Crouse Hospital (Syracuse)

When you go to a hospital, you expect to be treated with care and to come away from the experience in a better position than you arrived. Unfortunately, hospitals and their staff do make mistakes, and when they do, a patient can suffer serious injuries or a worsening of an illness or medical condition. If you suspect that you were a victim of medical malpractice at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, you should consult an experienced Syracuse medical malpractice lawyer at DeFrancisco & Falgiatano. We can help you determine whether you may have a claim.

Crouse Hospital is a private, not-for-profit hospital that is licensed for 506 acute-care beds. The hospital serves more than 22,000 discharges as well as over 365,000 outpatient visits. It serves 15 counties located in Central and Northern New York.

Negligence by a hospital or its staff can result in serious injuries or death. Hospital malpractice can include malpractice by doctors, nurses, physician's assistants, aides, and lab technicians who are employed by a hospital. Hospitals are regulated by federal and state laws, and they are supposed to follow policies and procedures that are designed to ensure the well-being of patients. If a patient is injured by a hospital employee's negligence, the hospital may be liable for the injuries caused by that negligence.

Due to pressure and the fast pace, there is a particular risk of errors in the emergency room. People staffing an emergency room need to think fast for both critical and noncritical patients, and how cases are triaged can make a huge difference. If the employees in an emergency room deviate from the standard of care, and you are seriously injured or made worse as a result, it may be possible to hold the hospital accountable.

There also may be room to hold a hospital vicariously liable under a theory of ostensible agency in situations in which you thought that a non-employee physician, such as an anesthesiologist or radiologist, was an agent of the hospital, and that physician violated the professional standard of care, causing your injuries. The doctrine of ostensible agency has been articulated differently over the years, but generally, to establish liability, your attorney will need to show misleading words or conduct by the hospital and your reliance on those words or conduct in accepting a doctor's services.

Failing to diagnose a condition can be a result of many factors. Among these potential contributing causes is a failure to conduct a differential diagnosis. This is a process conducted by a doctor who is trying to weigh the probability of various potential diseases or conditions that could account for your symptoms. If a doctor fails to list a potential diagnosis or fails to adequately test for a particular diagnosis, and this failure falls below the standard of care, it may be possible to hold the hospital or doctor accountable for the damages flowing from this deviation.

In most cases, we will need to hire an expert to provide testimony on what the standard of care was. The professional standard of care can vary based on the patient at issue and their specific characteristics. The expert will also need to provide opinions about whether the defendant breached the professional standard of care and whether that breach caused the injuries.

If a lawsuit is successfully brought, and liability is established, you may be able to recover compensatory damages. These are damages designed to compensate you for losses arising out of your injuries, including medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and out-of-pocket expenses.

If you have been harmed due to medical malpractice at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, our law firm may be able to help you recover damages from the responsible parties. Medical malpractice cases can be challenging, and it is important to retain a lawyer who can persuasively tell your story and follow the procedural requirements. Call us at 833-200-2000 or contact us via our online form.