Medical Malpractice and Substandard Employee Training
Medical malpractice can cause life-altering injuries or even death.
Medical malpractice can occur due to a medical professional's negligence, but is sometimes the result of improper training practices. Whatever the cause, victims of medical malpractice and their families reserve the right to hold negligent parties responsible through a medical malpractice lawsuit.
At Younker Hyde Macfarlane, our attorneys help victims of medical malpractice and substandard employee training get the compensation they deserve for their suffering. Contact our Salt Lake City, UT practice for a case review.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice is more than just a health care professional making a mistake. In order for medical treatment to be considered medical malpractice, the treatment must fall under a standard level of care and caused harm to the patient.
Both conditions must be met in order to be considered medical malpractice. This means that even if substandard care was provided but no one was harmed, there would be no claim for medical malpractice.
All Medical Employees Require Training
All staff working in a hospital or other healthcare facility require training to properly do their jobs. Of course, some, such as doctors and nurses, require specialized training, but others, including janitorial staff, need to be properly trained.
Insufficient training can lead to patient injury or illness, even when it comes to minor tasks, like making a bed or cleaning a hospital room. For example, improperly cleaning a room can leave behind harmful germs that may infect the next patient to use the room, especially if the patient has a compromised immune system.
Poor Training Can Result in Medical Malpractice
Proper training is important for every employee of a medical facility, especially for employees who directly interact with and care for patients. Without proper training, healthcare professionals may not properly perform tasks, putting patients at risk of injury or death.
It's also important to keep in mind that medical knowledge and treatments are always evolving, therefore keeping healthcare professionals up to date through ongoing training is essential for the well being of patients. Without proper training or ongoing education, employees may lack sufficient knowledge and fall below the standard of care.
Examples of Medical Malpractice Related to Substandard Training
There are many ways in which medical malpractice may occur as a result of substandard training. Even errors in small, daily tasks, like hand washing, can lead to patient injury. Even tasks that seem like common sense must be included in training and enforced through hospital or the healthcare facility's protocol.
Unfortunately, when training is lacking it can lead to substandard care, which ultimately may harm the patient. Here are a few examples of medical malpractice that can result from substandard employee training:
- Improperly reading monitoring devices, such as a fetal heartbeat monitor during labor
- Administering incorrect dosages of medications or incorrect medications
- Injuring patients from improper lifting or transporting techniques
- Failure to properly care for wounds
- Amputating the wrong body part
- Mistakes with monitoring and administering anesthesia
- Failing to diagnose or improperly diagnosing a medical condition during an exam
- Failure to wash hands before caring for wounds
- Failure to perform other sanitation practices
- Failure to notice signs of wound infection
Contact the Attorneys of Younker Hyde Macfarlane
If you or a loved one has been injured as a result of medical malpractice, it's important to contact our experienced medical malpractice attorneys to review the details of your case. Please call our staff at (801) 335-7025 to schedule your consultation.