Savannah Hospital Understaffing Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Hospital Understaffing Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Savannah Win
When hospitals are understaffed, the impact on patient care can be devastating, leading to medical malpractice injuries that severely harm patients and their families. Factors such as budget constraints, staff shortages, and increased workloads can all play a role in compromising the quality of care that patients receive. Major hospitals in Savannah include Memorial Health University Medical Center, St Joseph’s Candler Hospital, and Georgia Regional Hospital.
If you or a loved one suffered injuries caused by understaffing at a local hospital, contact Butler Prather LLP right away. At Butler Prather LLP, we’ve been helping people in Savannah, Georgia, for over 35 years and are really good at what we do. We’ve won nine verdicts exceeding $100 million and over 60 verdicts and settlements over $10 million.
Call (706) 322-1990 to schedule a free case review with a Savannah personal injury lawyer today.
Understanding the Link Between Understaffed Hospitals and Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional deviates from the expected standard of care, and a patient is harmed as a result. This may include either an act of omission or an act of negligence.
Hospital understaffing is a specific type of negligence that occurs when there are not enough medical staff members to provide adequate patient care. This is a systemic issue that’s caused by poor decisions made by hospital administrators. Understaffing becomes a contributing factor to medical malpractice when the reduced workforce is unable to perform their duties effectively, which increases the risk of mistakes.
What Typically Causes Understaffing in Hospitals?
Hospital understaffing is often the result of multiple factors, but it generally boils down to poor decision-making by hospital administrators and greedy cost-cutting measures enacted by hospital owners, which tend to be large corporations.
Hospitals will often reduce staff numbers to increase their profits. This means there are fewer nurses, doctors, and support staff than needed for optimal patient care. Staff shortages also occur due to a lack of qualified professionals in the market, and this phenomenon is often made worse by high turnover rates within the healthcare industry.
Common Obvious Dangers of Having an Understaffed Hospital
Statistics paint a stark picture of hospital understaffing and its consequences. Research has shown that when a nurse’s workload is increased beyond a certain point, there is a notable increase in patient mortality. For example, it’s been demonstrated in several real-life cases how a hospital’s lack of adequate staff is linked to delayed emergency room care, resulting in patient harm.
Hospital understaffing doesn’t just impact patient outcomes – it also harms healthcare providers. Staff members who are stretched thin experience high levels of stress and job dissatisfaction, leading to burnout, which has a snowball effect, further exacerbating staffing shortages and deteriorating levels of care.
Overworked healthcare providers have less time for each patient, resulting in rushed appointments and inadequate patient monitoring. This pressure compromises patient care while increasing the risk of errors.
Coordination of care, especially in hospital settings where multiple specialists may be involved, hinges on timely and accurate information exchange. Clear and effective staff communication is crucial to effective patient care. But this suffers dramatically if hospital staff is overwhelmed. When providers are handling more patients than they can manage, critical information will be missed or miscommunicated.
How Hospital Understaffing Leads to Injuries and Fatalities
Hospitals that operate with insufficient staff can inadvertently set the stage for injuries and fatalities. When there are not enough healthcare professionals to properly monitor patients, the chances of overlooking symptoms or failing to provide timely care increase. For example, patients may suffer from preventable conditions such as bedsores or hospital-acquired infections due to inadequate attention and care.
The likelihood of medication errors or surgical complications also rises with understaffing, as healthcare providers may be forced to work at a pace that does not allow for the necessary double-checking of procedures and prescriptions. Critical patient assessments are also delayed due to hospital understaffing, leading to delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis that can have devastating consequences for patient health.
Proving Medical Malpractice from Hospital Understaffing in Savannah
Everyone has a duty of care to avoid behavior that may cause reasonably foreseeable harm to others. The first thing an attorney must prove to prevail in a medical malpractice lawsuit is that the duty of care was breached. That means presenting evidence that the healthcare provider failed to meet the standard of care, which is typically defined by what a competent healthcare professional would have done under similar circumstances.
A medical malpractice lawyer must also demonstrate how this breach of duty caused an injury to the patient. For example, if a patient’s condition worsens due to delayed treatment caused by a scarcity of available nurses, this could be seen as a direct result of the hospital’s failure to meet its legal obligation to provide adequate staff to ensure patient safety.
Hospital Understaffing Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Savannah Can Help
The experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Butler Prather LLP can build an effective hospital understaffing medical malpractice case. The first step is collecting relevant medical records. These documents provide a timeline of the patient’s treatment, and this can indicate where lapses in care occurred.
Butler Prather LLP can also interview patients, staff, and the victim’s family members to find out how the breach of duty happened. Expert testimony is often essential for demonstrating how the lack of qualified staff directly resulted in patient injuries.
Victims and their families who have suffered due to hospital understaffing have the right to seek compensation to cover medical bills for past and future care related to the injury, including rehabilitation and long-term treatment. Lost wages and loss of earning capacity may also be claimed if the injury affects the victim’s ability to work.
Compensation for non-economic damages is often available, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life. In tragic cases where understaffing leads to a patient’s death, the victim’s family may pursue a wrongful death claim, seeking damages for funeral expenses, loss of companionship, and the financial support the deceased would have provided.
Our Savannah Medical Malpractice Attorneys Have Won Over $1 Billion
Butler Prather LLP is one of the most distinguished and successful personal injury law firms in the country. Our attorneys have won large settlements and verdicts for clients in over 30 states.
At Butler Prather LLP, we’ll always treat you and your loved ones with the respect and compassion you deserve. Reach out to our hospital understaffing medical malpractice lawyers in Savannah at (706) 322-1990 to learn more today.