Atlanta Hospital Negligence Lawyer

Were you injured by hospital negligence in Atlanta, GA?

At Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers, we provide hospital negligence representation on a contingency basis, with no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.

If a mistake by hospital staff in Atlanta caused a new injury or worsened your condition, you may have a claim against the facility. Our Atlanta, GA hospital negligence lawyer will obtain the complete hospital chart and determine whether staffing, monitoring, or other failures caused your injury. If the evidence supports a claim, we pursue compensation from the hospital and any other responsible parties.

Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers handles claims against hospitals and health systems across Atlanta. Our attorneys examine staffing records, chart entries, and facility policies. Schedule a free consultation about your hospital stay.

Hospital Negligence Lawyer Atlanta, GA

Hospital negligence occurs when a hospital or its staff fails to provide the level of care that a reasonably careful facility would provide under similar circumstances, and a patient is harmed as a result. A claim may involve the conduct of nurses, technicians, and other employees. It may also involve the hospital’s own systems for staffing, infection control, and communication.

On any given day in 2023, about 1 in 38 hospitalized patients had at least one healthcare-associated infection, according to CDC survey data. That survey came from the Emerging Infections Program, and Georgia’s program tracks these infections across metro Atlanta. Our hospital negligence attorney in Atlanta, GA reviews whether a patient’s infection followed a lapse in hospital precautions.

Types of Hospital Negligence Cases We Handle in Atlanta

Hospital negligence can arise in the emergency room, the intensive care unit, surgical recovery, and other departments. Our hospital negligence lawyers in Atlanta represent patients in the claims listed below.

• Hospital-acquired infections. Infections can develop after lapses in hand hygiene, catheter care, or sterilization. We compare the facility’s infection-control records with the timing of the patient’s symptoms and treatment.
• Failure to diagnose. Emergency and inpatient staff may miss a stroke, heart attack, developing infection, or other serious condition. We compare the vital signs, lab results, and imaging in the chart with the speed of the staff’s response.
• Birth injuries. Labor and delivery units must monitor both mother and baby and respond to signs of distress. We review the fetal monitoring strips, nursing notes, and delivery timeline to identify any delay in intervention.
• Medication errors. A hospital medication error can occur when an order is entered, when the pharmacy fills it, or when a nurse gives the dose. The medication administration record often shows where the error occurred.
• Surgical errors. Operating room errors include operating on the wrong site, leaving a sponge or instrument in the body, and failing to recognize internal bleeding during recovery. We examine the operating room record alongside the nursing notes from recovery.
• Inadequate monitoring and nursing care. Nurses are responsible for tracking vital signs and reporting significant changes to a physician. An unreported decline, for example, a falling oxygen level, can lead to brain injury or cardiac arrest.
• Patient falls and pressure injuries. Hospitals assess each patient’s fall risk and skin condition and set a plan to protect the patient. We examine whether staff followed that plan, including repositioning schedules and bed alarms.
• Negligent blood transfusions. Transfusion errors include giving mismatched blood and failing to recognize a reaction. Our investigation covers how the blood was matched, checked, and administered, and how staff responded to the patient’s symptoms.

Why Choose Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers as My Hospital Negligence Lawyer in Atlanta, GA?

Appellate and Trial Experience in Georgia Courts

Daniel J. Moriarty has handled appeals in the Eleventh Circuit and the Georgia Court of Appeals. He began practicing in 2012 and represented physicians and hospitals on the defense side for six years before moving to plaintiff work in 2018. He holds an undergraduate degree with honors from Notre Dame and a law degree from Texas Law. Before law school, he taught English as a Second Language to high school students. Hospital claims are one part of the work our medical malpractice lawyer in Atlanta, GA handles, and each receives full trial preparation.

Verdicts and Settlements for Injured Patients

Clients of our firm have recovered more than $200 million in total, and that record informs how our Atlanta hospital negligence attorneys value each claim. The firm’s trial results include two of the ten largest malpractice verdicts ever returned in Georgia. Individual results include:

• A $15.5 million verdict in a medical malpractice trial
• $16.8 million recovered in a medical malpractice case
• A $13.5 million medical malpractice recovery
• $9 million in a separate malpractice claim

What Is Important to Understand About a Hospital Negligence Case?

What Are Important Aspects of a Hospital Negligence Case?

A hospital claim often involves more than one defendant and a larger set of records than a claim against a single physician. The following points shape how our hospital negligence lawyers in Atlanta approach each case.

• Employment status matters. Nurses, technicians, and many other staff members are typically hospital employees, while some physicians practice independently. The answer affects which parties are named in the lawsuit.
• Hospital systems are part of the evidence. Staffing levels and precautions against surgical site infections can show whether the facility itself failed. The same is true of how quickly staff identify and treat sepsis. The CDC’s hospital sepsis guidance describes the programs hospitals use to recognize sepsis early. State health officials also publish infection prevention resources for health care facilities.
• Electronic records show timing. The chart records when orders were entered, when medications were given, and when staff viewed test results. Medication error claims, for example, often depend on these time stamps, particularly when a patient received overlapping or excessive prescriptions.
• A preexisting illness does not bar a claim. The question is what additional harm the hospital’s error caused. Medical testimony separates that harm from the condition that led to the admission.
• Georgia’s filing deadline applies to hospitals. Georgia generally allows two years from the date of an injury or death to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, including one against a hospital, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71. The same statute bars most claims brought more than five years after the negligent act or omission.

What Is The Hospital Negligence Case Timeline?

A hospital negligence case proceeds in stages. The time each stage takes depends on the number of defendants and the volume of records.

1. Initial review. We gather the hospital chart, including physician orders, nursing flowsheets, and discharge records.
2. Medical evaluation. Clinicians who practice in the same fields as the hospital staff assess the care against accepted standards.
3. Filing the lawsuit. Part of Atlanta lies in DeKalb County, where civil lawsuits are heard in courts including the DeKalb County State Court.
4. Discovery. Each party requests documents from the others, and attorneys question the nurses, physicians, administrators, and other witnesses under oath.
5. Mediation, settlement, or trial. A negotiated settlement or mediated agreement ends many hospital cases, and the remainder go before a jury.

Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Hospital Negligence Cases

Liability consists of four elements: the hospital owed the patient a duty of care, the hospital or its staff breached that duty, the breach caused the injury, and the patient suffered damages. A hospital’s duty of care arises when it agrees to treat a patient. Some treatments carry known risks, such as the risks of blood transfusions. In those cases, the claim must show that a preventable error, rather than a known risk, caused the harm.

Compensation in a Georgia hospital negligence case may include the following.

• Medical expenses. These may include the cost of additional surgery, rehabilitation, and future care.
• Lost income. This may include wages already missed and a reduced ability to earn in the future.
• Pain and suffering. This may include physical pain, anxiety and distress, and the loss of normal daily activities.
• Wrongful death damages. When a patient dies, O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 allows the surviving spouse, or the children if there is no spouse, to seek the full value of the decedent’s life.

Our Atlanta, GA hospital negligence attorney documents each loss with bills, employment records, and testimony.

What Should You Bring to Your Hospital Negligence Consultation?

Hospital charts are often several hundred pages long. Any records in your possession are helpful, and we will request the complete chart after the consultation.

• Admission and discharge paperwork, including discharge instructions and medication lists
• Names and dates, including the hospital, the unit, and the approximate dates of each stay
• Billing statements and explanation-of-benefits letters from the hospitalization and follow-up care
• A timeline you prepare of events during the stay, including what staff told you and when

At the consultation, our hospital negligence attorney in Atlanta, GA will ask about the admission, explain how Georgia law applies, and tell you whether the hospital’s records warrant further investigation.

Reach Out to Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers to Schedule a Consultation

Contact us to discuss your hospital stay with our Atlanta hospital negligence lawyer. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers offers a free consultation for hospital negligence claims. We will review what happened, answer your questions, and explain the steps involved in a hospital claim. If we accept the case, we handle the investigation and all communication with the hospital’s representatives.

Hospital Negligence Statistics in Atlanta, GA

Federal auditors have measured patient harm in American hospitals since 2008. The most recent national audit from the HHS Office of Inspector General reviewed the charts of Medicare patients discharged from acute care hospitals and classified each harm event as preventable or not. That is the same distinction an Atlanta hospital negligence attorney draws when reading a chart.

• One quarter of hospitalized Medicare patients experienced patient harm during their stays, and 12 percent suffered adverse events that led to longer stays, permanent harm, life-saving intervention, or death.
• Physician reviewers found that 43 percent of those harm events were preventable.
• Medication accounted for 43 percent of harm events, followed by patient care at 23 percent, procedures and surgery at 22 percent, and infections at 11 percent.
• Between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people fall in U.S. hospitals each year.
• Georgia’s Healthcare Facility Regulation Division oversees 20,000 facilities and has reviewed 2,868 publicly reported complaints, along with 9,243 incident reports submitted by facilities.

Medication errors lead the federal findings. For that reason, our review of a hospital negligence claim in Atlanta, GA usually begins with the medication administration record and the pharmacy orders behind each dose. An infection that developed during the admission or an unwitnessed fall leaves a different set of records: nursing notes, wound assessments, and incident reports. State complaint figures measure regulatory activity. They do not compensate injured patients, and a civil claim is a separate proceeding.

What Are Common Types of Injuries in a Hospital Negligence Case?

Most of these injuries trace back to a short list of failures. A change in condition went unnoticed, a treatment came late, or a standard precaution was never ordered. The type of injury also determines which records an Atlanta, GA hospital negligence attorney requests first and which physicians review them.

• Brain injury from oxygen loss: Sedation without adequate monitoring, a mismanaged airway, or a missed decline in breathing can cause an anoxic brain injury within minutes. The risk is greatest during deep sedation and general anesthesia, where an unnoticed drop in oxygen saturation is among the most serious anesthesia errors.
• Pulmonary embolism: Patients who are immobile after surgery face a known risk of blood clots. When preventive medication or compression devices are not ordered, a clot can travel to the lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. A clot can also be missed entirely when a patient with chest pain is discharged from the ER without imaging.
• Stroke: Clot-dissolving treatment is available only within a limited window after symptoms begin. A delayed scan or a slow neurology response can leave a patient with permanent deficits from a stroke.
• Infections that spread: A wound or IV line infection that is not cultured and treated promptly can progress to sepsis or necrotizing fasciitis. Both may require repeated surgery.
• Fractures and head trauma from falls: Fall-risk scoring, bed alarms, and assistance to the bathroom are standard precautions. When they are omitted, a fall can cause a hip fracture or a brain bleed, particularly in older patients taking blood thinners.
• Spinal cord damage: Improper positioning during a long procedure, or a bleed near the spine after an epidural that goes undetected on neurological checks, can result in spinal cord injury and paralysis.
• Perforations: An esophageal perforation can occur during endoscopy or intubation. The negligence question is usually whether staff recognized the tear and treated it before infection developed.
• Pressure injuries: Bedsores form when immobile patients are not repositioned and their skin is not inspected. Advanced wounds can reach bone.

Atlanta Hospital Negligence Lawyer FAQs

How much does it cost to hire a hospital negligence attorney in Atlanta?

Our firm represents hospital negligence clients on a contingency fee. The consultation is free, and there are no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. The fee agreement is explained in writing before you sign it.

What happens during a free consultation?

We ask about the admission, the diagnosis, and when you first learned that something had gone wrong. A hospital negligence lawyer in Atlanta, GA then explains whether the facts point toward a claim, who may be responsible, and which records we would request. If the information is not yet sufficient to reach a conclusion, we tell you what is missing.

How long do I have to file a hospital negligence claim in Georgia?

Georgia generally allows two years from the date of injury or death to file a medical malpractice action under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71. A separate five-year limit applies from the date of the negligent act, regardless of when the harm was discovered. Exceptions exist, so the dates in your records should be reviewed early.

Who can be held responsible for negligence in an Atlanta hospital?

Liability may rest with the hospital, its employed nurses and technicians, individual physicians, or a staffing company that placed personnel on the unit. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, the jury assigns each responsible party a percentage of fault, and each pays its own share of the damages. Every responsible party should therefore be identified before suit is filed.

Can I recover compensation if I was partly at fault?

Georgia reduces an award by the patient’s percentage of fault. A patient found 50 percent or more responsible recovers nothing. Hospitals sometimes argue that a patient left the bed without help or failed to report symptoms, and we test those arguments against the nursing notes, call-light logs, and fall-risk orders.

Is every hospital complication the result of negligence?

Some complications occur even when care meets the accepted standard. Georgia law requires proof that a provider failed to use the degree of care and skill ordinarily exercised under similar circumstances, and that the failure caused harm. Bleeding after an operation, for example, may be a known risk of the procedure or the result of a surgical error, depending on what the chart shows about technique and monitoring. A pre-existing condition does not lower that standard, although it can affect how much of the harm the negligence caused.

Should I file a state complaint as well as a claim?

A complaint to the Georgia Department of Community Health asks regulators to investigate the facility. It does not produce compensation. The two processes are independent, and filing one does not prevent the other.

Can compensation include future medical care?

Damages can include care the patient will need in the years ahead: rehabilitation, home nursing, medical equipment, and home modifications. Lost earning capacity and pain and suffering are recoverable as well. Projecting those needs usually requires input from treating physicians and life-care planners.

What claims are available after a death that followed a hospital stay?

Georgia recognizes two related claims. Surviving family members, in the order set by statute, may bring a wrongful death claim for the full value of the life lost. The estate may separately recover medical and funeral expenses and the patient’s pain and suffering before death. When an autopsy was performed, its findings are often central evidence.

How do I get copies of my hospital records?

Hospitals release records on a written request, usually through the health information management department or the patient portal. With your authorization, our firm can request the complete chart, including nursing flowsheets and electronic audit trails that do not appear in a standard printout.

Important Resources for Atlanta Hospital Negligence Cases

What Are Important Georgia Legal Resources for Hospital Negligence Cases?

Georgia statutes and the state and federal rules governing hospitals are public. These provisions apply most often in a hospital claim.

• Georgia’s two-year filing deadline and five-year repose period for medical malpractice actions appear in O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71.
• O.C.G.A. § 51-1-27 makes a medical provider responsible for injury caused by a failure to use a reasonable degree of care and skill.
• Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, damages are reduced by the patient’s share of fault, and a patient 50 percent or more at fault cannot recover.
• Every Georgia hospital operates under hospital licensing rules adopted by the Department of Community Health.
• Hospitals that bill Medicare must also meet the federal hospital conditions of participation.

What Are Important Local Resources for Atlanta Hospital Negligence Cases?

The offices below license Georgia hospitals and medical professionals, or maintain records that frequently become evidence in Atlanta hospital negligence cases.

• Georgia DCH Healthcare Facility Regulation Division: (800) 878-6442. Accepts complaints about licensed hospitals.
• Georgia Composite Medical Board: (404) 656-3913. Licenses physicians and investigates complaints.
• Georgia Board of Nursing: (404) 424-9966. Licenses registered and practical nurses.
• Fulton County Medical Examiner: (404) 613-4400. Conducts death investigations and issues autopsy reports.
• Fulton Superior Court Clerk: (404) 613-5313. Maintains civil filings for Fulton County Superior Court.

Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers is not affiliated with and does not endorse any organization listed above. Contact information is provided for convenience and may change.

About Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers

Before he practiced law, Daniel J. Moriarty taught high school English as a Second Language. His results for injured patients include a $30 million medical malpractice verdict and a $20 million medical malpractice settlement. He lives in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood with his wife and children.

What Our Clients Say

★★★★★

“Having Daniel represent my mother’s case was more then successful, it was LIFE CHANGING. Through all the heart ache a medical malpractice case can bring, I learned it is possible to trust again. His one step ahead thought process, in depth knowledge of healthcare records and systems, kindness, compassion, determination, articulate delivery, skillful strategy and solid communication every step of the way are just a few key attributes of Daniel and his work. Although no one can ever go back in time to change the day of my mother’s stroke, Daniel made sure that for the remainder of her life she will have the means for top notch care and all equipment necessary to remain in our home surrounded by the love of her family.”

Kathy Boone

Read more reviews on our Google Business Profile.

Additional Resources for Atlanta Hospital Negligence Cases

• When a Surgical Site Infection Leads to Sepsis: Could Delayed Treatment Be Malpractice?
• What Is a Transfusion-related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI)?
• How Anesthesia Errors Can Result in a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
• When Is Inaction a Failure to Diagnose?
• Death Following A Blood Transfusion

Contact Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers

A hospital stay that left you or a family member with a new injury warrants a close reading of the chart. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers offers a free consultation, and we charge no fees unless we recover compensation. At that first meeting, our Atlanta hospital negligence lawyer will review the timeline of the admission, identify the records still needed, and explain your legal options. We respond to new inquiries promptly. Contact us to schedule your consultation.