Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC), a full-service hospital in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, is one of New York City’s largest hospitals. The hospital provides a diverse array of medical services, including emergency care, ambulatory care, cancer treatment, pediatrics, and radiology services. Given the high volume of patients the facility serves, some of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center’s patients may suffer injuries or complications due to various forms of malpractice committed by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals on staff. When you become a victim of medical malpractice while a patient at JHMC, you deserve to understand your rights and options for pursuing legal action to recover compensation for your harm and loss.
Common Types of Malpractice at Hospitals
Examples of the types of malpractice that can occur at a hospital like JHMC include:
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, especially of serious conditions like heart attack/stroke or cancer
- Incorrect triage in the emergency room
- Premature discharge
- Surgical errors, such as wrong-site surgery, wrong-patient surgery, or leaving instruments inside a patient
- Anesthesia errors, including allowing a patient to wake up during surgery or failing to monitor a patient’s condition
- Medication errors, including dispensing the wrong medication or administering medication to the wrong patient
- Failure to monitor patients
- Birth injuries to mothers or newborns during delivery
- Hospital-acquired infections
When Can You Hold a Hospital Liable for Malpractice?
Although medical malpractice occurs due to the negligence of professionals like doctors, physician’s assistants, nurses, pharmacists, and radiology technicians, patients who suffer malpractice in a hospital may have the right to hold the facility liable for individuals’ malpractice under certain circumstances. When an employee of the hospital commits malpractice, you may have a claim against the facility under a theory of respondeat superior or employer liability, as the law holds employers liable for negligence committed by their employees in the course of their work. Hospitals may also bear direct liability for their negligence that leads to malpractice, including for:
- Negligent hiring or credentialing of staff
- Inadequate training or supervision
- Failure to ensure adequate staffing levels
- Failure to maintain medical equipment
- Inadequate sanitation and infection control protocols
Patients may face challenges holding hospitals liable for physicians’ malpractice, as many physicians work in hospitals as independent contractors rather than employees, which may make a vicarious liability claim inapplicable.
What Should You Do After Suspected Malpractice?
When you believe that you may have suffered malpractice at JHMC, steps you should take to preserve your options for pursuing a legal claim include:
- Seek immediate medical attention, such as a second opinion, to identify injuries or complications caused by malpractice.
- Obtain copies of your medical records from JHMC.
- Follow your treatment and rehabilitation plan for your injuries or complications.
- Keep copies of your bills or invoices and gather your pay records if you miss time from work.
- Avoid signing documents from the hospital without legal advice.
New York’s Deadline for Medical Malpractice Claims
Under New York’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims, a patient typically has 30 months (two years, six months) after an incident of negligent treatment (or the last treatment in a continuous course of treatment) to file a lawsuit. However, certain exceptions may extend this deadline, including:
- Objects left inside a patient: One year from the date the patient discovers or should have discovered the object
- Failure to diagnose cancer: 30 months from the date the patient knows or should have known of their provider’s negligence (but no later than seven years from the date of the failure to diagnose)
Different deadlines may also apply to malpractice claims of patients under 18.
Contact Our Firm Today for Guidance
When you experience malpractice as a patient at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, you may have the right to demand financial compensation. Let our experienced legal team help you understand your options. Contact McCann Legal, PC today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a New York medical malpractice attorney to discuss how our firm can help you pursue legal claims if you’ve suffered injuries and complications due to negligent care at JHMC.