No one likes going to the hospital. A trip to Temple University Hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, or any of the other 127 Philly hospitals can always trigger stress. Even with the happiness surrounding the birth of a baby, there are still plenty of reasons to feel anxious.
The hope for every patient is that all their medical needs will be met by an attentive staff. Unfortunately, staffing shortages often lead to preventable injuries.
When you are caused harm by the very institution that is supposed to heal you, it can be an actionable cause for a personal injury claim. However, these claims are extremely complicated. That is why you need to seek out the services of an experienced Philadelphia medical malpractice attorney to explain your options and the potential challenges.
Common Medical Errors Caused by Staffing Shortages
A staffing shortage at a hospital creates a ripple effect of strain across the entire facility.
Not only can patient care be compromised, but staff can also experience burnout and cognitive overload, which further increases risk.
These are the common medical errors caused by staffing shortages:
Medication and Dosage Errors
When nurses and pharmacists are overburdened due to staffing shortages, they may bypass double-check protocols. That can result in patients receiving the wrong medication or the wrong dosage.
Additionally, if limited staff are pulled away from their rounds due to an emergency, there could be missed doses for patients.
Failure to Monitor and Assess
Inadequate staffing means there are fewer nurses to observe subtle changes in a patient’s condition. This can lead to missing the early warning signs of conditions like sepsis, strokes, or heart attacks.
Missed Vitals and Alarms
Every hospital patient constantly has their vitals monitored. When there is a critical issue, alarms go off. If a response to those alarms is delayed, it can lead to major complications.
Charting and Communication Failures
Understaffing strains patient care and impedes administrative upkeep. That can lead to gaps in documentation and charting. There can also be poor communication during shift changes, resulting in incomplete patient information being passed from one team to the next.
Discharge Mistakes
If staff are overwhelmed, the discharge process is often rushed. A patient might be sent home without a thorough understanding of their aftercare instructions.
Proving Negligence in a Staffing-related Malpractice Case
Recently, many Philly hospitals have been reaching out to local high schools to recruit future nurses. Hospitals will admit to the need for additional staff, but they will rarely admit that a patient’s care has been compromised.
That is why proving negligence can be complex.
In order to prevail in your claim, you and your attorney need to establish the following four pillars of medical negligence:
Duty of Care
The hospital owes every patient a legal obligation of care. That care begins when you are admitted to the facility.
Dereliction of Duty
When a health complication arises due to a staff shortage, the standard of care falls. This is considered a dereliction of duty.
Direct Causation
You need to establish the direct link between the staff shortage and your harm. For example, if there wasn’t a nurse available to change your wound dressing and it became infected, that would be direct causation.
Damages
Finally, you have to demonstrate that you’ve suffered measurable harm. Your damages can include expenses for extended hospital stays, additional medication, or rehabilitation. You can also seek damages for the pain and suffering you’ve endured because of the harm.
Legal Options for Victims of Hospital Negligence in Philadelphia
If you’ve been harmed by a hospital staff member, there are legal options you can pursue to recover damages. The most viable option would be to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
In addition to naming the individuals whose lack of attention caused you harm, you can also name the hospital as a defendant. That is when you would apply the principle of vicarious liability. That holds the hospital responsible for its employees’ actions.
You can also pursue a claim of direct corporate liability against the hospital for institutional negligence. That would apply if the hospital recognized the staffing shortages but didn’t address them adequately.
No matter which legal theory you apply, you will need a Certificate of Merit to be filed along with the claim. This is an affidavit provided by an independent medical practitioner who attests to the merits of your claim.
If all of this seems complicated, the attorneys at Shrager, Sachs, & Blanco can make sense of it all. We have prevailed in many medical malpractice lawsuits and helped our clients secure the settlements they were owed. We understand the challenges of taking on a hospital institution, but we’re not intimidated by the prospect. We bring decades of negotiation and litigation experience to every case we take on.
Our goal is to find a fair resolution that is wrapped up in a timely manner. A malpractice claim against a hospital will require exhaustive investigation and strong evidence.
We can discuss these challenges and the options in a free consultation. If you or someone you care about has been harmed in a hospital, it’s time to get answers.
Call to schedule your time today.
