For most of the last century and well into the current one, Powell Law has held medical professionals accountable for their medical errors as it has litigated and settled countless medical malpractice cases. Powell Law lawyers have vast experience representing those affected by medical negligence. James F. Mundy, Esq. has decades of experience in legal matters involving medical errors and defective medical devices.

Any type of health care provider can commit and be held legally responsible for professional malpractice. This includes doctors, therapists, and nurses. Any medical malpractice plaintiff must prove four elements to succeed – duty, breach of this duty, causation, and damages.

This means proving that some health care provider owed the plaintiff a duty of care, which was breached, and the result was some harm in measurable monetary damages caused by the health care provider.

Mistakes made by any medical professional may result in death or serious injury, which is why nurses have a duty of care to their patients. Nursing malpractice occurs when a nurse fails to meet the standard of care required of an able nurse in the same situation, and these mistakes, errors, and failures cause injury to the patient.

Nursing malpractice includes the following actions or conduct:

• wrongly administering medication;
• harming a patient physically with a medical device or other medical equipment;
• failing to take necessary and immediate action in an emergency;
• failing to take a patient’s vital signs as scheduled;
• failing to monitor or observe a patient’s condition as needed;
• failing to respond to a patient’s call for assistance;
• failing to note and write his or her observations on the patient’s chart;
• improperly changing bandages and dressings; and
• failing to feed or provide nutrition properly.

It’s important to remember that not every error or unfortunate incident that occurs in a healthcare facility such as a hospital or doctor’s office rises to the level of negligence, i.e., medical malpractice. However, when nurses do not perform or fulfill their duties in a manner that a normally competent nurse would under the same circumstances, and this wrongful, negligent conduct injures a patient, they may be held liable for medical malpractice.