A mistake made by any medical professional can result in death or injury. Nurses often have a great deal of responsibility for their patients. A nurse must provide appropriate and proper care to his or per patient.
Nursing malpractice occurs when a nurse fails to meet the standard of care that a competent nurse under the same circumstances would meet, and those negligent actions led to patient harm.
Nursing malpractice may involve:
- Failure to take appropriate immediate steps in an emergency situation
- Failure to monitor a patient’s medical condition
- Harming a patient with medical equipment
- Improperly administering medication
Determining liability is a complex issue when a malpractice case involves a nurse’s negligence. In other words, who is responsible for the harm to the patient – the nurse, the attending doctor, the hospital?
A hospital may be held liable for nursing malpractice if the nurse was an employee of the hospital and was fulfilling a job duty when the patient was injured. On the other hand, the attending doctor could be held liable if he or she was present and controlling the nurse’s actions when the negligence occurred.
The hospital still may be liable if the doctor supervised the nurse and gave improper orders, and the nurse knowingly followed those improper orders. The issue of doctor supervision is normally a dispute between the doctor and the hospital and determines who compensates the injured patient.
Contact Our Firm for Assistance
Medical malpractice cases are often highly complex legal matters that require a skilled legal malpractice team. At Anapol Weiss, we have highly qualified medical malpractice attorneys with the resources and experience to navigate the legal process, so patients can focus on recovery.
Contact our award-winning attorneys at Anapol Weiss to speak with a Pennsylvania or New Jersey medical malpractice lawyer if you or a family member was harmed by a nurse’s negligence. We can investigate the situation and get answers.