Many factors determine the chances of winning a lawsuit against a hospital. It depends on the type of malpractice case you have, whether the other party is willing to settle, and a variety of other factors.
In most cases, the odds are stacked against the patient. A patient’s medical malpractice case is less than 50% likely to win if it goes to trial. That’s why working with an experienced medical malpractice attorney is crucial.
Types of Hospital Malpractice Cases
Medical malpractice occurs when a physician, hospital, or other healthcare provider causes harm to a patient due to a negligent act or omission.
Malpractice can occur during diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. A hospital malpractice case may involve employer negligence, negligent credentialing, negligent hiring, and inadequate staffing.
Employer Negligence
In Missouri, there are 49 community health and hospital systems. Overall, these systems employ 72,419 people. Under Missouri law, an employer is responsible for the actions of its employees.
In other words, the Missouri health system is liable for the actions or inactions of over 72,000 people. For the most part, these employees are not doctors.
Generally, hospitals staff their facilities with two classes of medical doctors: doctors who are hospital employees and independent doctors to whom the hospital grants staff privileges. Out of 72,000 employees, employed doctors comprise about .05% of hospital staff. Because of this, doctors are not generally employees of a hospital; instead, they are contractors.
On the other hand, nurses, medical technicians, assistants, and even food service workers are considered hospital employees. Examples of unacceptable and harmful mistakes committed by hospital staff include:
- Failure to monitor the patient’s condition,
- Taking an erroneous patient medical history,
- Inadequately assessing the patient during a physical exam,
- Failure to maintain sanitary or sterile conditions,
- Failure to conduct follow-up care or provide post-discharge instructions, and
- Negligent triage.
When hospital employees make mistakes that result in patient injury, they should be held liable. However, if a surgeon makes a mistake while working in a hospital, that hospital will probably not be liable for that mistake. You have a better chance of success if you sue the doctor rather than the hospital.
Negligent Credentialing
Even though hospitals are rarely held responsible for a negligent doctor, a hospital can be liable if it negligently screened, hired, issued privileges, or allowed a doctor to practice when the hospital knew they were not competent to practice medicine or to use the hospital’s facilities.
This theory of direct hospital liability is called negligent credentialing. A hospital must ensure its medical staff is competent by prudently selecting, reviewing, and continually evaluating their doctors.
Negligent Hiring
A hospital must use reasonable care when hiring employees, like any other employer. Doing so ensures they don’t hire individuals who pose a threat to other employees, the public, and patients.
A patient could have a negligent hiring claim when a hospital fails to conduct an adequate pre-employment investigation, like background and reference checks, on a prospective employee and that employee injures a patient.
Inadequate Staffing
Hospitals can also have direct liability for a patient’s injury when caused by the hospital’s failure to have adequate staffing levels after the hospital consciously chooses to hire an inadequate number of staff members. Inadequate staffing is becoming a huge problem.
The Missouri Hospital Association’s 2022 Annual Workforce Report reflects statewide vacancy and turnover rates in 2021 near or above record levels. There are over 10,000 nursing vacancies as of 2022. Inadequate staffing can result in a failure to monitor a patient’s vitals or medication errors, which can be the basis for a medical malpractice claim.
Do Hospitals Usually Settle Out of Court?
For two decades, social scientists researched the outcomes of medical malpractice claims. The data shows physicians win about 80% to 90% of the time. Even if a case has strong evidence, physicians win 50% of trials.
Building the nerve to file a case can be challenging based on those results. When you spend money and time on a lawsuit, you expect it to go in your favor. You may be in an even worse place financially if it doesn’t. Luckily for the patient, 93% of the cases settle, and they receive compensation without having to go to court.
If the entity that committed medical malpractice against you offers a settlement, you may be eager to accept it. After all, a settlement can help provide immediate compensation for your medical losses and give you the financial support you need so that you can focus on your recovery. But that does not mean you should immediately accept a settlement offer from the hospital or healthcare provider.
If you haven’t contacted a lawyer yet about your case, we recommend doing so. In many cases, a lawyer will have insight and experience, which levels the playing field against the insurance company.
Even if you’re on the fence about pursuing a lawsuit, you may receive additional information from that communication making it easier to decide whether you want to move forward with your lawsuit.
Kansas City Medical Malpractice Lawyers
In lawsuits against a hospital, the patient faces a team of attorneys hired by the hospital’s insurance company. These lawyers will do anything to avoid paying you money.
Going up against them without legal experience usually means losing the case. The attorneys at Dempsey Kingsland Osteen have successfully negotiated millions of dollars worth of settlements for our clients and have over 75 years of combined experience in medical negligence cases.
With our medical and legal team, we can increase the odds in your favor. Let us help you get the compensation you deserve for your medical lawsuit.
The legal team at Dempsey Kingsland Osteen works to ensure that the injured are fully compensated for their lasting injuries from medical malpractice or other negligence. We push for comprehensive damages that anticipate the long-term needs of our clients, rather than taking a quick settlement out of convenience.
Loading...