How Can a Hospital Commit Malpractice?

Malpractice lawsuits often name multiple individuals and healthcare organizations as defendants. But how can a hospital commit malpractice?

When people think about medical malpractice, they usually picture a doctor, nurse, or other medical professional making a mistake during treatment. While this is a type of medical malpractice, Michigan law also allows injured plaintiffs to hold negligent healthcare providers accountable for endangering patients’ health and safety.

Injured patients may pursue lawsuits against hospitals and other healthcare organizations, such as care centers, specialty clinics, and medical professional corporations. These entities may be responsible for malpractice if their policies, systems, or operations fail to meet the accepted standard of care.

Institutional malpractice occurs when the organization itself contributes to a patient’s injury through inadequate supervision, unsafe policies, or systemic failures that place patients at risk. Under Michigan law, hospitals and healthcare corporations have a duty to ensure their facilities, staff, and procedures meet professional standards of safety and competence. When they fail to do so, they can be held legally accountable for negligence.

Holding a Hospital, Facility, or Organization Liable in Michigan Malpractice Cases

Hospitals and other organizations can be held liable for their employees’ negligent acts or omissions. This is called “vicarious liability.” For example, a patient who was injured when a nurse gave them the wrong medication may sue both the nurse and the hospital.

Under Michigan law, a plaintiff can also hold a hospital or medical facility liable when its policies or practices contribute to a patient’s injuries. Many types of systemic failures may be at issue in a medical malpractice case against a hospital or healthcare provider.

Common Hospital-Level Breakdowns That Can Constitute Malpractice

• Inadequate staffing. Understaffed facilities may struggle to monitor patients, respond to emergencies, or perform essential care tasks. Systemic understaffing can be a sign of negligent administration or unsafe hospital policies.

• Unsafe scheduling. Doctors, nurses, and residents often work long shifts, especially in high-volume hospitals. Fatigue can impair even the most skilled professional’s judgment, slowing reaction times and increasing the risk of error. Hospitals that schedule staff beyond safe limits or fail to ensure rest breaks may be liable if an exhausted employee negligently harms a patient.

• Poor supervision. Teaching hospitals must ensure they provide appropriate supervision over residents, interns, and trainees. Attending physicians must work closely with residents to guide their decisions, oversee their performance, and take over when necessary. Hospitals are responsible for staffing appropriately and ensuring this supervision takes place.

• Outdated electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Electronic medical record systems help coordinate care and enable good communication between providers. Malfunctioning EMR systems can cause serious harm, such as conflicting medication orders or overlooked allergy alerts. When hospitals adopt or continue to use flawed, outdated, or unsupported EMR systems, they unnecessarily endanger their patients. These decisions can amount to negligence at the institutional level.

• Inadequate safety protocols. Hospitals must develop and enforce a wide range of safety policies to protect their patients and make sure everyone follows them. These include infection control measures, patient monitoring protocols, and surgical checklists. Failing to maintain safe systems can cause avoidable harm to patients. For instance, a hospital that fails to train staff in infection-prevention procedures or doesn’t enforce sterilization policies could be liable for preventable infections or sepsis.

• Emergency response delays. Delays in activating emergency response teams, transporting patients, or calling necessary specialists can be disastrous. Hospitals and institutions must ensure their communication systems and response protocols stay current with modern best practices to reduce unnecessary delays.

• Insufficient training and continuing education. Hospitals and medical organizations must ensure their staff stay current on recommended care practices, technology, and medical science. Unfamiliarity with current standards or ignorance of recently discovered risks can lead to disaster. Facilities that fail to provide adequate training and continuing education put their patients at risk and invite lawsuits.

Pursuing a Michigan Hospital Malpractice Claim

Hospitals and healthcare organizations must take reasonable steps to ensure patient safety. In addition to developing policies and protocols, they must provide the equipment, resources, and environment necessary to carry out those plans. Michigan hospital malpractice cases hold institutions responsible when their structure, policies, and culture foster an unsafe environment that leads to harm.

Pursuing a compelling malpractice case against a hospital or organization typically begins with the assistance of expert witnesses. Our team of experienced advocates will collaborate with qualified experts to analyze a hospital’s policies, incident reports, procedures, protocols, staffing records, and other evidence to determine whether the facility’s conduct fell below the accepted standard of care. If these shortfalls contributed to your injury, you may be able to pursue a malpractice case against the facility.

The experienced medical malpractice lawyers at Sommers Schwartz, P.C., aren’t afraid to stand up to hospitals and medical providers that put public health at risk. Our team will investigate a hospital or facility’s policies, staffing records, and training procedures to determine whether institutional negligence contributed to your injury.

Sommers Schwartz, P.C., has decades of experience advocating for the rights of Michigan families and holding negligent medical providers accountable. Contact us today to schedule a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation.