Hospitals are where you go when you are feeling sick or become injured and require treatment to get better. However, hospitals are also big businesses and they often cut corners in order to protect their profits. This is currently the case at HCA Florida Bayonet Point in Hudson, Florida. Two years ago, over a dozen surgeons at the hospital held a meeting to discuss the deteriorating conditions and address their concerns about patient safety. Despite a hospital administrator being present at the meeting, nothing has been done to make the facility a safer place.
Concerns at HCA Florida Bayonet Point
The concerns the surgeons brought to the hospital administrator ranged from inadequate patient care to severely insufficient maintenance on the actual building. Just a few of the concerns the surgeons raised included:
- Inadequate monitoring of ICU patients
- Unsanitary surgical instruments
- Overflow in the emergency department
- Anesthesiology errors, causing some patients to wake up during their surgery
- Cockroaches inside operating rooms
- Leaking roofs
- Medical equipment that is in disrepair and held together with medical tape
- A sharp rise in ‘sentinel’ events, which are patient safety incidents that result in death or permanent or severe harm
- Wrong parts of a patient’s body being prepped for surgery
- Bloody and backed-up sinks
- Wires protruding from holes in the walls
The above are just a few of the unsafe conditions in the 290-bed acute care facility. Although the concerns have been taken to the administrators of the hospital, nothing has yet been done. In fact, instead of spending the necessary funds to repair the above conditions, Bayonet Point has just celebrated the opening of a new tower that is equipped with 102 additional beds and that cost $85 million to build.
Legal Remedies for Patients Who Suffer Harm Due to Inadequate Conditions or Care
The allegations made by the surgeons at Bayonet Point are alarming. Unfortunately, this is not the only hospital in Florida, or in the country, where unsafe conditions or improper care are a real concern. Patients who receive care in unsanitary conditions can suffer from hospital-acquired infections, and those who wake up during surgery will be traumatized for a long time to come. Unsanitary medical equipment can also cause infection or other injuries, and exposed wires can cause electrocution, particularly when they are near leaky roofs and ceilings.
The list of injuries that result from unsanitary and inadequate conditions is long. Unfortunately, since 2021, conditions and care at Bayonet Point have continued to decline, according to both the surgeons at the facility as well as official documents from Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA).
Patients who are harmed due to these types of conditions, regardless of the hospital where they received care, can file a medical malpractice claim against the hospital administrators to recover compensation for their injuries and other losses. A legal claim can help patients obtain compensation for additional medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and any other loss they suffered.
Proving a Medical Malpractice Claim
A medical malpractice claim is the only way injured patients can recover compensation for their injuries after receiving negligent medical care. However, of all personal injury claims, those involving medical malpractice are some of the hardest to prove. This is largely due to the fact that a mistake on its own is not always enough to file a claim and doctors are not expected to provide perfect care at all times.
Still, hospital administrators are expected to ensure facilities are always kept in clean and sanitary conditions. Just like any other type of property, hospitals should also be free of unsafe conditions and hazards that could cause harm. Pictures of the conditions at Bayonet Point clearly show a number of alarming unsanitary and unsafe conditions, which could be used to prove a medical malpractice claim.
Previous reports about the unsafe conditions can also be used to prove a medical malpractice. The AHCA documented that Bayonet Point did not enforce proper procedures and protocols in the emergency department in 2021, and one nurse also told the agency that nurse to patient ratios were unsafe. Showing this type of history of unsafe conditions, as well as the fact that administrators have not done anything to correct them, can also strengthen a medical malpractice claim.
Call Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers in Miami Today
Bayonet Point is not the only hospital where unsafe conditions are present and where injuries caused by negligence occur. If you have sustained injuries and other losses due to negligence, our Miami medical malpractice lawyers at Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein can prove your case and help you obtain the full and fair settlement you deserve. Call us now at (786) 661-1359 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.