Nursing Medical Malpractice In New York

All too often the public associates medical malpractice with surgeons, general practitioners, dentists, and other types of doctors. The truth of the matter is that medical malpractice applies to other types of actors within the medical industry.

The experienced Kingston, New York medical malpractice attorney knows that nurses too are included among the plethora of medical professionals that which can be guilty of medical malpractice. Nurses, as opposed to many physicians and surgeons, work under someone else’s employ and supervision. Therefore, obtaining compensation for nursing medical malpractice will most likely involve also suing the office or hospital that employed the offending nurse.

Nurses perform a variety of tasks throughout their work day and there are certainly many mistakes to be made. Some of those mistakes will amount to medical malpractice, while other mistakes will not. The difference will depend upon the situation and whether or not another nurse faced with the circumstances as the alleged bad nurse would have made the same mistake.

If you think this sounds subjective, it is because it kind of is subjective. With that said, the experienced attorney will systematically introduce evidence and examine expert witnesses in order to prove that the bad nurse committed medical malpractice.

Now that you know there is such a thing as nursing medical malpractice, you need to know how it happens.

Nurses are on the front lines of patient care. They are often the first and last people to see a patient at the office and at the hospital. In the hospital setting, patients will see nurses more that they see other medical professionals. With such being the case, nurses are relied upon to inform doctors about patient concerns and to take action during emergencies. Sometimes, however, nurses fail to notice patient distress when such should have been noticed; other times, patient distress is noticed, but the nurse’s response to such distress was inadequate and negligent.

Another way nurses commit medical malpractice is related to the administration of drugs. Nurses are relied upon to bring medication to patients and to administer drugs to patients. Care must be taken to ensure that the right medication is given to the proper patient. The proper dosage must be given to the patient too. Nurses must also keep track of when patients are given drugs and note such in the patient’s records. Failing at any of this can amount to actionable medical malpractice.

As noted above, the nurse’s employer can be held to pay for the nurse’s mistakes, and even the attending doctor can be liable if the doctor was present and capable of preventing the mistake from happening.

But what do you think? I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com. You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.