When you are a patient in a hospital, you are in a very unfamiliar environment. Hospitals have a hierarchy of responsibility and a routine for patient care. They have a staff of nurses, technicians and therapists to carry out that routine. A nurse’s job is to perform patient assessments and to report any significant medical conditions to your doctor. Once the doctor has gathered information about your condition, he or she issues orders to the hospital staff for your care. It is then the job of the nurses or technicians to carry out the doctor’s orders. But, a hospital is a very busy place and you may feel like you have somehow gotten lost in the shuffle.

Many times, through being understaffed or through miscommunication, a doctor’s orders are not followed. Sometimes a nursing assessment is improperly performed or the nurse does not communicate critical information to the doctor. Occasionally, a nurse or a technician does not properly do what the doctor ordered. In those cases, the breakdown in communication or the negligent execution of the doctor’s orders by the hospital staff can have catastrophic consequences for the patient.

Usually, in cases of hospital medical negligence or nursing medical negligence, the story of what happened is found in the nursing notes. That is why when we represent patients in hospital negligence case, we have one of our consulting nurses review the medical records very thoroughly and create a time line of events. This time line is a very helpful tool in settling or presenting a claim in court, so that we can assist the victim of hospital or nursing negligence in receiving fair compensation for his or her injuries.