Patients rely on nurses in Florida hospitals and healthcare facilities to provide proper care and treatment. Often, a nurse will attend to a patient’s daily needs more than their doctor. However, nurses do make mistakes when providing treatment and care. Generally, errors are harmless but sometimes they can result in severe medical consequences. If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to a nurse’s negligent conduct, you need an experienced Florida lawyer for injuries caused by a nurse.
At Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA, we have the knowledge and resources to offer you professional and aggressive representation in a medical malpractice claim against a negligent nurse. To schedule a free legal consultation to discuss your case, contact Prosper Shaked at (305) 694-2676.
Types of Injuries Caused by Nurses in Florida
Medical malpractice occurs when health professionals negligently perform their duties, causing harm to their patients. Often, nurses make grave errors or cut corners, hurting their patients rather than helping them. There are several mistakes a nurse can make that will adversely affect their patients, including administering the wrong medication or inaccurately reading vital signs.
More so than doctors, nurses have direct and daily contact with hospital patients. When a patient experiences a sudden emergency, a nurse is usually the first to respond. Failing to take the necessary immediate steps or making critical mistakes in such a situation could constitute medical malpractice. Errors could range from failing to call a doctor for assistance to not attending to their rounds, missing the emergency.
Furthermore, part of a nurse’s duty is monitoring patients’ conditions. If a nurse notices or should have noticed a change in a patient’s condition that jeopardizes their well-being, failing to notify a physician could be malpractice.
Nurses could be liable for medical malpractice if they injure a patient by the improper use of medical equipment. This can range from leaving a sponge in a surgical patient to failing to secure a patient in their bed.
One of the most common errors nurses make is administrating the wrong medication or the incorrect dosage. If a nurse fails to follow a doctor’s instructions, they may be liable for any harm the patient experiences. Similarly, the nurse could negligently follow orders, such as injecting the wrong part of a patient or injecting the wrong patient.
Our Florida lawyer for injuries caused by a nurse will carefully review all of the actions that led to an injury to determine where the error occurred. Nurses have a difficult job, but being tired or overworked is not a justifiable excuse to not provide the level of care patients deserve.
Some other conduct that could constitute medical malpractice by nurses and injure patients include:
- Failing to communicate proper information during shift changes
- Failing to provide physicians with critical information or changes to vital signs
- Allowing patients to walk alone, or use the restroom by themselves, when they are in danger of falling
- Failing to use patient lifts or physically dropping a patient when transferring them
Establishing Liability for an Injury Caused by a Florida Nurse
Establishing that a nurse committed medical malpractice requires four elements; a duty of care, a breach of that duty, causation, and actual damages.
Our knowledgeable Florida attorneys have access to medical experts that can testify to what conduct would have been appropriate under the given circumstances. To prove that medical malpractice occurred, we are required to show what actions a similar trained and skilled nurse would take. Our law office will also collect all necessary documentation, including medical reports, bills, and incident reports, and internal communication, to help establish how the injury occurred.
Determining liability for nurse malpractice depends on the circumstances. Certain conduct, such as acting in violation of hospital policy or a mistake while administering home care, could result in the nurse being directly liable for any injuries. In other situations, liability could be shared by a supervising physician or the hospital. If a nurse was following a doctor’s orders when the conduct occurred, the doctor could be liable for the nurse’s mistake. A physician could also be held responsible for any injuries, if the nurse’s malpractice, such as administering incorrect medication, happened under the doctor’s supervision.
The hospital or medical facility could be liable for nurse malpractice if the harm was the result of the nurse following hospital policy or procedure. Additionally, the hospital could be held responsible if a nurse was not properly trained. To hold the hospital accountable for nurse malpractice, an injured patient would need to prove that the hospital was vicariously liable for the nurse’s conduct. This is a complicated legal argument that requires the assistance of a seasoned Florida medical malpractice attorney such as Prosper Shaked.
Call Our Florida Lawyer for Injuries Caused by a Nurse for a Free Consultation
If you or a loved one suffered an injury or adverse medical complication due to a nurse’s negligent conduct, contact our Florida lawyer for injuries caused by a nurse. Prosper Shaked is a Florida attorney who is committed to holding health care providers responsible for any harm they inflict the people who put their trust in them. Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA has the resources and experience to provide you with professional and effective representation. For a free consultation, call Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA at (305) 694-2676.