Were you injured by hospital negligence in Atlanta, GA?
At Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers, we provide hospital negligence representation on a contingency basis, with no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.
If a mistake by hospital staff in Atlanta caused a new injury or worsened your condition, you may have a claim against the facility. Our Atlanta, GA hospital negligence lawyer will obtain the complete hospital chart and determine whether staffing, monitoring, or other failures caused your injury. If the evidence supports a claim, we pursue compensation from the hospital and any other responsible parties.
Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers handles claims against hospitals and health systems across Atlanta. Our attorneys examine staffing records, chart entries, and facility policies. Schedule a free consultation about your hospital stay.
Hospital Negligence Lawyer Atlanta, GA
Hospital negligence occurs when a hospital or its staff fails to provide the level of care that a reasonably careful facility would provide under similar circumstances, and a patient is harmed as a result. A claim may involve the conduct of nurses, technicians, and other employees. It may also involve the hospital’s own systems for staffing, infection control, and communication.
On any given day in 2023, about 1 in 38 hospitalized patients had at least one healthcare-associated infection, according to CDC survey data. That survey came from the Emerging Infections Program, and Georgia’s program tracks these infections across metro Atlanta. Our hospital negligence attorney in Atlanta, GA reviews whether a patient’s infection followed a lapse in hospital precautions.
Types of Hospital Negligence Cases We Handle in Atlanta
Hospital negligence can arise in the emergency room, the intensive care unit, surgical recovery, and other departments. Our hospital negligence lawyers in Atlanta represent patients in the claims listed below.
- Hospital-acquired infections. Infections can develop after lapses in hand hygiene, catheter care, or sterilization. We compare the facility’s infection-control records with the timing of the patient’s symptoms and treatment.
- Failure to diagnose. Emergency and inpatient staff may miss a stroke, heart attack, developing infection, or other serious condition. We compare the vital signs, lab results, and imaging in the chart with the speed of the staff’s response.
- Birth injuries. Labor and delivery units must monitor both mother and baby and respond to signs of distress. We review the fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, and delivery timeline to identify any delay in intervention.
- Medication errors. A hospital medication error can occur when an order is entered, when the pharmacy fills it, or when a nurse gives the dose. The medication administration record often shows where the error occurred.
- Surgical errors. Operating room errors include operating on the wrong site, leaving a sponge or instrument in the body, and failing to recognize internal bleeding during recovery. We examine the operating room record alongside the nursing notes from recovery.
- Inadequate monitoring and nursing care. Nurses are responsible for tracking vital signs and reporting significant changes to a physician. An unreported decline, for example, a falling oxygen level, can lead to brain injury or cardiac arrest.
- Patient falls and pressure injuries. Hospitals assess each patient’s fall risk and skin condition and set a plan to protect the patient. We examine whether staff followed that plan, including repositioning schedules and bed alarms.
- Negligent blood transfusions. Transfusion errors include giving mismatched blood and failing to recognize a reaction. Our investigation covers how the blood was matched, checked, and administered, and how staff responded to the patient’s symptoms.
Why Choose Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers as My Hospital Negligence Lawyer in Atlanta, GA?
Appellate and Trial Experience in Georgia Courts
Daniel J. Moriarty has handled appeals in the Eleventh Circuit and the Georgia Court of Appeals. He began practicing in 2012 and represented physicians and hospitals on the defense side for six years before moving to plaintiff work in 2018. He holds an undergraduate degree with honors from Notre Dame and a law degree from Texas Law. Before law school, he taught English as a Second Language to high school students. Hospital claims are one part of the work our medical malpractice lawyer in Atlanta, GA handles, and each receives full trial preparation.
Verdicts and Settlements for Injured Patients
Clients of our firm have recovered more than $200 million in total, and that record informs how our Atlanta hospital negligence attorneys value each claim. The firm’s trial results include two of the ten largest malpractice verdicts ever returned in Georgia. Individual results include:
- A $15.5 million verdict in a medical malpractice trial
- $16.8 million recovered in a medical malpractice case
- A $13.5 million medical malpractice recovery
- $9 million in a separate malpractice claim
What Is Important to Understand About a Hospital Negligence Case?
What Are Important Aspects of a Hospital Negligence Case?
A hospital claim often involves more than one defendant and a larger set of records than a claim against a single physician. The following points shape how our hospital negligence lawyers in Atlanta approach each case.
- Employment status matters. Nurses, technicians, and many other staff members are typically hospital employees, while some physicians practice independently. The answer affects which parties are named in the lawsuit.
- Hospital systems are part of the evidence. Staffing levels and precautions against surgical site infections can show whether the facility itself failed. The same is true of how quickly staff identify and treat sepsis. The CDC’s hospital sepsis guidance describes the programs hospitals use to recognize sepsis early. State health officials also publish infection prevention resources for health care facilities.
- Electronic records show timing. The chart records when orders were entered, when medications were given, and when staff viewed test results. Medication error claims, for example, often depend on these time stamps, particularly when a patient received overlapping or excessive prescriptions.
- A preexisting illness does not bar a claim. The question is what additional harm the hospital’s error caused. Medical testimony separates that harm from the condition that led to the admission.
- Georgia’s filing deadline applies to hospitals. Georgia generally allows two years from the date of an injury or death to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, including one against a hospital, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71. The same statute bars most claims brought more than five years after the negligent act or omission.
What Is The Hospital Negligence Case Timeline?
A hospital negligence case proceeds in stages. The time each stage takes depends on the number of defendants and the volume of records.
- Initial review. We gather the hospital chart, including physician orders, nursing flowsheets, and discharge records.
- Medical evaluation. Clinicians who practice in the same fields as the hospital staff assess the care against accepted standards.
- Filing the lawsuit. Part of Atlanta lies in DeKalb County, where civil lawsuits are heard in courts including the DeKalb County State Court.
- Discovery. Each party requests documents from the others, and attorneys question the nurses, physicians, administrators, and other witnesses under oath.
- Mediation, settlement, or trial. A negotiated settlement or mediated agreement ends many hospital cases, and the remainder go before a jury.
Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Hospital Negligence Cases
Liability consists of four elements: the hospital owed the patient a duty of care, the hospital or its staff breached that duty, the breach caused the injury, and the patient suffered damages. A hospital’s duty of care arises when it agrees to treat a patient. Some treatments carry known risks, such as the risks of blood transfusions. In those cases, the claim must show that a preventable error, rather than a known risk, caused the harm.
Compensation in a Georgia hospital negligence case may include the following.
- Medical expenses. These may include the cost of additional surgery, rehabilitation, and future care.
- Lost income. This may include wages already missed and a reduced ability to earn in the future.
- Pain and suffering. This may include physical pain, anxiety and distress, and the loss of normal daily activities.
- Wrongful death damages. When a patient dies, O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 allows the surviving spouse, or the children if there is no spouse, to seek the full value of the decedent’s life.
Our Atlanta, GA hospital negligence attorney documents each loss with bills, employment records, and testimony.
What Should You Bring to Your Hospital Negligence Consultation?
Hospital charts are often several hundred pages long. Any records in your possession are helpful, and we will request the complete chart after the consultation.
- Admission and discharge paperwork, including discharge instructions and medication lists
- Names and dates, including the hospital, the unit, and the approximate dates of each stay
- Billing statements and explanation-of-benefits letters from the hospitalization and follow-up care
- A timeline you prepare of events during the stay, including what staff told you and when
At the consultation, our hospital negligence attorney in Atlanta, GA will ask about the admission, explain how Georgia law applies, and tell you whether the hospital’s records warrant further investigation.
Reach Out to Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers to Schedule a Consultation
Contact us to discuss your hospital stay with our Atlanta hospital negligence lawyer. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers offers a free consultation for hospital negligence claims. We will review what happened, answer your questions, and explain the steps involved in a hospital claim. If we accept the case, we handle the investigation and all communication with the hospital’s representatives.