When you have an injury, illness, or medical condition, you have the right to expect your medical providers to uphold their required standard of care. Unfortunately, sometimes a patient doesn’t receive adequate or appropriate care, resulting in a worsened medical condition, adverse outcome, injury, or even death. When a provider fails to live up to the standard of care accepted by the medical community, it’s negligence, but when is the hospital the negligent party in a medical malpractice claim, vs. the treating doctor?
Understanding the difference between doctor negligence and hospital negligence is an important part of pursuing a medical malpractice claim. A Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer will typically investigate every aspect of the patient’s care to determine which party (or parties) may be responsible.
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Hospital Negligence vs. Doctor Negligence
When Is the Doctor Liable for Medical Malpractice Due to Their Negligence?
Some doctors are not hospital employees, but instead, they are independent contractors with privileges to work at a specific hospital. Common independent contractor positions for doctors include emergency room doctors, anesthesiologists, radiologists, OBGYNs, and pathologists. When a doctor is not a hospital employee, the doctor may be held legally liable for negligence. Common examples of doctor negligence in medical malpractice claims include the following:
- Misdiagnosis
- Missed diagnosis
- Delayed diagnosis
- Failure to treat
- Failure to take a complete patient history
- Anesthesia errors
- Surgical errors
- Medication mistakes
- Failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests
- Misinterpreting diagnostic test results
- Failure to obtain informed consent
- Prematurely discharging a patient
- Birth injuries
A doctor is liable for damages such as medical expenses, lost earnings, compensation for pain and suffering, and compensation for catastrophic injury or wrongful death when they breach their duty of care to treat their patient in accordance with the industry-accepted standards. A victim of doctor malpractice may recover their damages from the doctor’s medical malpractice insurance if the negligence resulted in the victim’s injury or worsened medical outcome.
When Is a Hospital Liable for Damages Due to Negligence?
Depending on the results of a medical malpractice attorney’s investigation on behalf of their client, the hospital could be held liable for damages instead of the treating doctor under specific circumstances of negligence. These commonly include the following:
- For a doctor’s negligent actions, if a negligent doctor is a hospital employee and not an independent contractor
- Negligent hiring practices
- Inadequate staff training
- Lack of adequate safety protocols
- Inadequate staff monitoring
- Communication deficiencies, such as failing to obtain or transfer complete patient records
- Administrative failures, such as a lack of proper record-keeping
- Inadequate building or equipment maintenance
- Lack of adequate post-operative monitoring or inadequate monitoring of a woman and infant during labor and delivery
- Improper patient discharge procedures
When a hospital fails to uphold its legal duty to adhere to the medical community’s standard of care, the hospital could be held liable for a patient’s economic and non-economic damages in a medical malpractice claim against the facility.
Is There a Difference Between Hospital Malpractice Claims and a Claim Against a Doctor?
Both types of medical malpractice cases require a thorough investigation and substantial evidence of negligence and liability against the at-fault party.
Hospitals typically have far greater insurance coverage for medical malpractice claims than an individual doctor, potentially increasing the amount of compensation available to the malpractice victim; however, a hospital also has high-powered attorneys on their side, making it even more essential for a malpractice victim to have aggressive legal representation through an experienced medical malpractice lawyer.