Hospital Liability for Injection Injuries

Often the harm that may be caused by injection injuries is underestimated by doctors and patients alike. It can vary dramatically. If you were injected inappropriately in the wrong location of your body or with the wrong substance, you may sustain nerve injuries, or so much harm that your arm or leg requires amputation. You may suffer from an illness if you were improperly injected with medication or injected with too high a dose. You may be wondering whether you can hold the hospital where you were injured accountable. If you are concerned about hospital liability for injection injuries, you should discuss your situation with the experienced Syracuse injection injuries lawyers of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano.

Our law firm will need to look closely at whether the hospital can be held accountable for its employees’ incompetent actions in relation to your injection injuries. If the person whose error caused you an injury is a hospital employee acting in the course and scope of employment, it may be possible to hold the hospital accountable for your losses under the doctrine of respondeat superior or vicarious liability.

When pursuing damages under a theory of respondeat superior, our Syracuse attorneys will need to show the employee’s underlying negligence. This means we’ll need to show: (1) the hospital employee owed a standard of professional care, (2) he departed from the duty to use reasonable care, (3) causation, and (4) damages. For example, if a nurse erred while injecting you with a medication in the wrong location in your spine, such that you were left partially paralyzed, we may be able to show medical malpractice. Similarly, if a hospital technician fails to sterilize equipment or provide a fresh needle, you may be able to hold the hospital responsible.

Sometimes injections result in serious injuries to a baby. For instance, you may have a basis to sue a hospital for birth injuries if a hospital employee administers too much Pitocin too fast to you while you are laboring for the purpose of speeding up labor, and as a result your baby sustains disabilities.

We may be able to hold a hospital directly liable if its own negligence resulted in your injuries. A hospital should abide by the standard of reasonable care in hiring its employees. Abiding by this standard may include conducting a background check of employees at the time of hiring them. If, for example, a hospital fails to conduct a background check that would have revealed a job applicant is an alcoholic who made nursing errors at a different hospital, the hospital may be liable for negligent hiring; this is a separate cause of action from medical malpractice.

Additionally, many hospitals have protocols for mistakes related to injection such that the requirement that several people confirm the drug prior to injection. This is to guard against the possibility that the patient will be injured by an inappropriate medication. Protocols may also be in place to make sure that staff check on patients and that if a patient has a bad reaction to the drug, whether because of allergy or due to a medication interaction, there are checks in place to make sure an appropriate response is given by health care providers. If a hospital fails to put any protocols in place or improper protocols are put in place, there may be a separate basis to sue for negligence rather than medical malpractice.

If your loved one died as a result of an injection injury and we can establish that it was the result of a hospital employee’s negligence or the hospital’s negligence, our attorneys may be able to file a lawsuit for wrongful death. For example, if a nurse injected your mother with too much morphine and as a result she died, it may be appropriate to hold the hospital liable for pecuniary losses such as funeral bills, hospital expenses prior to death, and lost earnings.

If you were injured by an injection in an Upstate New York hospital, you may be wondering our seasoned Syracuse injection errors lawyers may be able to represent you. of DeFrancisco & Falgiatano may be able to help you. We represent patients in Ithaca, Cooperstown, Elmira, Lowville, Rochester, Binghamton, Auburn, Watertown, Utica, Herkimer, Oswego, Lyons, Canandaigua, Oneida and Wampsville. Fill out our online form or call us at 833-200-2000.