Possibly, yes. Healthcare professionals, including nurses, generally commit medical malpractice if they commit some type of negligent act and it results in harm to the patient. Please contact a skilled malpractice attorney now if you believe you were injured because of a nurse’s carless act, or a nurse’s failure to act.
Proving Liability in Nursing Cases
In general, nurses can be held liable for medical malpractice if:
- They fail to provide the standard of care expected of a reasonably competent nurse, and
- This failure results in harm to a patient.
Medical malpractice cases often involve negligence, where a healthcare professional’s actions deviate from the accepted standard of care.
Nurses may commit medical malpractice in various ways, such as:
- Administering the wrong medication,
- Failing to monitor a patient properly,
- Not following established protocols, or
- Providing substandard care.
It is important to note that medical malpractice cases are fact-specific, and each case is unique.
Compensation in Malpractice Cases
If you are injured from a nurse’s malpractice, you can file a claim to recover compensation for your injuries. Generally, you can try to receive payment for the following:
- Medical bills,
- Lost wages,
- Future lost earnings,
- Out-of-pocket expenses, and
- Pain and suffering.
Statute of Limitations in a Washington Medical Malpractice Case
A “statute of limitations” refers to the time that you have to file a lawsuit. You will likely lose your right to bring a case if you try to file a medical malpractice lawsuit after the statute of limitations expires.
RCW 4.16.350 is the Washington statute that sets forth the time limit to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Under this law, you must file your malpractice case by the later of one of two dates:
- Three years after the medical negligence occurred that caused your injuries, or
- One year after you discovered or should have discovered the error or harm that caused your injury.
In terms of the latter date, please note that sometimes victims don’t know of malpractice until several years after it occurs. For example, consider the scenario where a doctor leaves a surgical sponge in a patient following an operation. Here, the patient may eventually experience harmful health conditions, but the malpractice may not be discovered until the doctor performs a second surgery.
As stated above, you may lose your right to file a malpractice suit if it is filed after the statute of limitations expires. Note that statute of limitations can cause some confusion. Please consult with an experienced medical malpractice attorney if you have questions in this area.
Contact Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC
Please know that our firm is here to help if you suffered an injury because of a medical professional’s malpractice. Otorowski Morrow & Golden, PLLC provides free consultations to all our potential clients. The attorneys at our law firm also have over 120 years of combined experience representing injured parties in medical malpractice cases. They never back down to insurers and fight for their clients’ interests every step of the way. Do yourself a favor and contact them now for the quality legal representation you deserve.