How Do I Sue a Hospital for Medical Negligence?
Medical professionals traditionally follow the Hippocratic Oath, an ancient Greek ethics pledge that can be boiled down to the well-known phrase “First, do no harm”. In practical terms, this means that medical care should never make a person sicker or worsen their injuries.
Nowhere is this “duty of care” more important than in a hospital. When medical personnel fail in that duty, patients may be harmed, sometimes with devastating personal injuries that last a lifetime. Victims deserve compensation and can sue a hospital for negligence.
Medical Malpractice and Hospital Negligence
Obviously, not everyone will leave a medical setting completely cured or healed. Some illnesses and injuries may naturally worsen no matter what the doctors do. But if there is hospital negligence or medical malpractice, compensation is meant to take care of those affected.
The terms negligence and malpractice are often used interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference. Negligence refers to a provider failing to meet the expected standard of care, and making decisions that unintentionally cause harm. It could be an honest mistake or a lapse in judgment. An example might be administering the incorrect dosage of a drug.
Malpractice is a more serious form of negligence, when a provider may be aware of potential harm but acts anyway. Performing unnecessary surgery or ignoring a patient’s medical history of drug allergies are two examples.
Whether it is negligence or malpractice, patients who are worse off after a hospital stay deserve compensation. An attorney with experience in malpractice and hospital negligence will recognize how the subtle legal differences might affect a case, and approach it for the most successful outcome.
How Do You Know if it’s Negligence?
As reported by Forbes Advisor, the National Institutes of Health estimates that in 3 to 15% of all medical interventions, a provider makes an avoidable mistake. Forbes also cites a Johns Hopkins study that lists medical malpractice as the third most common cause of death in the United States.
Examples of provider or hospital negligence can include:
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
- Surgical errors
- Improper treatment
- Medical mistakes
- Inadequate follow-up care
- Incorrect medication
- Anesthesia errors
- Wrongful death
- Lack of informed consent
- Unsanitary conditions
Accidents happen, and hospitals are insured for such instances. And most hospitals insist that their doctors and other medical professionals carry malpractice insurance to help cover damages when something goes wrong (although coverage is not required by law in Missouri or Illinois). Negligence or malpractice must be proven, however, and companies that insure hospitals and physicians have teams of lawyers who may try to deny liability.
When Can You Sue a Hospital for Negligence?
To prove a hospital is liable for negligence, you must be able to establish four key facts:
- Duty of care: The hospital had a legal duty to care for the patient. This rules out someone who was not being treated at the time they were injured or made ill.
- Breach of duty: The hospital’s actions fell below the expected standard of care, meaning that it failed to react accordingly to a patient’s illness or injury, or that an act they took was negligent.
- Causation: A patient’s illness or injury, or the exacerbation of a prior illness or injury, can be linked directly to the hospital or staff member’s actions or inaction.
- Damages: The patient has suffered measurable harm such as additional medical expenses, time away from work, etc.
A medical negligence attorney will consult with experts to determine if these points can be proven and if there is a valid case. Most cases are settled out of court, but if reasonable compensation can’t be agreed upon with the hospital’s insurance company, victims can sue a hospital for negligence.
Steps to Take to File a Lawsuit
Say you went into the hospital for appendicitis and developed an infection while you were there. Or that you became seriously ill due to drug interactions. Or, your newborn suffered a traumatic brain injury during delivery.
Any of these situations might be hospital negligence and your first step should be to contact a personal injury attorney like Hipskind & McAninch. They will follow this process:
Affidavit of Merit
Before a hospital negligence case can begin, your attorney must file an affidavit of merit. This affidavit is a prerequisite in about half of the states, including Illinois and Missouri.
The affidavit of merit requires a review of the case by a medical expert. They must have expertise in the field of medicine associated with the victim’s condition. The case can proceed only if it is their professional opinion that the case meets the standards listed above.
Calculating Damages
Injuries and illnesses that stem from hospital negligence create physical, psychological, and financial burdens. Calculating compensation for these hardships involves adding up actual expenses and placing a value on the non-economic costs of living with the aftermath.
Economic damages can include:
- Medical bills including surgery, hospital stays, doctor appointments, medication, physical therapy, etc.
- Ongoing care such as medical equipment, rehab facilities, caregivers
- Lost income
Non-economic damages encompass:
- Temp or permanent disability
- Emotional toll of scars, disfigurement, and trauma
- Loss of quality of life
- Loss of ability to work
- Pain and suffering
Proving Hospital Negligence
A personal injury attorney’s next job is to find evidence of hospital negligence. They will review medical records, interview witnesses, and get expert testimony from qualified medical professionals.
These experts will be able to make sense of the medical jargon and determine who is at fault. Quite often, proving liability depends on whether another doctor or hospital, acting reasonably, would have had a different outcome in a similar situation.
Identifying Other Liable Parties
Investigating a negligence case may also uncover others who contributed to hospital negligence. For example, if a member of the hospital staff is an independent contractor, they may face a separate lawsuit. Even if the hospital was not directly liable for the incident that caused harm, it may be reasonable to sue the hospital for negligence in hiring the independent contractor.
Depending on the nature of the illness or injury, other entities may share liability. If pharmaceutical companies or medical device manufacturers played a part, they could become part of a lawsuit.
Statutes of Limitation for Medical Negligence
Illinois’ statute of limitations is two years for all personal injuries, including hospital negligence. The state does, however, have a discovery rule that includes a four-year statute of repose. The discovery rule “starts the clock” on the two-year statute on the day the injury was discovered, rather than the day it was inflicted. But the statute of repose limits the time you can take to sue a hospital for negligence to four years from the day of the occurrence.
In Missouri, most personal injuries have a five-year statute of limitations. Hospital negligence and malpractice cases, however, must be filed within two years of the incident. The state has no discovery rule in cases of malpractice. Additionally, the victim’s lawyer must provide a notice of intent to sue a hospital for negligence 90 days before filing the lawsuit.
Does the Law Limit the Amount of My Compensation?
The results of hospital negligence can range from a minor, fixable problem, to a severe, life-long disability. One would expect a clear-cut case of negligence to be worth millions to a victim whose life may have been changed forever. Several states, however, cap the amount of damages someone may receive.
Missouri, for example, caps non-economic damages based on a chart distinguishing between catastrophic and non-catastrophic injuries. Examples of catastrophic injuries include paralysis, loss of two or more limbs, irreversible organ failure, blindness, and permanent cognitive impairment.
In 2025, non-economic damages (pain, suffering, etc.) for these conditions are limited to just under $830,000. Non-catastrophic injuries have a cap of just below $475,000. Reimbursement for actual medical expenses does not have a limit.
A law in Illinois that limited damages was found unconstitutional and was repealed. At this time, there is no cap on economic or non-economic damages in the state.
The Best Attorney to Sue a Hospital for Negligence
The last thing that a patient expects when they’re hospitalized is that they will end up sicker or in more pain than when they were admitted. Unfortunately, hospital negligence can happen to anyone, resulting in serious physical and financial hardships
If you or someone you know was harmed at a hospital, contact Hipskind & McAninch. We have the experience and medical resources to ensure you receive compensation that gets you on the road to recovery and makes up for the hospital letting you down.Call us today to discuss your case.
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