Hospital negligence
A hospital is a system. So is the mistake.
Many hospital injuries are not one person’s error but a gap between several: a shift change, a short-staffed floor, an order that no one double-checked. The patient feels it as a fall, an infection, a wrong dose.
We look for the gap. The nursing notes, the medication record, the staffing for that shift and the discharge papers usually say where it opened, and a nurse or physician consultant tells us whether care at that point fell below what it should have been.
The stays we review
- A fall that could have been foreseen and was not prevented
- A wrong drug, dose or route, or an allergy that was not heeded
- An infection from a line, a wound or a procedure
- A pressure injury that was never turned or treated
- An emergency-room patient sent home too soon, or a discharge with no plan
On the ward
Where the gap shows up
The chart is written bed by bed, and shift by shift. Reading it that way, we can see who knew what and when, and whether a warning sign was written down and passed along.
We also ask about the unit: how many patients each nurse was caring for, and what the hospital’s own policy required.
What we ask the hospital for
Nursing notes and the medication administration record
Orders, and the times they were carried out
The care plan, and any fall or pressure-injury assessments
Incident reports, where the law lets us have them
Discharge instructions and follow-up arrangements
What the review answers
What a nurse and a physician each look for
Hospital cases are read twice, once at the bedside and once at the level of the orders.
- 01
The nurse reads the shift
Staffing, assessments, what was charted and what was done about it.
- 02
The physician reads the plan
The orders, the tests and the decisions made, and when.
- 03
Together, the handoffs
Where information passed between people, and where it stopped.
About hospital cases
Who is responsible, the hospital or the doctor?
It depends on who employed the people involved and who made the decision that went wrong. Sorting that out is part of the first review.
Should I file a complaint with the hospital first?
You can, and a patient advocate may help with questions about your care. Keep copies, and talk to us before you give a recorded statement or sign a release.
Can I get the complete record?
You have a right to your medical record. We ask for it in full, including parts patients seldom see, such as the nursing notes.
Does a bad outcome mean the hospital did something wrong?
No. Illness and injury can go badly even with careful care. We take a case when the records and a reviewing clinician point to a failure of care that mattered.
Bring us the discharge papers
A discharge summary and the dates of the stay are enough to start. We will request the full record.
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