Failure to Monitor as Medical Negligence
Medical treatment often involves more than diagnosing a patient’s condition and rendering the appropriate treatment. Proper medical care also involves closely monitoring a patient’s condition while under treatment and following established procedures. A patient could suffer complications or a deterioration of their condition at any time while under care.
Medical providers are expected to remain vigilant so that they can quickly react to any complications patients experience. Failure to monitor a patient’s condition may constitute medical negligence on the part of healthcare professionals.
If you have suffered due to your medical providers’ failure to monitor your condition while under their care, turn to Serious Injury Law Group for help in pursuing rightful compensation from negligent healthcare professionals. When you have a claim as complex as a failure-to-monitor patient negligence case, you need experienced legal representation. Serious Injury Law Group can provide this representation for you at no initial upfront cost to you.
Understanding Failure to Monitor Cases
During surgeries or other medical procedures, doctors and other medical staff have a duty to monitor the patient’s condition to react quickly if complications or problems arise. Situations where patients might require close monitoring include:
- Administration of anesthesia – Patients must be monitored for signs of an adverse reaction to the anesthesia or complications such as cardiovascular or respiratory distress. In other situations, a patient might become conscious if they received too little anesthesia, creating stress and anxiety for the patient.
- Surgery – During surgery, the healthcare team should monitor the patient’s vitals, along with signs of other complications that may occur.
- Delivery of a baby – Complications that arise during the labor and delivery process are one of the most common reasons for medical malpractice cases. If the doctor fails to properly monitor the baby for signs of fetal distress such as abnormal breathing or heart rate, complications can occur, such as shoulder dystocia, issues with the umbilical cord, or breech birth.
- Administration of medications or pharmaceutical treatments – Healthcare providers must carefully observe patients for adverse side effects or dangerous interactions with other drugs.
- Inpatient care setting – Patients must be carefully monitored in hospitals for signs of an infection, complications from a head or traumatic brain injury, or mental health issues.
What Are Common Examples of Failure to Monitor?
Healthcare failure to monitor cases may involve situations such as:
- Failing to monitor a patient during surgery or a procedure, such as monitoring the administration of anesthesia or monitoring a patient’s vitals for any signs of complications or distress
- Failing to monitor testing or scans that have been ordered
- Failing to review a patient’s medical chart to ensure that all medications, tests, and scans have been administered
- Failing to monitor a patient’s recovery from treatment or surgery, including observing a patient for complications like bleeding, blood clots, or infections
What Are the Consequences of Failing to Monitor Patients?
A failure to monitor can lead to severe consequences for a patient, depending on the medical treatment being rendered and what kind of complications are missed due to the failure to monitor. For example, failing to properly monitor a pregnancy or the delivery of a baby can lead to child and/or mother suffering birth injuries that result in disability or even death.
Failing to monitor a patient under anesthesia during a surgery or other medical procedure could result in the patient suffering distress that can lead to respiratory or cardiovascular problems or brain damage. Failing to monitor a patient following a medical procedure could also lead to complications such as the procedure not treating the patient’s condition or the patient suffering from an infection.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for Failure to Monitor?
Normally, the physician overseeing the patient’s treatment bears primary responsibility for monitoring the patient. However, physicians often rely on other medical professionals to assist in monitoring.
As a result, legal responsibility for the harm and losses that may occur for a patient due to a failure to monitor may fall on multiple parties. Examples of parties who can be held liable for a failure to monitor include:
- The doctor or surgeon performing a procedure or providing treatment to the patient
- The anesthesiologist and anesthesia team, who hold responsibility for monitoring a patient’s vitals during surgery
- Nurses who are tasked with monitoring a patient after a surgery or medical procedure or a patient under observation
- An obstetrician or midwife who should be monitoring mother and baby for signs of complications or distress during delivery
- Hospitals and other medical facilities where patients undergo care or treatment
- Nursing homes and their staff, who are required to continuously monitor residents for signs of distress or other medical issues
Obtain Help from an Experienced Alabama Lawyer
If you have suffered harm due to a doctor’s or other medical professional’s failure to monitor your condition during or after a surgery or other procedure, Serious Injury Law Group wants to help. Our locally owned injury law firm is dedicated to helping those in our Alabama community who have suffered catastrophic injury and harm through no fault of their own.
Let us take the stress of recovering from serious injuries off your shoulders. Our attorneys have a proven reputation of being both tough at the settlement negotiation table and seasoned in litigation in court. You can trust that we have the skill and resources needed to see your case through trial if needed.
We offer free, no-obligation consultations with our Alabama medical malpractice lawyers to discuss how your provider’s negligence might’ve caused you unnecessary harm. We can explain how we can help you seek accountability and financial recovery when you have been injured by a failure to monitor due to medical negligence from your treating healthcare providers. We work to be responsive and respectful of your time. We can arrange to meet with you wherever and whenever may be most convenient for you.
Contact our firm today for a free initial case review with an experienced Alabama medical malpractice lawyer.