreds of clients, and we can do the same for you.
Hospital Negligence FAQs
Yes, you can sue a hospital in Texas if you or a loved one were injured while in the hospital’s care. You can sue doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and anyone else involved. Your lawyer can help you determine who may be liable for your injuries. Don’t wait to contact a lawyer if you believe you have a case. There is a two-year statute of limitations for claims in Texas hospital malpractice lawsuits.
Texas places limits on the compensation you can claim in lawsuits against hospitals. The maximum compensation limit that the defendant can pay the plaintiff, covering all healthcare providers and hospitals, is set at $250,000. If a lawsuit involves both the doctor or healthcare provider and the hospital, the total cap for non-economic damages can extend to $500,000. This limit may change, so be sure to ask your lawyer for current information.
In Texas, you have two years to sue a hospital for negligence. Usually, this refers to two years after you were injured. After that, the case can’t go forward in a Texas court of law. But there are some exceptions, such as when the injured party is a minor.
Medical negligence and medical malpractice both involve mistakes in healthcare. But they have some differences. Medical negligence is a general term for errors or carelessness by healthcare professionals that lead to harm. It could be unintentional, like a doctor forgetting to read a patient’s test results.
On the other hand, medical malpractice refers to situations where a physician commits serious errors that breach the standard of care. In other words, they don’t follow the guidelines of what’s expected in their field, resulting in harm to the patient.
