Medical malpractice lawsuits can present a number of challenges. It may be easy to identify the malpractice in many cases, but difficult in others. A victim’s pre-existing conditions may contribute to their injury. In addition, more than one of the people involved in a victim’s care may have contributed to their injury.
Physicians owe a duty of due care to all of their patients when they provide them with treatment. The duty of care owed by physicians is to provide care that is at least as good as the customary practice of physicians in good standing in the profession. Other healthcare providers also owe a duty of care to patients. That includes nurses, lab technicians, hospitals and everyone on a hospital’s staff.
If a physician, hospital, nurse or other healthcare worker provides care that falls below the standard of their professions, and their negligence results in injury to their patient, they are liable for medical malpractice.
So, depending on the specific facts of the case, it may be possible to hold the following parties liable for injury and loss caused by medical malpractice:
- Hospitals: The health care organizations that operate hospitals can be liable for errors in patient treatment. An example of this could come up in connection with emergency room negligence. If the doctor or nurse who is negligent in their treatment of a patient is employed by the hospital, and not a contractor, the hospital that employs them can be liable for malpractice.
- If a team was responsible for the care of a patient and more than one person on the team was negligent, the hospital can be liable. If an error of hospital administration causes a patient’s injury, the hospital can be liable. If any member of a hospital’s staff performed an assigned task in a negligent manner, the hospital can be liable for malpractice;
- Physicians and Surgeons: If a physician or surgeon is responsible for providing health care to a patient and that care falls below the standard of care that is at least as good as the customary practice of physicians in good standing in the community, they are liable for medical malpractice;
- Nurses and Other Staff: Nurses and other staff in hospitals and other care facilities, e.g. doctor’s offices and surgical facilities that are not in hospitals, also have the same duty to provide care to patients and if they breach that duty and their breach is a direct cause of injury to their patient, they too can be liable for malpractice;
- Pharmacies and Pharmacists: Pharmacists and pharmacies are not an exception and they owe their patients the same duty of care as all other health care providers. Pharmacists can make errors, providing the wrong medication when filling a prescription, providing medication in the wrong dosage or providing the wrong instructions are some examples of how pharmacists and pharmacies can breach their duty of care and cause serious injury to patients.
Unfortunately, medical malpractice is far from uncommon. Experts have estimated that the incidence of injury to patients caused by the negligence of healthcare providers is one in one hundred hospital admissions. The kinds of malpractice that can occur are as numerous as are the procedures and treatments provided to patients by the various providers involved in healthcare.
For example, in a recent case a urologist told a patient that imaging had shown a mass in one kidney that was consistent with a diagnosis of malignant cancer. The urologist recommended removal of the kidney, and not a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis of a malignancy.
The kidney in question was removed and it was discovered that the kidney tumor was not malignant but benign, i.e. not cancerous. So, the removal of the patient’s kidney may well have been unnecessary. Whether the necessary diagnostic steps were taken and the negative outcome could have been avoided is a difficult question. There may have been malpractice in this case.
