Acquired Hospital Infections And Medical Malpractice: Know Your Rights

When you visit a hospital, you expect your health to improve, not to decline. When a decline is experienced due to the negligence of a medical professional, it can be especially disheartening. It's estimated that 1 in every 25 hospital patients end up with an infection, such as staph. For those who find themselves in this category, increased symptoms and greater medical treatment are often in their future.

Medical Malpractice

People often associate medical malpractice with a seemingly more significant trauma, such as amputating the incorrect leg. Medical malpractice encompasses more than just this. At its core, this sector of the law offers protection to any patient who has received substandard care that ultimately resulted in harm, injury, or death. If you received a hospital-acquired infection while in the hospital, medical malpractice is your road to justice.  

Proving Neglect

In order for your malpractice claim for an acquired infection to be successful, it's necessary to prove negligence. There are some medical conditions in which a staph infection is almost avoidable, so you have to prove that the reason for you contracting the infection is solely left at the blame of your treatment providers.

Failure to Notify. Before any procedure that accompanies the risk of an infection, it is the responsibility of the hospital to notify the patient in writing or verbally. If the hospital fails to do so and the patient acquires an infection, the hospital is to blame. Had the hospital followed proper protocol, the patient would have had an option to refuse the treatment due to the risk.

Lack of Sterilization. The transfer of a number of hospital-acquired infections can be mitigated with proper sterilization. When a medical team fails to follow the necessary sterilization and disinfection protocol, they are considered negligent. This is true for everything from the instruments used to treat you, to the bed tray surface you use to eat on – everything must be sterilized.

Compensation

Should negligence be present, you can receive compensation in the form of economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages encompass those financial responsibilities that results due to the infection, such as medical bills for treatment and missed time from work. Non-economic damages include things like pain and suffering.

If you have been faced with this type of scenario, let an attorney work alongside you. Although a malpractice claim won't erase what happened, it can help bring some comfort knowing that justice has been served and you have been duly compensated. Visit sites like http://whiteville-law.com for more information.


Share