When you spend time in a hospital, you are stuck facing the conditions around you. Hospitals are a place to treat illness and injury, but this also means that illnesses, infections, bacteria, and other potential health problems can be picked up from a stay at a hospital. In many cases, allowing a patient to get an infection is a clear case of hospital negligence that should have been avoided by better care standards.
If you or a loved one acquired an infection while staying at a hospital, contact an attorney to discuss your case today. Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA’s Miami attorney for injury from a hospital infection may be able to take your case and fight for compensation for the pain and suffering, medical expenses, and other harms you faced from a hospital infection. To schedule a free legal consultation, call us today at (305) 694-2676.
Causes of Hospital Infections
Infections received at a hospital are often called “hospital-acquired infections” or “healthcare-acquired infections” (HAIs). These infections can be a severe health problem since many patients in a hospital are already sick or vulnerable. After surgery, a patient may be especially prone to injury and illness from an infection, and hospital care should help prevent that.
Doctors, nurses, orderlies, and other medical staff are responsible for ensuring that your body and the area around you are clean and free of disease and potential sources of infection. This requires following a few standard procedures to help prevent infection:
- Regularly clean wounds and incision sites
- Regularly change bandages and dressings
- Administer post-operative antibiotics to prevent infection
- Help prevent patients from itching, scratching, or otherwise irritating injury or incision sites
- Keep the patient reasonably clean with regular bathing
- Keep the patient’s room clean and disinfected
- Keep any surgical tables and tools safe and disinfected
- Use hand sanitizer and proper hand-washing procedures before interacting with patients or examining wounds
- Use gloves when touching wounds or incisions
- Keep patients with spreadable illnesses or vulnerable conditions under isolation or contact precaution procedures
If doctors, nurses, or other hospital staff fail to follow these procedures, or if the hospital is unreasonably dirty or unsafe, you could face an HAI or other illness from your stay at a hospital.
Holding Hospitals Responsible for Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs) and MRSA
If you underwent surgery or medical care at a hospital and acquired an infection while staying there, you could face serious adverse health consequences. If your healthcare provider was negligent and allowed you to receive a hospital-acquired infection, you may be able to hold them liable for your injuries.
Many of the most common infections you can receive, such as staph infections (Staphylococcus aureus infections), can become resistant to antibiotics. This can make it difficult to treat these infections and allow them to cause more damage to infected patients. MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is one of the most serious of these infections and can require further hospitalization in some cases.
Infections to incision sites and healing wounds can cause substantial irritation and suffering. These infections can be incredibly itchy and spread rashes and boils. If the infection gets in your bloodstream, it can cause diarrhea and vomiting or even pain in your muscles or joints. In serious cases, you could even face sepsis, damage to your internal organs, or death.
If your healthcare providers allowed you to receive this kind of infection, you may be able to sue them in court for compensation. The financial compensation you receive can help cover the costs of additional medical care, lost wages if you were hospitalized or too injured to return to work, and the pain and suffering you faced because of the injury. In some cases, the damages you receive for pain and suffering can be the most substantial part of your injury lawsuit.
Hospitals often have large legal teams that work to fight against these kinds of lawsuits, so it takes equally sophisticated legal representation to bring your case in court. An experienced hospital negligence and hospital infection lawyer like Prosper Shaked may be able to take your case and fight to get you the compensation you deserve after facing injuries from a hospital-acquired infection like staph or MRSA.
Miami Hospital Infection and MRSA Injury Lawyer
Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA fights for our clients’ rights and works to get them compensation for negligent injuries and infections received at a hospital. To schedule a free legal consultation and discuss your potential medical malpractice case, contact our office today at (305) 694-2676.