What Are Some Common Examples of Negligence in a Hospital Setting?

September 30, 2024

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Hospital negligence occurs when hospitals and the healthcare providers they employ fail to uphold their responsibility to provide quality care to patients. When this happens, whether through individual or administrative negligence, patients have the right to pursue compensation for their damages.

Patients don’t always recover from their illnesses and injuries, regardless of the quality of care. As such, injured patients must be able to prove some key facts to recover compensation, showing how the action—or inaction—of the hospital staff or administration directly caused their injuries and subsequent damages.

At Colling Gilbert Wright, our medical malpractice attorneys have extensive experience fighting for the rights of injured patients. Make no mistake, hospitals—and the insurance companies and lawyers that defend them—will do whatever they can to combat your medical malpractice claim. Our goal is to even the playing field. Let’s start by giving you an example of negligence in a hospital setting so you have a better idea of what constitutes hospital negligence.

If you believe you have a viable claim against a hospital, get in touch with the committed medical malpractice lawyers at Colling Gilbert Wright today for a FREE case review by calling (407) 712-7300. Our attorneys proudly serve our neighbors in Orlando and throughout Florida.

What Is Hospital Negligence?

When hospitals fail to provide competent care to patients, and this failure results in injuries and damages, it constitutes hospital negligence (Florida Statutes § 766.110).

While the most widely understood type of negligence is provider negligence—which is focused on an individual healthcare provider—the hospital administration or staff can also be negligent in their duties. Examples of administrative negligence include:

Understaffing
Lack of training or supervision
Improper discharge
Lack of internal communication
Mismanagement of patient records or prescriptions
And more

When these administrative decisions or actions result in substandard patient care, the hospital may be held liable for any damages that occur as a result.

6 Examples of Negligence in a Hospital Setting

Beyond administrative errors, there are a variety of provider errors that can result in hospital negligence claims. Each of these errors is an example of negligence in a hospital setting, which may lead to devastating consequences for the patient. These include:

Surgical Mistakes: Errors during surgery, such as operating on the wrong body part or leaving a surgical instrument inside the patient
Medication Errors: Administering or prescribing the wrong medication or dosage
Anesthesia Errors: Mistakes in administering medications
Improper Discharge: Discharging a patient too early or without adequate instructions
Misdiagnosis: Failing to correctly diagnose a patient, leading to delayed or incorrect treatment
Birth Injuries: Errors during labor or delivery, such as failure to perform a timely c-section or the misuse of forceps or vacuum extractors

It’s also important to understand that negligence occurs when a provider does something incorrectly or fails to do something that they should have done. For example, if a patient is not monitored as closely as they should have been, and their condition worsens because of it, it could be argued that this failure to monitor constitutes negligence.

The same is true of poorly maintained hygiene. If a patient develops an infection because the hospital staff did not care for their wounds as well as they should have, this could also constitute hospital negligence.

What Are the 4 Elements of Negligence in Healthcare?

Pursuing compensation for hospital negligence requires more than an injury or illness. It requires proving a direct chain of causation between the hospital’s duty of care and the damages you have sustained (§ 766.102).

The four elements key to this chain are:

Duty of care: You must first prove that you were a patient at the hospital, thus establishing the hospital’s duty to provide you with competent care.
Breach of duty: You then must prove the hospital failed to uphold its duty of care. Typically, this is done by establishing what a reasonably competent hospital or care provider would have done in a similar situation.
Direct causation: Then, you must show that the breach of duty directly led to your injuries or illness, whether it is a new injury or illness or the worsening of an existing one.
Damages: Finally, you must prove that these injuries resulted in damages, which can take the form of economic damages, such as additional medical bills, or noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering.

Due to the often complicated nature of medical documentation and billing, it can be challenging to establish each of these facts. However, working with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer can make the process much more manageable.

Can I Sue for Hospital Negligence?

Yes, any patient or family of a deceased patient who received substandard care from a hospital or provider has the right to pursue compensation for damages that resulted from that negligence.

That said, having a viable claim requires proof that the hospital was indeed negligent. This proof can take many forms, but some of the most common include:

Medical bills
Patient records, including test results and medication records
Injury documentation, such as photographs before and after hospitalization
Witness testimony, whether from hospital staff, a visiting family member or friend, or another patient
Hospital administrative documentation, such as protocols and training records
Qualifying expert witness testimony (per §766.102(5))
And more

Ultimately, the evidence we seek to gather will depend on the type of negligence we are investigating. If it appears the individual provider was negligent, we will focus more directly on their actions and background; if, on the other hand, the hospital administration appears to have been negligent, our investigation will focus more on the organization’s policies and procedures.

Contact the Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Colling Gilbert Wright Today

The last way we expect to suffer injuries is due to hospital negligence or at the hands of a negligent individual in a care setting. We entrust medical providers with our health, well-being, and even our lives—and they have a professional duty and moral obligation to do what is right.

When they fail in their duties, Colling Gilbert Wright is here to hold them accountable. Whether it’s a clear example of negligence in a hospital setting, such as a surgical error or improper discharge, or a more intricate case of provider oversight, our medical malpractice lawyers know what it takes to go up against hospitals and the lawyers that represent them. We investigate claims and build strong cases that protect the rights of injured patients.

If you believe you have a claim, we are here to walk alongside you each step of the way, providing the insight, advice, and resources needed to pursue the compensation you deserve for your damages. To get started, contact our Orlando medical malpractice lawyers today for a FREE case review.