ARE YOUR LOVED ONES RECEIVING THE APPROPRIATE STANDARD OF CARE?

A highly disturbing 2018 end-of-year headline reports that home healthcare nurses failed to intervene or call for help when their patient’s condition was worsening. Then, after the patient died, the providers allowed the body to remain in the home for nearly two days without telling anyone!

Just months earlier, due to negligence at a healthcare facility, a resident died when his ventilator stopped overnight – without the staff knowing! The family of this stroke patient, a recent ABC Eyewitness News report explained, is now suing, claiming the providers failed to take life-saving actions.

Why, at Ramey & Hailey Law, do we feel it’s so important for you to know about cases like these? Medical professionals have a duty to provide adequate care for their patients; failure to adhere to the appropriate standard of care is a type of negligence. In both the cases mentioned above, the patient was already ill, and the family trusted caregivers to alleviate their loved ones’ suffering to do everything possible to preserve those patients’ quality of life.

Medical malpractice can occur:

• as the result of a wrongful action taken
• when an appropriate action is not taken
• when a medical condition is misdiagnosed, not diagnosed at all, treated improperly, or left untreated

Different entities may be liable for medical malpractice:

• a provider – doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional
• a facility – a hospital or rehabilitation facility or agency for home healthcare
• an insurance organization that refused to pay for necessary tests or treatment

Because the provision of medical care is a highly technical and specialized field, expert testimony is often required to establish the connection between the actions of the medical practitioner and the resulting injury, and an experienced personal injury attorney is needed to determine the appropriate course of action to take regarding a medical malpractice issue.

“Neglect of older persons includes “the refusal or failure of a caregiver to fulfill his or her obligations or duties to an older person, including providing….medical care and services that a prudent person would deem essential for the well-being of another,” a paper in the National Center for Biotechnology Information states.

Are your loved ones receiving the appropriate standard of care???