Suing A Hospital - Why And How?

If you or your loved one had a negative experience in a medical institution, for instance, given the wrong treatment, you may have grounds to sue hospital.

Why?

Simply because even if the mistake happened because of a single individual, the entire hospital is responsible for the actions of their employees. 

Continue reading to find out some common scenarios in which it’s possible to file and win a medical malpractice case.

When Can You Sue Hospital

To successfully file a lawsuit, you need to have reasonable grounds to do so. In medical malpractice cases, this is usually related to injuries suffered as a result of the following:

1. Incorrect diagnosis or treatment by a physician working at the hospital

2. The wrong prescription

3. Mistakes made by technicians, such as failure to sanitize the medical equipment during surgery

4. Surgical mistakes, such as leaving an instrument inside the patients

5. Negligence by the hospital staff, such as improper care or reusing equipment

6. Wrongful death

7. Any type of discrimination (racial, gender, sexual orientation, etc.)

The Statute of Limitations

Before contacting your attorney, you need to make sure you’re filing the suit within the legal time frame, aka statute of limitations. In Florida, the standard statute of limitations is two years for medical malpractice cases.

Depending on the circumstances, this may be extended to four years if the injury wasn’t immediately discoverable.

This means that in most cases, you won’t be able to file a suit after four years unless you want to sue hospital for concealment or fraud.

How To File a Suit

The earlier you involve an attorney the better. With experienced legal representation, you may not even need to go to court as your attorney may help you negotiate a favorable settlement with the insurance company.

In short, the process is quite simple. You need to collect evidence that the hospital is liable for the injuries you suffered. This may include collecting testimony from an independent medical expert about improper care you received at the institution you’re suing.

Next, your lawyer needs to calculate the value of the damages and ultimately, file a lawsuit on time.

The most challenging part is proving negligence. In other words, you have to prove that the hospital directly contributed to your injuries. You do have to keep in mind that a negative outcome to a medical procedure doesn’t automatically mean the hospital was negligent. 

To be considered negligent, the actions by the doctor must fall short of the legal responsibility to care for the patient. In other words, they have taken actions that fall below expected standards and thus led to serious injuries as described by ISC §5102.

To prove this occurred, your lawyer will use the following form of evidence:

1. Medical expert testimony

Because most lawyers have limited knowledge about the medical field, they’ll hire an independent medical expert that can help you and the jury understands medical negligence. 

This expert may testify if the plaintiff received care that falls below reasonable medical standards. They can also explain how a different medical professional could have avoided causing harm to the patient.

Most importantly, they can provide expert opinion and prove that your injuries were either caused or exacerbated by a physician working for the hospital you’re suing.

2. Malpractice damages

If you wish to sue hospital successfully, your lawyer must find evidence of the damages and their associated value to justify the compensation you’re looking to receive. Evidence could be in the form of:

1. Medical bills from your treatments

2. Statements about the future costs of treatment (determined by the medical expert)

3. Proof of lost income while you were recovering from the injuries (statements or pay stubs from your employer)

4. Testimony about your non-economic damages such as pain and suffering

How To Determine The Value Of Your Case

Even though it might be hard to revisit the injury with your lawyer, it will help them determine the value of your case. By reviewing your injuries and assigning a proper dollar value, you can learn how much money you can collect per injury.

Even though every case is different, typically, medical malpractice damages usually include:

1. Medical costs of treating the injury caused by the hospital

2. The income you lost while recovering from the injury

3. Loss of employment

4. Emotional suffering and physical pain

5. Loss of life quality due to your symptoms

6. Permanent or temporary physical or mental disability

Do You Need To Pay For The Lawsuit Out Of Pocket?

Many people will quickly abandon their idea to sue hospital when they consider how much lawsuits costs. Thankfully, most personal injury lawyers won’t take you to the cleaners and in fact, they work on a contingency basis. In other words, they get paid out of the percentage of your lawsuit. 

But what if you lose?

In that case, you don’t have to pay anything. This system might seem unfair for lawyers, but it’s an incentive for us to do the best we can in helping our clients recover from their injuries. 

If you win, you can simply pay out a lump sum to your layer or agree on payments over time.

Do you Need Help?

We rely on doctors and medical personnel to heal us. If they deliver subpar service they can cause significant injuries that are hard to recover from. Again, medical professionals are also humans, so even if it was a minor, human mistake, you shouldn’t feel bad. In fact, the doctor most likely won’t be even fired if they simply made a human error as the hospital’s insurance will pay out the settlement.

If you or your loved one were victims of medical negligence in Florida, Law Offices of RITE is your best choice for filing a lawsuit against your hospital. We’ve got decades of experience handling cases such as yours and will fight to the bitter end to help you receive the compensation you deserve.

Call (904) 500-RITE (7483) or send a message to info@rite4justice.com to book a free consultation and we’ll review your case and explain the process thoroughly.