Can a Hospital be Sued for Negligence? |
Posted: April 16, 2017 |
A Hospital is Liable for the Actions of its Employees If an employee causes harm to a patient through incompetent actions, then typically, the hospital is responsible. In other words, when an employee is negligent (fails to be reasonably cautious when dealing with or treating a patient), for any injuries that the patient sustains, the hospital would normally be on the hook. Usually, nurses, in addition to medical technicians as well as support staff, are regarded as hospital employees. If the employee was carrying out something that is job-related when they caused an injury to occur to a patient, usually the patient can sue the hospital for any resulting damages. As an example of this, if an R.N. that is employed by a hospital mistakenly injects inappropriate medication into the IV push, and this will cause harm to the patient; as a result, then it is likely that the hospital will consider being liable for the mistake made by the R.N. On the other hand, a doctor should be responsible for making an error while working in a hospital and the patient that he or she was treating is injured, unless the physician is, in fact, an employee, which often is not the case, then the hospital will have no liability to bear whatsoever. Furthermore, if a medical malpractice is committed by an employee of the hospital that is under the supervision of a doctor, then the patient can, in fact, sue the doctor, while the hospital could be entirely off the hook. The employee could be under the medical practitioner’s supervision at the time of the misdeed, but that will depend upon the following two factors: - If the doctor was present - If the doctor had control over the employee and thus could prevent the negligence from occurring As an example of this, a surgeon may have to accept liability if there is a miscounting of the surgical sponges by an attending nurse, which led to the doctor leaving one of the sponges inside the patient. The case like it can be filed right away at any medical malpractice Philadelphia firms.
The Doctor – is He or She a Hospital Employee? When trying to figure if one can sue the hospital when a doctor provides care that is sub-standard and causes a patient harm, it can prove to be difficult. The doctor may or may not be a hospital employee dependent on the relationship they have with the facility. The fact is that most doctors are not hospital employees, which means that, within the law, we can classify them as being an “independent contractor.” And that means the hospital is not responsible for any malpractice that is caused by a doctor, regardless that the misconduct took place at the facility.
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