Can You Sue a Hospital for Emotional Distress?

Hospitals may be liable for medical malpractice committed on their premises by doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, therapists, or other employees or personnel with hospital privileges. In some cases, medical malpractice may result from a systemic problem within the hospital rather than the wrongdoing of one health care provider. Examples of systemic hospital problems include the following: 

• Poor communication between facilities or departments 
• Out-of-date medical records management. 
• Out-of-date equipment 
• Inadequate staffing 
• Inadequate infection control 
• Inadequate admissions procedures 
• Insufficient safety policies and procedures 

Medical malpractice resulting in emotional distress at hospitals may stem from the medical errors discussed below. 

Diagnostic Errors 

Diagnostic errors generally fall into the following three categories: 

• Misdiagnosis  
• Delayed diagnosis  
• Failure to diagnose  

Treatable health conditions such as cancer could become terminal and inoperable due to a delayed diagnosis. A misdiagnosis can result in a patient receiving unnecessary treatments, even surgery or cancer treatment, which could lead to physical harm, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and severe anxiety. 

Our medical malpractice attorneys have won millions for clients who suffered severe physical and emotional injuries because of diagnostic errors. In a recent case, we won a record verdict of $14 million against a doctor and hospital for delaying a cancer diagnosis after ignoring abnormal chest X-ray results. 

Medication Errors 

Medication errors in a hospital can lead to dangerous and even deadly side effects and drug interactions without addressing the original condition that requires treatment. The most common medication errors include the following: 

• Incorrect dose 
• Incorrect medication 
• Improper administration 
• Failure to prescribe or administer necessary medications 
• Infusion errors 

Patients rightfully expect their health care providers to provide the appropriate medication during hospitalization. In addition to the physical injury, a medication error undermines the patient’s trust in the medical system, leading to long-term anxiety concerning medication and a future reluctance to seek care. 

Surgical Errors 

Surgery is a stressful event for most patients, even in the absence of complications. Surgical errors drastically add to the distress as a result of the devastating effects these errors can have, including the following: 

• Sepsis and organ damage from foreign objects being left behind 
• Brain damage from anesthesia errors or oxygen deprivation 
• Infections 
• Wrong-site surgeries 
• Wrong-patient surgeries 

Surgical errors can lead to permanent physical disabilities, brain damage, and death, resulting in profound grief and psychological trauma that impacts the family as well as the patient. 

Birth Injuries 

Childbirth is a long-anticipated event that is supposed to be celebratory, but birth injuries leave parents and entire families with long-term emotional scars resulting from harm to a newborn or the mother. Psychological trauma following birth injuries may include the following: 

• Depression and anxiety from being unable to hold a baby that must remain in the NICU 
• Psychological trauma from witnessing a newborn baby’s severe medical condition or death in the NICU 
• Grief stemming from the death of the mother or child 
• Post-traumatic stress disorder 
• Long-term depression and anxiety stemming from the overwhelming work and expense of caring for a profoundly disabled child 

Hospital Falls 

When you are a patient in a hospital, you are already in a fragile state. The risk of severe injury and emotional trauma from a fall is especially high during this time.  

Our attorneys won a $3.3 million settlement for the grieving family of a patient who died from severe head trauma caused by a fall while in the hospital. The patient was a known fall risk, but the hospital staff failed to provide appropriate supervision.  

Wrongful Death 

The Illinois Wrongful Death Act allows surviving family members of deceased medical malpractice victims to recover damages for their grief, sorrow, and mental suffering. 

Illinois families can also recover damages for the mental anguish the deceased suffered before death. This is known as a survival claim.