If you seek aid for injury, illness or disease and are hurt during treatment, who do you go to, in order to seek reparations? The nurse? The doctor-in-charge? The hospital? Malpractice laws vary from state to state and are nothing but complicated. Your best bet in recovering losses is to get help from a qualified medical malpractice lawyer. But, there are a few things you ought to know about liability when you have to go to the hospital for treatment.

Most often, the entity paying the salary of the party responsible for injuring the patient is responsible for making reparations. If a nurse, medial technician or doctor, receives a salary and vacation time from a hospital, the hospital can be sued. If a doctor is an independent contractor, which most are, the injured patient can sue the doctor. If a nurse, employed by a hospital, follows the directions of an independently contracted doctor, and ends up injuring a patient, then that doctor may be responsible for the injuries and can be sued.

Hospitals may be found responsible when they continue to let a dangerous doctor treat patients in their facility. They can also be sued if the injury occurred in the ER of the hospital or if the hospital does not make it clear to the patient that the doctor is an independent contractor with the hospital.

While it does take a lot of people to run a hospital, it is important to know that not all people working there are actual employees. There are many possible locations where the buck can stop. Seeking the guidance of a competent medical malpractice lawyer early may be your best course of action.

Source: NOLO