When a Hospital Makes a Grave Mistake

By Jason Bottlinger on September 21, 2017

When an Omaha mother left her child at Children’s Home Healthcare, she thought her daughter would receive much-needed care. But an hour later, she received a phone call that no parent ever wants to receive.

According to Fox 42, the 19-month old girl had suffered cardiac arrest due to a seizure at the Omaha hospital near 78^th and Farnam. The seizure led to her death. After an internal investigation, the hospital reported that they believe “human error” caused the accident.

What Happened?

The child had been dealing with a gastrointestinal disorder. While in the hospital’s care, a nurse made a grave mistake when administrating medications. The nurse injected a drug designed to slow the absorption of food through the wrong access point. Instead of running the medication through the child’s feeding tube, the nurse ran it through a central line to her heart. For more than an hour, hospital staff tried to resuscitate her, but to no avail.

Mistakes Happen, Even in Hospitals

According to Consumer Reports, medication mix-ups and antibiotic misuse are among the top five medical mistakes made in hospitals. How do these mistakes happen? On one hand, sometimes unexpected things happen and there is nothing you can do. That is a basic tenet of life.

On the other hand, hospital staff are human too; therefore, they are susceptible to the same mistakes that we make. Have you ever made a mistake at work? Maybe you were on autopilot. Maybe you made a mistake and didn’t even know you did. It’s happened to all of us.

Medical Liability

While doctors and nurses are human, they hold a greater responsibility and accountability—not just figuratively, but legally. When medical professionals make mistakes, it can have dire consequences, so they are legally required to follow rules and regulations in prescribing medications and treating patients. This is called a “standard of care.” When this standard of care is breached, and someone is seriously harmed, the medical provider can be held financially responsible in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

These cases can be extremely complex, and hospitals usually have strong legal representation. But we at Bottlinger Law L.L.C. have experience with medical malpractice. We understand the intricacies and have the knowledge of what is needed to establish negligence. If you have questions about a recent hospital incident, feel free to contact a pediatric medical malpractice attorney at (402) 505-8234.