In most cases, when a condition is life-threatening, patients go to the ER. However, when a condition seems to be a minor illness or injury, they may be asked to go to the urgent care department, which sometimes has more limited hours. Urgent care doctors and staff frequently handle minor fractures, minor headaches, cough or sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, scrapes, bumps, ear or sinus pain, eye irritation, burning with urination, animal bites, and foreign objects in the eye or nose. Like other health care providers, however, urgent care staff sometimes make mistakes, such as failing to diagnose a serious condition or misdiagnosing a condition as minor when it’s serious. If you were harmed by urgent care malpractice, you should call the seasoned Syracuse medical malpractice lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys. It is crucial to seek counsel as soon as possible after being injured so that you can get a viable claim in during the appropriate statute of limitations period.
Urgent Care MalpracticeGenerally, hospital liability is determined case by case. Upstate New York hospitals may be held accountable for a patient’s damages arising out of medical malpractice by hospital employees, whether they are doctors or nurses or physicians’ assistants. They can also be held accountable for negligent hiring, supervision, or training, depending on the circumstances.
Urgent care staff should be adequately trained. A hospital could be held liable if it failed to look into a prospective employee’s education and licensing. For instance, if a nurse is not appropriately trained and licensed and administers an inappropriate medication to a patient that comes into urgent care because he failed to take a patient history, both the nurse and the hospital may bear responsibility for the harm that results.
Similarly, a hospital must adequately supervise its employees in an urgent care unit and attend to complaints. When there are complaints surrounding an urgent care doctor’s harassment of patients, the hospital should investigate. Similarly, if an urgent care physician is known to abuse patients, and the hospital continues to allow him to stay on staff, it could be held accountable for the harm suffered by a patient.
Another issue that arises in urgent care departments is understaffing; hospitals that have an urgent care unit should adequately staff it to address the issues that come up. For example, if your father received inadequate care for bedsores because there were not enough nurses on hand to assist with diagnosing the condition, the hospital may bear responsibility, not a particular staff member.
Hospitals are not responsible, except under specific circumstances, when a non-employee in urgent care is medically negligent. In that case, complicated questions of liability may be arise. It is important to retain a lawyer who understands how to seek damages and who should be held responsible in that circumstance.
Proving Your CaseEven before filing your complaint, our lawyers will need to consult with an expert about whether your case is meritorious. We will need to provide the expert with medical records and facts so that he or she can evaluate your claim. If an urgent care patient receives inadequate care and suffers harm, we would likely seek opinions from a doctor who specializes in the standard of care to which urgent care facilities in Syracuse or elsewhere in Upstate New York are held.
Hospital liability has changed, somewhat, because of the pandemic. Under a relatively recent law, health care facilities are immunized from some significant kinds of health care liability related to COVID-19. It is crucial to discuss the viability of your claim with lawyers who keep up with these types of important legal changes.
Consult a Seasoned Syracuse Medical Malpractice Law FirmIf you were injured or a loved one suffered complications due to urgent care malpractice, you should discuss your situation with our seasoned Syracuse medical malpractice lawyers. DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Attorneys has more than 30 years of experience seeking best results for urgent care patients in Lyons, Oswego, Albany, Oneida, Wampsville, Canandaigua, Lowville, Auburn, Buffalo, Utica, Rochester, Herkimer, Watertown, Ithaca, Cooperstown, Elmira, Binghamton, and all of Upstate New York. For a free consultation, complete our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.