Nurses are often on the front line of patient care. They have demanding jobs that often come with long hours and stressful situations. Many patients have deep appreciation for the care they receive from nurses while vulnerable. Because of these bonds, it can sometimes be challenging to get a clear-eyed understanding of how a nurse’s error contributed to harm.
A Long Island nurse error lawyer can help injured patients evaluate their case to get a clear understanding of whether negligence was a factor and — if so — whether it lies with an individual or the institution. Our medical malpractice attorneys are ready to support your claim.
Because nurses are often responsible for carrying out a physician’s orders, they take a lot of actions that directly impact patient outcomes. When a nurse makes an error, it can be life-threatening and extremely dangerous. Some of the more common nurse errors that result in serious injuries or even death include medication and dosage errors or improper use of medical equipment. Likewise, a nurse’s errors in charting or failure to communicate with other staff members can leave a patient vulnerable to deadly mistakes.
Nurses are also responsible for monitoring patient vital signs and acting quickly when indicators suggest a need for medical intervention. Failure to do so can result in worsening health outcomes and irreversible damage.
A personal injury lawsuit stems from the concept of negligence. In order to legally establish negligence, the injured person must demonstrate that the defendant had a duty of care, acted in a way that breached that duty, and caused harm by doing so.
Nurses necessarily have a duty of care when they are in a nurse-patient relationship. For a nurse error case, the plaintiff and their Long Island lawyer will need to demonstrate that the nurse acted in a way that was outside the professional standards and that doing so caused harm.
Because nurses rarely work independently of any other entity or agency, a nurse error case can quickly become complicated. When the nurse who made an error is an employee of a hospital, nursing home facility, or nursing agency, the liability may extend to their employer.
It is also possible that the institution — rather than the individual nurse — could be found negligent. For example, if a nursing home facility fails to provide adequate staffing in relation to state or federal regulations, they could be found liable for nurse errors that occur due to that staffing shortage.
Patients have rights, and that extends to getting their own medical records, which can be crucial to establishing that a nurse error took place. Whenever possible, take detailed notes on changes in condition, unanswered calls to medical staff, and any contradictions between actual experiences and the records provided. It is important to contact an attorney in Long Island as soon as possible after a nurse error to preserve the quality of evidence.
Our Long Island nurse error lawyer is here to help with your case. It can be challenging to deal with an error that caused harm at a vulnerable time. If a nurse error has left you or a loved one in a worse condition, speak to us today about how to seek compensation.
No. Our injury cases are handled on a contingent retainer. You pay nothing upfront, and we recover attorney’s fees only if your litigation is successful. We don’t bill by the hour. You don’t need to worry about running up a large attorney’s bill before you see any recovery for your injuries.
Yes. Our firm is dedicated to creating a strong relationship with our clients, beginning with keeping your information and consultation confidential.
Each case we encounter is carefully screened and evidence scrutinized to make sure the claim is meritorious and may be successful at trial. We will perform an investigation, and then our partners make a final decision on whether to take on a case.