Despite the best efforts of the medical professionals at Bellevue Hospital Negligence Law, the facility is not immune from medical errors. These errors can result in severe injury, lasting health complications and even death.

Plaintiff instituted this action seeking a declaration that the hospital’s pilferage control-package pass system is unconstitutional.

1. Medical Malpractice

Despite the rigorous training medical professionals receive and their specialized knowledge, they are not immune from making mistakes that result in severe injuries or death. In cases where a patient suffers harm due to hospital malpractice, they may pursue legal action against the negligent doctors or other healthcare providers who made the errors.

These claims often involve failure to obtain informed consent or other types of breach of duty. Other allegations center on the failure to diagnose a condition in a timely manner. This can include situations where physicians miss clear symptoms of a serious illness or do not order appropriate diagnostic tests.

When pursuing a claim against a municipal hospital in New York, it is important to have an experienced medical malpractice lawyer file a notice of claim on behalf of the plaintiff. This document is required by law and confirms that the attorney has consulted a medical expert who believes the case has a reasonable foundation.

2. Medication Mistakes

When people think of medical malpractice, they often envision surgical errors or doctor mistakes. But medication errors are just as dangerous and common. In fact, they’ve more than doubled in recent years.

Medication errors can be caused by a variety of factors, including a doctor’s failure to follow medical procedures or a pharmacist’s mishandling of a prescription. These mistakes can result in injury or death to patients.

According to NYPORTS, which tracks submitted medical errors, a registered nurse was involved in 77 percent of the medication error cases; physicians were involved in 58 percent of those cases; and pharmacists were involved in 18 percent of those cases. In addition, the majority of reported medication errors occurred during administration rather than prescribing or dispensing.

Many victims of medication mistakes are unaware that they can hold hospitals liable for their injuries. A New York City hospital negligence lawyer can identify negligent parties, seek compensation for additional medical costs, pain and suffering and lost wages and hold responsible individuals or institutions accountable.

3. Failure to Diagnose

If a doctor fails to properly diagnose a patient, this is considered medical malpractice. Patients can suffer serious injury and even death as a result of this careless treatment.

One case involved a schizophrenic woman named Melanie Liverpool-Turner. Despite showing many warning signs, the hospital allowed her to be released without conducting a full psychological examination. She subsequently murdered her husband. Moreover, she openly admitted to pushing people in front of trains and ranted about killing transit riders.

Another instance involves a Kings County woman, Yvonna Harvell, who died in 2015 after physicians failed to identify her enlarged heart and misread X-rays. Sadly, this wasn’t the only case where the hospital was sued for wrongful death.

4. Wrongful Death

In the past five years, NYC’s 11 public hospitals have seen 468 wrongful deaths due to medical malpractice and misconduct. Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn saw the highest number of such wrongful death claims with 91 filed between 2014 and 2018. Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital was second on that list with 54 wrongful death cases.

Bellevue has been sued for a number of different medical malpractices. These include releasing a dangerous schizophrenic patient who then pushed a woman in front of an oncoming subway train, failing to administer drugs before surgery leading to severe kidney failure, and more.

If you or a loved one has suffered from medical malpractice or wrongful death at Bellevue Hospital, you must act quickly to protect your rights. Contacting a medical malpractice attorney should be the first step. The right attorney will possess the experience, knowledge, and contacts to determine beforehand whether a lawsuit is feasible. If so, they will then take the case to its logical conclusion.