Health and Safety Issues at Roper Hospital
Personal InjuriesWhen you visit a hospital in the Charleston area for a health concern, you expect the medical professionals to provide adequate care. Medical malpractice and patient injuries are all too common in hospitals, however, and recent news indicates that Roper Hospital has failed to address serious health and safety issues.
At Hughey Law Firm, we have successfully pursued claims against Roper Hospital previously. For those who don’t know the details, we’ll summarize a little about what we know.
The Joint Commission Pulling Accreditation?
The Joint Commission, the nation’s largest and oldest advocacy group focusing on patient health and safety, inspected Roper Hospital recently and reported a serious condition that “poses a threat to patients, or other individuals served. Though the inspectors did not specify the concerning condition, it was enough to take the initial steps to deny accreditation for the facility. The home care and laboratory departments did receive accreditation, but not the rest of the facility did not.
At this time, no one has disclosed the details of the violations. However, any violations serious enough to potentially lose accreditation should be highly concerning to patients and prospective patients in the area. Inspections involve looking into the hospital’s equipment, procedures, fire protection, sterilization, and standards for patient care, among other things.
Roper Hospital responded that the hospital immediately worked to address all noted concerns to maintain accreditation. Reports show that hospitals rarely lose their accreditation, as the threat alone is enough for a hospital to address major health and safety concerns.
We will watch to see if Roper Hospital maintains its accreditation. However, the entire matter should still raise eyebrows for those considering Roper Hospital for their medical care or patients who suffered unnecessary complications while under the care of Roper Hospital.
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About Roper Hospital
Roper Hospital has been in Charleston since 1946, and the facility has 332 beds for patients. In addition to the emergency room, the hospital provides vascular care, heart care, cancer treatment, and other services to patients with serious health concerns. The healthcare corporation also operates three additional facilities in the Charleston area, with a recently announced planned move away from the Charleston peninsula towards Mount Pleasant.
Roper stated it is already working to make changes and plans to start the appeal process, which can take six months. The hospital will not fully lose its accreditation until it loses the appeal process. Inspectors plan to return within one month to see how the hospital addresses the concerns. Accreditation is one way that agencies enforce standards at hospitals, as receiving federal funding for services is critical.
Lawsuits Against Roper Hospital
Roper knows about legal troubles, as the hospital system faces several legal claims from patients. In recent years, a surgeon at Roper Hospital noticed that multiple breast cancer patients were developing non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections following breast reconstruction surgeries. Bacteria cause this antibiotic-resistant infection, but the lawsuits claim the hospital’s infection prevention team ignored the surgeon’s concerns.
Once public health officials started investigating the infections, the hospital treated its water supply to eliminate the bacteria. The exposure to serious infection and denial of the surgeon’s warnings of high infection risk is the basis for at least four lawsuits against the Roper hospital system. The patients claim they suffered serious and debilitating injuries due to their infections.
Another pending lawsuit against Roper St. Francis Hospital involves a man who died after telling nurses he could not breathe. Following surgery with a risk of blood clot development, the patient had many signs of a blood clot, according to his widow. Nurses attributed his breathing problems to a panic attack and took no steps to help him breathe or address a possible hematoma. The patient went into cardiac arrest and died several days later, leading to a wrongful death lawsuit for negligent post-operative care.
While every hospital can have mistakes happen, these facilities should be fully accountable for any type of medical negligence or malpractice within their walls. Medical malpractice law firms in the area know Roper Hospital’s history, as many bring malpractice claims against the facility on behalf of injured patients.
Do You Have a Medical Malpractice Claim Against a Hospital?
No one expects to suffer injuries when they seek medical care – you likely expect the opposite. However, many people are victims of medical malpractice, which can cause completely preventable, costly, and debilitating health problems.
Individual doctors are not the only medical professionals liable for medical malpractice. Hospitals and other medical facilities can be negligent and responsible for avoidable harm to patients.
Some common types of medical malpractice that can happen at hospitals include:
- Medication errors, including overdoses, administering the wrong medication, missed doses, etc.
- Inadequate post-operative care
- Failing to respond to medical emergencies of patients
- Improper monitoring of patients
- Inadequate sanitation, exposure to bacteria, and nosocomial infections (hospital-acquired infections or HAI)
- Other patient mix-ups due to insufficient recordkeeping or maintenance
- Labor and delivery mistakes
If you or a loved one suffered unexpected complications while receiving treatment from Roper Hospital or another facility in the Charleston area, seek a consultation with a medical malpractice law firm. Knowing when a doctor or hospital made a simple mistake or conduct constitutes malpractice is a complicated issue. You want an experienced attorney to evaluate whether you might be the victim of malpractice.
Proving a Medical Malpractice Claim
Even if you are certain you suffered injuries from hospital malpractice, you can expect hospitals to fight against liability whenever possible. Facilities like Roper Hospital do not want any more bad press, and they do not want the public hearing about malpractice occurring within the facility.
You want a medical malpractice attorney who stands up to hospitals like Roper to prove malpractice claims for injured patients. You need an advocate ready to fight for coverage of your medical bills, pain and suffering, and other losses from the negligent hospital. If you have suspicions, take action and set up a consultation today.
Nathan Hughey, an attorney and fourth-generation South Carolinian, founded Hughey Law Firm in 2007. Before that, he spent five years defending nursing homes and insurance companies. Leveraging his experience, he now advocates for those injured or wronged by such entities, securing over $220 million in verdicts and settlements.