If you’ve been hurt in a Palm Beach County hospital, contact this West Palm Beach Hospital Negligence Lawyer for guidance. Accidents happen in hospitals all of the time. This is true, in large part, because there is lots of activity in hospitals. New patients enter emergency rooms all of the time, and hospital staff can get distracted. As such, malpractice and negligence are committed in hospitals every day.
If the negligence was committed by hospital staff, then the hospital will be liable for it. This is true because, under a theory of “respondeat superior,” hospitals are said to be “vicariously liable” for their employees. Vicarious liability indicates that any business (including hospitals) are responsible for the actions of their employees. It is said that hospitals are liable through their employees.
The only exception to this will be if a hospital employee acts “outside the scope” of his or her employment. That is, a hospital employee has job duties that he or she is supposed to perform. If the employee performs one of those duties in a negligent way, then the hospital will be responsible for it. On the other hand, if the employee does something outside of those duties, then the hospital will typically not be responsible for it. For example, if a hospital employee intentionally injures one of the patients, then the hospital won’t be responsible because it didn’t hire the employee to intentionally injure patients.
The only exception to this will be if you’re able to prove that the employee had a tract record of negligent behavior and the hospital either 1) knew about it or 2) should have known about it. For example, if the hospital hired an employee who had multiple previous felony convictions and then the employee intentionally injured a patient, then the hospital could be liable for the injuries under a legal theory of negligent hiring, negligent retention or negligent supervision.
Doctors may be either 1) employees or 2) independent contractors of hospitals. If the doctor that injured you was an employee of the hospital where you were hurt, then the hospital will typically be liable for the doctor’s negligence. On the other hand, if the doctor was an independent contractor, then the hospital typically won’t be liable.
In that case, you may be left to purse compensation from the negligent doctor. In that situation, it will be important to know if the negligent doctor carried malpractice insurance – which you can find here:
At that site, you can also check if other complaints have ever been made against a doctor, or if the doctor has ever been disciplined.
If the doctor carried malpractice insurance, then you may be able to recover compensation from the insurance company. On the other hand, if the doctor did not carry malpractice insurance, then you will be stuck pursuing the personal assets of the doctor him or herself.
Pursuing compensation directly from the doctor him or herself can be quite difficult. For example, in Florida, the property that a person owns and lives in can be “homesteaded” – which prevents a creditor from taking it. However, you may be able to take other belongings of the doctor (including vehicles, etc.) or garnish his or her future wages – although this too can be quite difficult.
Other hospital staff also frequently cause injuries negligently. For example, nurses may commit malpractice and hurt patients. If this happened to you, then you may be able to recover compensation from the hospital where you were injured because nurses are typically employees of the hospitals where they work.
Talk to Mr. Quackenbush about your case at no charge to you if you’ve been injured in a Florida hospital (including in Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Fort Lauderdale and Miami).
Hospital negligence comes in many different forms. For example, doctors or nurses may cause infections by not properly washing their hands before treating patients, by operating with unclean surgical tools, or by treating patients in unsanitary environments. Unventilated operating rooms (“OR’s”) may also foster bacteria growth and cause infections at surgical sites.
Hospital staff must also consistently monitor patients’ vitals (heartrate, pulse, blood-oxygen levels, breathing, etc.). If a nurse doesn’t do this and disaster results, the hospital may be liable.
Additionally, if a patient’s condition becomes dire, then hospital staff are supposed to call alarms such as “code blue” or “rapid response.” These alarms are meant to alert other hospital staff to an emergency and are designed to bring further help to the patient.
Patients are frequently prescribed mediation in hospitals. Such medication may be given by a staff-member or by a “Phyxis machine,” which automatically dispenses medication and keeps a record of medication given. If either a staff-member or a phyxis machine gives incorrect medication or incorrect amounts of medicine, this is referred to as a “pharmacy mis-fill.” If you’ve been the victim of a pharmacy misfill, then you may be able to pursue a case against the hospital where the misfill occurred.
Unfortunately, if the hospital where your injury occurred was a government-owned hospital (i.e., owned by the County, City or State), then you will be capped at only $200,000 in compensation. Further, there are time restrictions on when you can bring such a case.
To the contrary, if the hospital was privately owned, then there will be no such restrictions.
Discuss your case for free with Mr. Quackenbush if you’ve been hurt in a hospital anyplace in Palm Beach County (including Belle Glade, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Greenacres, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Lantana, North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Springs, Riviera Beach, Royal Palm Beach and Wellington). This West Palm Beach Hospital Negligence Law Firm can assist you in your time of great need.