Nashville Hospital Negligence Lawyer

No one enjoys going to the hospital. Nonetheless, when we require surgery or hospitalization for severe illness or injury, we’re grateful that hospitals are available and put our trust in their ability to properly care for us.

Unfortunately, there are times when hospitals do not provide proper care and patients are neglected or mistreated. If you or a member of your family has been harmed during a hospital admission, stay, transfer or discharge, you may be able to sue for hospital negligence. If this negligence has occurred in Nashville, especially at the Vanderbilt Medical Center, you are fortunate to have our accomplished Nashville medical malpractice attorney readily available. Brian Cummings is not only a talented negotiator and litigator, but he is also a caring and compassionate person who will treat you with the concern and respect you deserve.

Types of Hospital Negligence

Many types of hospital negligence may bring you to Cummings Law, including:

• Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosing an injury or illness
• Misreading or ignoring abnormal laboratory results
• Unnecessary surgery
• Surgical errors or wrong-site surgery
• Improper medication or dosage
• Premature discharge
• Poor follow-up or aftercare
• Failure to take or take into account a patient’s medical history
• Failure to order proper testing

Depending on who engaged in negligent behavior and on what the underlying cause of the malpractice was, the hospital may be who is liable for damages.

Reasons for Hospital Negligence

While we usually think of medical errors in terms of doctors’ mistakes, there are a number of ways in which hospitals and their employees cause harm to their patients. The types of hospital negligence listed about may result from systemic problems such as:

• Bureaucratic procedures that result in delayed admission or treatment
• Inadequate training or supervision of nurses or other hospital employees
• Negligent hiring of hospital employees
• Inadequate staffing, including that causes patients to be neglected
• Inadequate supervision of staff
• Improper sanitation protocol throughout the hospital
• Inadequate record-keeping leading to medication or other treatment errors
• Poor communication among staff members

There are circumstances in which you may be able to sue both a physician and the hospital. For example, when surgery goes wrong there may be more than one party at fault; you may be able to sue both the hospital and the surgeon or both the hospital and anesthesiologist.

If you developed a serious infection because hospital equipment was not properly sterilized, had surgery on the wrong body part because of haphazard and faulty communication between staff members, did not receive careful monitoring, or been injured in transport on a gurney because the attendant was not properly trained — you may have a viable claim against the hospital. In order to obtain the compensation you are entitled to, contact Cummings Law.

How Brian Cummings Will Prove Your Case of Hospital Negligence

Since personal injury laws vary from state to state, it is essential to have an attorney from Tennessee to handle your hospital negligence case. You can be sure that Brian Cummings knows every aspect of Tennessee hospital negligence law. His credentials, experience, history of successful outcomes, and exuberant testimonials are all evidence that he is the Nashville attorney to choose.

Cummings Law Firm Works Strategically

Brian Cummings is fully aware of how the hospital will try to deny your claim, including by arguing that the hospital was not at fault. Brian Cummings will fight energetically to prove otherwise.

He will bring in experts in their fields who can testify to the lack of proper sterilization, the improper record-keeping, the use of old or defective equipment, an understaffing problem, or other forms of negligence. By always backing up your personal injury claim with powerful medical evidence and expert medical testimony, Brian Cummings will help to get you the best possible outcome. Over the years, he has won millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for his clients and is ready to help you.

When Hospitals Are Liable for Negligence and When They Are Not

While hospitals bear responsibility for the incompetence of their employees, including nurses, medical technicians, and nursing assistants, they are not always legally liable for the fault of certain types of doctors who work in their hospitals. Although the negligence of an employee of the hospital is considered the hospital’s responsibility, under a doctrine known as “Respondeat Superior,” if a doctor who is not a hospital employee makes a serious mistake, the hospital probably may not bear any responsibility for that doctor’s error in some situations.

But Is the Doctor an Employee of the Hospital?

Because whether you can sue the hospital in a medical malpractice case for only a doctor’s negligence case largely depends on whether the doctor is an actual employee or agent of the facility, it is important to understand that many doctors you see in the hospital are not employees of that hospital. These non-employee doctors, although officially affiliated with the particular hospital, are legally considered independent contractors and they are not employees of the hospital.

Exceptions to the Rule

The hospital may be liable for the malpractice committed by physicians who are not their employees if the hospital has not made it clear to the patient that the doctor is an independent contractor (this is called an “agency” relationship). Hospitals generally avoid this problem by claiming they adequately inform patients when they have admitted to the hospital that many doctors in the hospital are not hospital employees. If the hospital claims to have informed a patient that certain doctors in that hospital are not employees, and that doctor is later negligent, both sides will argue their perspective in Court regarding whether that alleged communication to the patient was properly effective.

Contact Our Nashville Hospital Negligence Attorney

If you have suffered physical harm while at the hospital, consult with Cummings Law promptly. We will focus on your legal rights and fight vigorously to get you significant compensation for medical expenses, lost income (present and future), pain and suffering, permanent disability, and/or loss of enjoyment of life. The sooner you get in touch with Cummings Law, the sooner you can be on the right course to having a top-notch attorney help you. Contact us today for a consultation.

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