If you are injured while receiving medical treatment in a hospital, can you sue the hospital for negligence or medical malpractice? Though hospitals are often on the hook for incompetent care provided by employees like nurses and medical technicians, they often are not responsible for a doctor’s medical malpractice. Learn more about when a hospital is, and is not, responsible for medical malpractice committed by employees, doctors, anesthesiologists, and other care providers.
Hospitals Are Liable for Employee Actions
Hospitals employ hundreds of workers and are therefore responsible (liable) if an employee hurts a patient by acting incompetently. In other words, if the employee is negligent, the hospital will usually be on responsible for any resulting injuries to the patient.
Typically, nurses, medical technicians, and support staff are hospital employees. As long as the employee was doing something job-related when he or she caused an injury to a patient, the patient can usually sue the hospital for resulting damages. For example, if a registered nurse (R.N.) employed by the hospital injects the wrong medication into an IV “push,” and the patient ends up suffering harm as a result, then the hospital could probably be considered liable for the R.N.’s mistake.
However, if a doctor makes a mistake and injures a patient while working in the hospital, the hospital will not be liable for the doctor’s mistake unless the doctor is an employee. Also, if a hospital employee commits malpractice while under a doctor’s supervision, the patient can sue the doctor, but the hospital may be off the hook.
Whether an employee is under the supervision of the doctor when the misdeed occurs depends on:
- Whether the doctor was present.
- Whether the doctor had control to prevent the employee’s negligence.
For example, a surgeon may be liable if an attending nurse miscounts the surgical sponges, leading the surgeon to leave a sponge in the patient.
Is the Doctor an Employee of the Hospital?
This is the critical question when figuring out whether the hospital itself can be sued when a doctor provides sub-standard care and ends up causing harm to a patient.
Whether a doctor is a hospital employee depends on the nature of his or her relationship with the facility. Though some doctors are hospital employees, most doctors are not. Non-employee doctors are usually classified as “independent contractors” in the eyes of the law, which means that the hospital cannot be held responsible for the doctor’s medical malpractice, even if the malpractice happened at the facility, and the doctor is officially affiliated with the facility.
A doctor is more likely to be an employee (rather than an independent contractor) if:
- The hospital controls the doctor’s working hours and vacation time.
- The hospital sets the fees the doctor can charge.
Exceptions: When Hospitals Are Liable for Non-Employee Doctors’ Actions
Even if a hospital would generally not be liable for an independent contractor doctor’s malpractice, a hospital may be held responsible in certain situations.
Hospital Appeared to be the Doctor’s Employer
If the hospital does not make it clear to a patient that the doctor is not an employee, the patient can sue the hospital for the doctor’s malpractice. Hospitals attempt to avoid this problem by informing patients in the admission forms that the doctor is not a hospital employee. The situation is different for patients injured in an emergency room. Usually, the hospital does not have an opportunity to inform emergency room patients that a doctor is not an employee. This means that ER patients can often sue the hospital for a doctor’s medical malpractice. There are also a few states that say a hospital can be sued for emergency room malpractice regardless of what the patient believed or was told.
Hospital Keeps an Incompetent Doctor on Staff
A number of states hold the hospital responsible if it gives staff privileges to an incompetent or dangerous doctor, even if the doctor is an independent contractor. The hospital is also responsible if it should have known that a previously safe doctor had become incompetent or dangerous. For example, if a doctor becomes severely addicted to drugs and the hospital management knew about it, or it was so obvious they should have known about it, a patient injured by that doctor can probably sue the hospital.
Getting Help
It’s often essential to get advice or representation from a lawyer because medical malpractice law is highly regulated by a complex body of rules, which vary considerably from state to state. Contact Gingras, Thomsen & Wachs, LLP to learn more about medical malpractice and if you have a case.
