(845) 802-0047Nursing is a rewarding career, yet it is also one that requires near-perfect attention to detail. When you seek medical care, you expect that the nurses caring for you will utilize their knowledge, resources, and experience to give you the best treatment possible. Some patients, however, do not receive such consideration and care.
Nurses can make errors of all types. Although some may not cause any harm at all, others can lead to severe disabilities or even death. In addition to physical injuries, patients subjected to a nursing error also face multiple financial challenges.
The good news is that you can act to protect yourself after being injured by a nursing error with a medical malpractice attorney’s help. A Troy nursing error lawyer could be available to help you seek compensation for any physical and financial damages you suffer due to a nursing error.
Most Common Types of Nursing Errors
A variety of factors can contribute to the occurrence of nursing errors, of which extended shift hours, inexperience, miscommunication, and heavy workloads are just a few examples. According to the Nurse Journal, most mistakes among nurses can be grouped into five main categories, all of which a qualified Troy nursing error attorney could help with.
Medication Errors
Nearly one-third of all nursing errors have to do with medications. To safely administer a medication, the nurse must be sure to have the right dose, the right patient, the right administration time, and the right route of administration. The nurse must also double-check a patient’s allergies to ensure they would not cause a dangerous reaction to a certain medication.
Infection
As per the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 99,000 hospital deaths each year can be traced to hospital-acquired infections. Nurses can help reduce the infection risk with good hygienic practices.
Charting or Documentation Errors
Appropriate charting helps nurses avoid errors and provides communication between healthcare providers. When charting is omitted, includes wrong information, lacks important details, or is completed on the wrong patient, serious errors can occur.
Not Having Access to the Right Information
Nurses need to be aware of specifics about their patients when discussing their needs to doctors and other members of the healthcare team. Guessing at or omitting important information has a significant potential to lead to errors.
Patient Falls
Patients who have recently had a procedure or given birth may need extra help to get up out of bed. Other patients may always need help getting up due to their physical condition. Falls can lead to injuries like broken hips that can potentially cause death. As such, nurses need to ensure patients have their call lights accessible and know not to get out of bed without help.
Troy Statute of Limitations
As per New York Civil Practice Law & Rules §214-a, plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case and their attorneys have a time limit of two years and six months from the date of the nursing error to file a claim. This deadline is known as the statute of limitations.
Potential plaintiffs may benefit from contacting a nursing error lawyer in Troy as soon as possible after the nursing error has occurred. This could help give the attorney more time to research and prepare for the case filing.
Discovery Rule
There is an exception to the statute of limitations through what is known as the discovery rule. However, New York has a limited discovery rule, in that only cases involving a foreign object being left in the patient’s body qualify for a different statute of limitations. The deadline for cases that do fall under this rule is one year from the date the patient learned about their condition.
Minor Children
Children under the age of 18 are also an exception to the standard statute of limitations, as their statute of limitations does not begin to toll until their 18th birthday. However, the law stipulates that no more than ten years can elapse between the nursing error and the filing of the claim.
Reach Out to a Troy Nursing Error Attorney
Nursing errors have the potential to affect patients for a long time, perhaps even for the rest of their life. Receiving money through a settlement or a trial cannot change the past, but it can help make the future more manageable.
If you have questions about how the statute of limitations applies to your case or wonder if you are the victim of a nursing error, a Troy nursing error lawyer could be able to help. Call today to learn more about your legal rights.