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Medical Malpractice Lawyers for Failure to Resuscitate Due to Lack of Equipment
Northern Kentucky and Ohio Lawyers for Failure to Have Proper Resuscitation Equipment Available
Healthcare professionals are held to an extremely high standard when it comes to administering due care in their field. After all, they are responsible for their patient’s safety and lives as a whole. Of course, mistakes happen, even within the medical community. No one is immune to human error, but when others are injured or killed due to a negligent act that could have easily been prevented, doctors and other medical professionals should be held legally responsible. This is especially true in cases where hospitals and other medical facilities fail to have the proper resuscitation equipment available.
Whether someone suffers cardiac arrest or an infant needs assistance breathing following delivery, it is crucial that healthcare providers have appropriate medical devices immediately available to perform the proper life-saving measures to resuscitate the patient. Failing to have the proper medical device or equipment available is simply unacceptable and often leads to serious complications and catastrophic consequences. If such an act of medical negligence caused harm to you or a loved one, you have the right to recover compensation through a medical malpractice case.
At TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm, we handle all kinds of medical malpractice claims, including those where doctors fail to have the proper resuscitation equipment readily available for emergency situations. To learn more about the potential of your claim, contact our team of experienced medical malpractice lawyers today for a free initial consultation. You can reach our Northern Kentucky office by calling (859) 578-9130, our Ohio office at (513) 651-4130, or by reaching out to us online.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuit for Failure to Have Resuscitation Equipment Available
When negligent medical errors cause serious injury to you, your child, or a loved one, it can be an extremely overwhelming and unfair experience. This is no doubt the case when a medical professional fails to administer the appropriate treatment due to a lack of necessary equipment such as crash carts, defibrillators, airway management equipment, such as endotracheal tubes (ET), oxygen cylinders, and other standard resuscitation gear. It is imperative that hospital employees and staff know where to find this equipment, are able to access it, and have the proper training to utilize it. If a medical provider fails to access and use this equipment in a timely manner, the patient may suffer serious injuries or even wrongful death.
When this happens, victims and/or their families may be able to file a medical malpractice claim against the responsible parties. Like with personal injury cases, there are generally two types of damages that may be awarded in medical negligence claims: economic and noneconomic damages. Economic damages refer to calculable financial losses that a plaintiff experiences, including things like medical bills and lost income. Noneconomic damages are more subjective, as they are not able to be easily calculated, and they differ from one case to another. At The Lawrence Firm, our Northern Kentucky and Ohio medical malpractice attorneys will work to recover the following on your behalf:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost income
- Lost future earning capacity
- Loss of employment or business opportunities
- Loss of use of property
- Value of domestic services
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of society, companionship, and consortium
- And more
Common Errors With Resuscitation Equipment
States have laws in place that require a minimum standard of equipment available in medical and emergency settings. This includes things like suction apparatuses, bag valve masks, oxygen tanks, masks, and other oxygen equipment, AEDs (automated external defibrillators), length-based resuscitation tape, and more. You can see a full list of Kentucky’s required equipment under 202 KAR 7:550 and Ohio’s under Rule 3701-7-09. Failure to have the required medical devices readily available constitutes medical negligence.
Even with these laws in place, however, patients still suffer every day at the hands of doctors and other healthcare providers who are not properly equipped to handle their medical emergencies. Rooms not equipped with crash carts and an overall lack of resuscitation equipment available for emergent or unexpected situations can lead to a delay or complete lack of necessary life-saving medical treatment for suffering patients.
There are many instances where hospital negligence relating to crash carts can cause serious patient injury, a worsening condition, or death. According to the Joint Commission, the following factors are some of the most common patient safety events involving crash carts:
- Medication errors and mix-ups
- Missing, expired, damaged, contaminated, and unavailable equipment or medications
- Empty oxygen tanks
- Drained batteries on equipment or equipment failure
- Unsecured carts or carts that have been tampered with
- Carts secured with heavy-duty tape and/or padlocks, preventing immediate access
- Incorrect size of equipment, such as endotracheal tubes of various sizes
- Carts not checked or inspected according to policy and procedure
- Staff is unable to locate the crash cart, resulting in a delay getting emergency equipment to the bedside
- Staff is unfamiliar with the items regularly stored within the crash cart
- Staff is unfamiliar with the procedures for using the crash cart when responding to a life-threatening emergency
- Staff is unfamiliar with procedures regarding how to stock or restock the crash cart
Other Types of Resuscitation Errors
In addition to a lack of equipment and training, there are several other types of errors that might occur when resuscitating a patient. Take medical equipment defects, for example. There are several ways that a medical device might become defective, from a fundamental design flaw that was not caught in the design process to defective materials or processes used in the manufacturing of the device. For equipment failure-related injuries, our Ohio and Northern Kentucky medical malpractice attorneys are prepared to aggressively pursue the parties responsible for the defective medical equipment to seek compensation for the harm caused to you or a loved one.
Another act of negligence that might occur is if a doctor fails to take note of a patient’s medical history. For instance, a patient’s medical records might show heart complications that make certain resuscitation methods extremely dangerous or deadly. In these cases, the medical professional can be held legally liable for any harm that occurred as a result of their negligence.
Contact the Cincinnati, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky Medical Malpractice Attorneys at TLF Today
When administering medical care, it is absolutely pertinent that medical professionals take all necessary precautions to ensure a patient’s safety and preserve their health and well-being. Untimely death or catastrophic injuries caused by the negligence of a healthcare professional or entity, such as not having appropriate resuscitation equipment ready and available at all times, can lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit against the liable parties. A medical mistake of such magnitude can lead to a lifetime of complications for victims and/or their families, and those affected by such errors deserve to pursue compensation for the damages they’ve faced as a result.
At TLF: The Medical Injury Law Firm, our legal team is dedicated to recovering just compensation for those impacted by medical negligence. In addition to medical malpractice cases involving the failure to resuscitate, we also handle a variety of claims pertaining to things like birth injuries, wrong-site surgery, anesthesia errors, and more. For a free consultation regarding your claim, call an experienced medical malpractice attorney at our law firm today at (800) 698-4054 toll-free or complete our online intake form. We can inform you of whether or not you have a claim, what to expect when we take your case, and what your legal rights and options are moving forward.
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We are happy to offer a free consultation to evaluate your case. If you hire us as your legal counsel, we will represent you on a contingency-fee basis. You will pay no attorneys’ fees unless we recover financial damages.