Miami Hospital Negligence Attorney

If you’ve been the victim of medical malpractice, contact this Miami Hospital Negligence Lawyer today. Hospitals can be crazy places. Patients continually come into and go out of the hospital, and a million things seem to happen at once. As such, accidents happen all of the time in hospitals and other medical facilities. As such, if you’ve been injured due to negligence in a hospital, you may be able to pursue a medical malpractice case.

Negligence in hospitals is frequently committed by hospital employees. Hospitals and other medical facilities are responsible for the actions of their employees under the legal theory of “respondeat superior.” This theory says that businesses (including hospitals) are “vicariously liable” for the actions of their employees (i.e., responsible through their employees). If a hospital employee commits negligence, the hospital will typically be responsible for that negligence.

The one exception to this is if the hospital can successfully argue that the hospital employee was acting “outside the scope” of his or her employment (i.e., doing something outside of his or her job duties). For example, if a hospital employee assaults a patient, the hospital could argue that it isn’t liable because the employee was not hired to assault employees. In that situation, you will be stuck pursuing compensation from the employee him or herself, rather than from the hospital.

On the other hand, if you’re able to prove that the hospital knew or should have known of the employee’s history of/propensity for violence and aggression (e.g, the employee had a bad criminal history), then you still may be able to pursue a claim against the hospital for negligent hiring, negligence retention or negligent supervision. After all, if the hospital knowingly hires a bad employee and the employee does something bad, then the hospital should be responsible for it.

Doctors who work in hospitals may be employees of those hospitals or independent contractors. “Hospitalists” are like primary care physicians (PCP)/family doctors/internists who work exclusively in hospitals. If the doctor who caused your injury was a hospital employee, then you may be able to pursue a medical malpractice case against the hospital. On the other hand, if the doctor who caused your injuries was an independent contractor, then you may be stuck pursuing a case against the doctor him or herself.

If you’re stuck pursuing a case against the doctor him or herself, then it will be important to figure out if the doctor carried malpractice insurance. You can find this information here:

Florida Board of Medicine

If the doctor carried insurance, then you may be able to pursue compensation from his or her insurance company. On the other hand, if the doctor didn’t carry insurance, then you will be forced to pursue compensation directly from the doctor’s own personal assets – which can be much harder.

If the doctor that caused your injuries was a hospital employee, then you may be able to pursue compensation from the hospital. If the hospital was a government hospital (i.e., owned by the State, County or City), then your case will be one of sovereign immunity – in which case your compensation will be capped at only $200,000. The only exception to this is if you are able to successfully get a piece of legislation called a “claims bill” passed in the state legislature in Tallahassee to allow you to recover more compensation than the $200,000 cap – although this is very difficult.

On the other hand, if the hospital where you were hurt was a private hospital, there will be no such limitation of your compensation.

Hospital staff may also cause your injuries. For instance, nurses frequently are negligent and cause injuries. If this happened to you, then your recourse will probably be to pursue a case against the hospital where the negligence occurred because nurses are typically employees of the hospital where they work.

Should you have been hurt in a hospital anywhere in Florida (including Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County), dial 954-448-7288 to speak to Mr. Quackenbush about your case at no charge.

Various factors can cause injuries in hospitals. For example, if patients are treated in unsanitary conditions, infections can result. Infections can also result if patients are treated in unventilated rooms. Unventilated rooms can bread bacteria, and infections can easily result.

Doctors who don’t properly wash their hands can also spread infection. Finally, unclean surgical tools can cause serious infections in patients.

Hospitals are also responsible for continually checking the vital signs of their patients. If a nurse doesn’t do this and catastrophic results ensue, then the hospital where the nurse works and where the incident happened will be liable.

If a patient’s condition begins to deteriorate, then a nurse should call “rapid response” or “code blue.” These alarms are intended to alert other medical professionals in the hospital to come help with the patient.

Medications are frequently prescribed to patients in hospitals. A phyxis machine is a machine that automatically dispenses medication in hospitals and keeps a history of which medications have been dispensed.

However, oftentimes medical staff will dispense medications in hospitals themselves. Because of the fast-paced nature of hospitals, incorrect medications can be given. If you’ve been a victim of a pharmacy mis-fill, you may be able to pursue a case against the hospital that did the misfill.

Should you be injured in a hospital anywhere in Miami-Dade County (including Aventura, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Doral, Florida City, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Homestead, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, Miami Lakes, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa-Locka, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, and Sunny Isles Beach), dial 954-448-7288 to talk to Mr. Quackenbush about your case at no charge to you. This Miami Hospital Negligence Law Firm can help you in your time of need.