If you’ve ever been treated for a medical condition in a hospital, you know that almost all treatment involves some kind of risk of complications. Some potential risks are unavoidable, and worth taking for the benefit the treatment is likely to provide. Others are largely preventable, and can jeopardize your health unnecessarily. When your care providers can prevent needless risk, but fail to do so, you may have a claim for medical malpractice.
One of the risks of treatment in a hospital or other health care facilities is contracting methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, more commonly referred to as MRSA. It is a serious infection that is responsible for about 11,000 deaths each year in the U.S. Not every infection is life-threatening, but MRSA infections can be especially dangerous for patients whose health is already compromised. Here’s what you need to know about medical malpractice caused by MRSA infections.
Part of the reason for the seriousness of MRSA infections is present in the name: “methicillin-resistant.” This type of staph infection is resistant to many antibiotics ordinarily used to treat bacterial infections. Not only are treatment options very limited, poor infection control practices can cause these infections to spread rapidly in health care facilities as providers move from one vulnerable patient to another.
If allowed to take hold, MRSA infections can cause a variety of serious health issues, including:
MRSA infections can be caused by poor hygiene processes, but the consequences can be worsened by providers who overlook or misdiagnose these infections.
Your doctor or health care facility may be liable for a MRSA infection you contracted while receiving treatment. But liability is not automatic; you must be able to successfully prove the four elements of a medical malpractice claim. They are:
The physician or facility must have owed you a duty of care. That means that they were obligated to act as a reasonable provider with similar training would have under similar circumstances. In the case of MRSA, that might mean having infection-care protocols in place to prevent the spread of MRSA, and following those protocols: regular and thorough hand-washing between patients, properly sterilizing medical equipment, and so on.
The second element of a medical malpractice case is a breach of the existing duty of care. For instance, if the hospital had protocols in place that require nurses to wash their hands after providing care for one patient and before caring for the next, and the nurse caring for you failed to do so, she would have breached the duty of care. Failing to diagnose MRSA infections may also be a breach of the duty of care, but this type of medical malpractice can be harder to prove.
It’s not enough for your care provider to have breached the duty of care; that breach must be the cause of your injury. That means you will need to show not only that your provider was negligent, but that their actions (or failure to act) led directly to your injury. This is one of the more challenging elements of proving medical malpractice caused by a MRSA infection.
The final element is damages that resulted from the injury caused by your provider’s negligence. That could include economic damages, like increased medical bills and lost wages, or non-economic damages, like pain and suffering due to the infection.
The bottom line is that your physician can be held liable for your MRSA infection, but proving all four elements of a claim for medical malpractice can be challenging. The most difficult part may be proving that your injury was directly caused by negligence on the part of the doctor, care team, or health care facility. That’s not to say that these cases are impossible to prove, but your chances of success increase significantly if you work with an experienced medical malpractice attorney.
If you contracted MRSA while in a hospital or health care facility, you may have a claim for medical malpractice. The best way to know is to speak with a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. A knowledgeable attorney can help you evaluate whether you have a viable claim, take steps to preserve important evidence, and assess the damages to which you may be entitled.
However, you only have a limited time in which to file a claim. If the statute of limitations expires, your claim for medical malpractice will be barred. To understand and preserve your rights, contact the Fraser Law Firm today to schedule a consultation.
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