Hospital Acquired Infections Can Be Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is a unique form of tort litigation in which patients over and over again suffer from the same common mistakes and negligent acts at the hands of a medical professional.  Wrong site surgery, wrong patient surgery, foreign object cases, misdiagnoses, and failures to diagnose all seem to occur repeatedly.

Experienced medical malpractice attorneys also see that hospital acquired infections repeatedly affect patients, and we suspect that such will continue into the future.  This isn’t because the medical profession hasn’t developed ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat hospital acquired infections.  Rather, many times, the infection would not have occurred if a negligent act didn’t occur.  Additionally, the patient’s suffering may not have occurred had the infection been timely detected and properly treated.

Infection is a broad term.  There are many different types of infections and many different ways to treat infections.  Common infections are blood infections, pneumonia, MRSA infection, and surgical site infections.  Additionally, patients can become infected when in contact with contaminated surfaces.

Also know that infection is not always an accepted risk to surgical care or hospital care.  If the infection was foreseeable and preventable and a medical professional deviated from the requisite standard of care due to the patient, then medical malpractice may have occurred.

In the legal community, medical malpractice is defined as being any act that which deviated from standard of care and caused a patient injury and damages.  Once there is a doctor patient relationship, the doctor must adhere to the standards set forth by the medical community.  If the doctor fails to do that, he or she has breached his or her duty.  Negligence has occurred.

That doctor will not be liable, however, unless the negligence proximately caused the patient’s injury.  Moreover, the patient must have also been caused to suffer damages; some type of loss.  The typical loss is pain and suffering, medical costs paid out of pocket, lost wages, lost earning potential, rehabilitation costs, and the like.

If you suspect that your hospital acquired infection was caused by a negligent doctor, experienced medical malpractice attorneys can help.  These types of cases and regularly commenced and attorneys in the profession know how to search medical records to find the signs of negligence.

In fact, attorneys will spend numerous hours reviewing medical records.  Experts will also be retained so that the plaintiff will understand the duty of care that he or she was owed.  The expert will also pinpoint the exact event in which the plaintiff’s doctor erred.

In closing, please note that your medical malpractice claim must be commenced within a specific time period.  You have 2 ½ years to commence litigation, starting from the point that the medical professional negligently caused your infection.

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.