Hospital Negligence Attorney

The quality of care at a hospital is only as good as the training, policies, education and supervision provided to the employees. Hospitals employ a variety of types of employees that can contribute to hospital negligence.

While the most common form of hospital negligence arises from nursing neglect or physician error, hospital negligence can also arise from administrative staff, cleaning staff, and maintenance staff.

The Lyon Firm is dedicated to representing victims of hospital negligence and medical malpractice in Ohio and nationwide. Injured plaintiffs can file claims and see compensation related to past and future medical costs, lost wages, pain and suffering and long-term disability.

Joe Lyon is an experienced Ohio Medical Malpractice and hospital negligence attorney. The Lyon Firm works with all disciplines of the medical profession to determine the root cause of the injury.

If you have unanswered questions about the quality of care and relationship to an unexpected injury, The Lyon Firm can help plaintiffs answer those difficult questions. 

Ohio Hospital Negligence

A study by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine estimates that more than 251,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. This accounts for roughly 10 percent of all deaths in the nation.

That would make medical errors the third leading cause of death in the United States, which further underscores the need for hospitals to make patient safety a priority. Up to 10 percent of strokes are misdiagnosed each year in emergency rooms.

On the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) official list, that would rank only behind heart disease and cancer. The recent estimate would put medical mistakes substantially ahead of respiratory disease, which caused about 150,000 deaths.

The researchers urge the CDC to immediately add medical errors to its annual statistics on the leading causes of death in the US.

Medical Mistakes and Surgical Errors are more common than most patients realize, until they end up on the wrong end of medical malpractice. It is unfortunate that many malpractice cases are preventable if physicians and hospitals take basic precautions and follow protocols. Negligence in Ohio hospitals may include the following:

• Anesthesia Errors
• Breast Surgery Injuries
• Erb’s Palsy Injury
• Pharmacy Errors
• Air Embolism
• Radiology Malpractice
• Delay in Diagnosis
• Violation of Patient Rights
• Epidural Abscess Infection
• Intubation Errors
• C-Section Injury
• Surgical Negligence
• Emergency Room Malpractice
• MRI Scan Injury
• Hospital Acquired UTI
• Misdiagnosing Sepsis
• Postpartum deaths
• Childbirth & Delivery Injury
• Blood Type Incompatibility
• Unnecessary Surgery
• Prescription error
• Laboratory Errors

Hospital Negligence Lawsuits

The reporting of adverse events and negligent conduct can save lives, and The Lyon Firm encourages all patients to report dangerous activity where observed.

Where you suspect that a Hospital is engaging in negligent conduct, it is critical to report that conduct to the appropriate authorities to address the issue and correct the policy, training or medical professional practice that is causing the Hospital negligence to occur.

However, if a serious injury has occurred, plaintiffs should contact a lawyer before submitting any formal documentation or making any formal statements to the Hospital.  These statements are recorded to assist the Hospital in defending any civil liability. 

In the event, serious injury has not occurred and you simply want to report the event to prevent future injury, the following contacts are helpful with achieving that important goal.

Most hospitals do not have an online submission for adverse events and observed negligence, so the first step is reporting the conduct to the Hospital’s Risk Management Department.  

Cincinnati Hospitals

Medical Malpractice claims have been filed against the following medical centers and hospitals:

• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• University of Cincinnati Medical Center
• West Chester Hospital
• Drake Center
• Shriners Hospitals
• Good Samaritan
• The Christ Hospital
• Mercy Health
• Cincinnati VA Hospital
• Encompass Health
• TriHealth Heart Institute

Medical Errors & Preventable Deaths

The exact number of deaths caused by medical errors and hospital negligence is unknown, largely because death certificate data doesn’t record communication breakdowns, diagnostic errors and poor judgment made by medical professionals. But, why is this important?

The Johns Hopkins authors say the inability to report the full impact of medical errors can create further limitations, including a lack of public attention and a failure to invest in research. Although the medical community cannot eliminate human error completely, they can make their errors more visible. Better locating the underlying issues will help to design safer systems and reduce fatal lapses in care.

A full analysis of these shortcomings was published recently on the BMJ Web site. The report identifies an “uncomfortable situation” for a doctor to report that a patient died from a medical error. For many physicians, this would seem like an admission of guilt.

However, as it stands, even if a doctor does list medical errors on a death certificate, they aren’t included in the published totals. The CDC’s published statistics count only the “underlying cause of death.” This is defined as the condition that led a person to seek treatment.

But this reporting failure undermines public health. If medical errors are not counted in the United States’ health statistics, an important burden of health is underrepresented in our country.

Several medical mistakes commonly lead to a patient’s death. These range from surgical complications to patients receiving incorrect medications or doses. In compiling data, researchers define a “medical error” as due to the following:

•    Error in judgment
•    Error in skill
•    Diagnostic error
•    Failure in coordination of care
•    A system defect
•    Failure to rescue a patient from death
•    A preventable adverse event

Filing Hospital Negligence Claims

Bringing a medical malpractice claim against a Cincinnati Hospital is a very serious matter and requires the assistance of a qualified Cincinnati medical malpractice attorney.

Contact The Lyon Firm to discuss the process of investigating the claim and determining whether a viable medical malpractice lawsuit can be brought. Medical malpractice cases require the support of multiple medical expert witnesses to discuss the following legal elements:

• Breach of the applicable medical standard of care (Hospital Negligence)
• Direct and proximate causation of an injury (physical and mental)
• The full extent of the damages caused by the Hospital Negligence

Medical Injury Compensation

If a Hospital is found to be negligent, the Hospital is responsible for the following elements of compensation subject to the caps found in Ohio Tort Reform:

• Past pain and suffering
• Future pain and suffering
• Past medical bills
• Future medical bills
• Future life care plan (Life Care Plan Expert Required)
• Past lost wages
• Future lost wages (Vocational Expert Assessment May be Required)

Hospital Negligence Settlements

Many hospitals and physicians are taking proactive approaches to resolve viable medical malpractice claims by approaching patients who do not have legal counsel. The “family meeting” presentation will include deterring patients from seeking legal counsel.  This is a very concerning development in the course of medical liability and risk management.

We strongly advise patients not to engage in “family meeting” settlement negotiations without an experienced medical malpractice attorney. The hospitals and physicians have lawyers who are specialized in medical malpractice claims advising them on how to approach the case, and it is only fair that the patient is afforded the same benefit of qualified counsel.

The “family meeting” practice of settling hospital negligence cases without an attorney does not benefit the patient in most cases, but almost always benefits the negligent hospital.

Do not be deterred by a hospital representative implying that the case will be compromised if you seek counsel.  While attorney fees will need to be paid, those costs should not be a deterrent. The Lyon Firm adopts a lower contingency fee structure and offers hourly rates for cases that can be resolved without litigation.

If the parties wish to resolve the matter, having qualified counsel on both sides is beneficial to the process. The goal should be a settlement where both parties are satisfied, not a case where the hospital pays substantially less than the fair value of the claim.

There are numerous issues that need to be considered before settling a medical malpractice case, and you should know what the fair value of the claim is before accepting a medical malpractice settlement.

The hospital knows the fair value having been involved in other cases.  You as the patient should work with counsel who has successfully worked on other cases and can advise on the appropriate risk of future litigation and settlement value.