Nursing Malpractice
Nursing malpractice occurs when a nurse commits an act of negligence, whether intentional or not. In the United States, nursing malpractice rates have increased significantly in recent decades and errors made by nurses have resulted in thousands of serious injuries and even fatalities. However, like doctors and other medical professionals, nurses can be held accountable for their mistakes.
The nursing malpractice attorneys at Burke & Eisner represent patients and families who have been the victims of medical errors and help them to obtain fair and proper compensation for the physical, financial and emotional injuries they’ve suffered.
Why Nursing Malpractice is Increasing
Nursing is a profession that’s critical to the administration of healthcare, and it’s a profession that’s in high demand. But there are not enough qualified nurses (for instance, registered nurses and licensed practical nurses) to keep up with this demand, and the result is chronic understaffing and a population of overworked nurses.
While nursing shortages are not a direct cause of nursing malpractice, it does cause a couple of serious issues:
- Nurses who work excessively long shifts may suffer from fatigue, making them more prone to commit an error. In fact, a 2004 report showed that nurses who worked a shift longer than 12.5 hours were three times more likely to make a mistake.
- Hospitals and other healthcare facilities may hire inadequately trained nurses or unlicensed nurse aides to fill a need. The less training a nurse has, the greater the risk of a medical error.
In addition, miscommunication and carelessness are not uncommon in the healthcare setting and may directly cause a potentially life-threatening complication or mistake.
Types of Nursing Malpractice
Nursing malpractice takes many forms, including:
• Medication errors – giving a patient the wrong medication or the wrong dose, or dispensing medication to the wrong patient
• Failure to follow a physician’s orders
• Delaying patient care and/or failure to monitor a patient
• Incorrectly performing a procedure, or trying to perform a procedure without training
Consequences of Nursing Malpractice
The consequences of nursing malpractice can range from minor to potentially fatal, and may include:
- Medication overdose
- Adverse drug reaction
- Coma
- Brain, heart, kidney or other organ damage
- Infection
- Death
Protect Your Legal Rights
Victims of nursing malpractice have legal rights, and protecting these rights is what the attorneys of Burke & Eisner do best. If you have suffered an injury caused by a nursing error, or lost a loved one because of malpractice, contact our firm for a free claim evaluation. We can determine if you are eligible to file a lawsuit to recover money for your:
- Pain and suffering
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages and/or loss of earning capacity
- Loss of companionship or support (in cases involving a fatality)
- Other losses
Contact Burke & Eisner today. One of our experienced attorneys will be glad to answer your questions, inform you of your legal options, and ensure your rights are fully protected.
Three ways to Contact Us:
-- Fill out the Contact Us form in the Upper Right part of this page.
-- Use the Contact Us form located on the Instant Answer Page
-- Call us: 1-800-838-0800
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