Nursing errors are responsible for thousands of injuries, adverse medical outcomes, and even deaths. The medical malpractice attorneys at Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman, P.C. provide legal counsel and representation to patients and families who have suffered due to nursing errors in:

• intensive care units
• operating rooms
• emergency rooms/departments
• numerous other settings

A Shortage of Nurses
Nurses’ work is crucial to the administration of healthcare in the U.S. and around the world. Nurses work hard - putting in long hours and overtime to provide the medical care that patients require. The ongoing shortage of nurses in the U.S. has stretched the nursing staff in many places too far, putting patients’ safety at risk.

Causes of Nursing Error
Nursing errors can result from:

• fatigue
• negligence
• carelessness
• miscommunication
• inadequate training

Many Types of Nursing Error
The types of errors nurses may make are numerous and often include:

• giving the wrong medication to a patient
• giving the wrong dose of a medication to a patient
• giving a medication to the wrong patient
• failing to monitor a patient's condition
• failing to follow a doctor's instructions correctly
• misinterpreting a physician’s handwriting
• performing a nursing procedure incorrectly
• delaying a patient’s care

Consequences of Nursing Error
Since nurses are essentially the “front line” of patient care in a hospital, clinic, hospice, homecare setting, or triage/emergency situation, their margin for acceptable error is very small. RNs (registered nurses) and LPNs (licensed practical nurses) receive extensive training for their duties, but mistakes do get made, and when there’s a nursing error, the consequence can be:

• brain damage
• coma
• respiratory damage
• cardiac failure
• stroke
• infection
• fatality

Moreover, some hospitals have cut costs by having less-trained nursing aides take up some medical care procedures that would be better handled by an LPN or RN.

Schedule a Nursing Error Consultation with Our Attorneys
If you suspect or know that your medical problem is the result of a nursing error, please feel free to schedule a no-cost, no-commitment consultation with the New York medical malpractice attorneys of Lipsig, Shapey, Manus & Moverman. We look forward to helping you.