The main reason most patients visit the hospital is to better their health. Unfortunately, some hospitals make mistakes that result in severe complications for thousands yearly. The best approach in such a circumstance is taking legal action against the hospital. Read on for reasons why you should sue your hospital and how to increase your winning chances.
Reasons to Sue Your Hospital
There are several reasons patients and their families can sue hospitals. The sad thing is that negligence is becoming common in hospitals, resulting in more patients suffering daily. Here are the common reasons:
Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis
You should consider taking legal action against your hospital if a medical professional provides an incorrect diagnosis. It may result in wrong prescriptions for the patient, exposing them to more complications. The hospital might not be liable if the medication had undisclosed potential risks, like when Tylenol linked to autism.
A delayed conclusion is when the medical practitioner achieves the correct cessation but not within a reasonable time. All institutions offering medical services need to guarantee rapid testing, diagnosing, and treatment of their patients to prevent more injuries.
Childbirth Complications
Data from the CDC revealed 17.4 women out of every 100,000 live births in the US die annually. Further research shows most of these complications result from negligence during prenatal care. You can sue your hospital for childbirth malpractice if they failed to;
- Diagnosis of congenital disabilities
- Treating a disease contagious to the child
- Perform a timely C-section
Medication Mistakes
If a doctor prescribes the wrong medication, you can sue the hospital for medical malpractice. It also applies if they prescribe the right medicine but in a false strength. Mistakes with the prescriptions expose the patient to additional health risks.
Surgical Mistakes
Most surgical mistakes are not life-threatening, although you can sue depending on their severity. On most occasions, these injuries may interfere with your way of life. Other complications under this category include postoperative infections, brain damage during sedation, and operating on the wrong body part.
How to Sue a Hospital?
It takes much more than filing a claim and collecting compensation to sue a hospital. You will need an attorney to help you get the compensation you deserve by leveraging their in-depth knowledge of the law. Use these steps to get the ball rolling on your lawsuit and increase your chances of success;
Confirm the Statute of Limitations
You are limited on time when planning to sue a hospital. Each jurisdiction has a statute of limitations defining how long you can file a lawsuit. Most states give the patient one year from the day of the injury to sue. A Google search is enough to provide you with all the necessary information.
Identify Who to Sue
Who you sue also plays a significant role in your lawsuit’s success. You can sue your hospital, but sometimes it is better to sue your doctor. It would help consider elements like whether it was faulty equipment or negligent employees that resulted in the injuries. You can only sue the doctor if he is a non-employee of the hospital.
Consult an Attorney
It would be wise to consider that you’ll be facing a team of professional hospital lawyers, making it crucial to recruit an A-team. A good lawyer will help increase your chances of getting the most out of the hospital as they are more skilled and experienced. They will also help you through filing the complaint and case discovery.
Having an experienced attorney when planning to sue your hospital will increase your chances of securing worthy compensation. You need to find one you trust is on your side if you believe you may have the grounds to sue. This article has everything to get you going on filing a hospital lawsuit.
