Were you or a family member harmed by negligent nursing care in Stonecrest?
At Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers, we provide nursing negligence representation on a contingency basis, with no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you.
If negligent nursing care caused you or a family member harm in Stonecrest, our Stonecrest, GA nursing negligence lawyer can obtain the complete nursing record, identify where the care fell below the accepted standard, and pursue compensation from the nurse, the facility, and any staffing agency involved. We also handle communication with insurers and defense counsel throughout the claim.
Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers has recovered more than $200 million for clients since 2019, including two of the ten largest malpractice verdicts in Georgia history. Contact us for a free review of your nursing care.
Nursing Negligence Lawyer Stonecrest, GA
Nursing negligence occurs when a registered nurse, licensed practical nurse, or nurse practitioner fails to provide the care a reasonably careful nurse would provide under similar circumstances, and a patient is harmed as a result. A nursing negligence attorney represents patients and families in claims against the nurse, the hospital or facility that employed the nurse, and any agency that placed the nurse on the unit.
Georgia faces a projected 20 percent shortage of registered nurses by 2038, the third largest in the country. A short-staffed unit does not excuse a missed assessment or a delayed call to the physician. It often explains why those failures happen.
Types of Nursing Negligence Cases We Handle in Stonecrest
Nursing claims arise in hospitals, emergency departments, labor and delivery units, rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care settings. Our firm handles cases involving:
- Failure to monitor: Nurses are responsible for checking vital signs, oxygen levels, and pain after surgery or sedation at the intervals the physician ordered. We compare the documented checks against those orders, and gaps in the flowsheet frequently mark the point where a decline went unnoticed.
- Medication error: Wrong drugs, wrong doses, missed doses, and IV pumps programmed at the wrong rate can cause overdose, organ damage, or a dangerous drop in blood pressure. Barcode scanning logs and the medication administration record show who gave each dose and when.
- Failure to escalate: A nurse who recognizes a worsening condition must notify the physician or call a rapid response team. We match the nursing notes against paging records to establish how long a patient deteriorated before anyone with authority to act was told.
- Pressure injuries: A patient who cannot move independently depends on nurses for turning and skin checks. When those tasks are skipped, open wounds can reach muscle and bone, and the nursing risk scores and wound photographs show whether the injury was preventable.
- Emergency room malpractice: Emergency nurses set each patient’s place in line for the physician. A low priority assigned to a patient with stroke, heart attack, or sepsis symptoms, or a missed recheck in the waiting room, can cost hours of treatment time.
- Patient falls: Nurses assess each patient’s fall risk on admission and set precautions to match. When a high-risk patient is left without an alarm or help getting up, the incident report and the admission assessment often show the gap.
- Birth injury: Labor and delivery nurses watch the fetal heart rate tracing and must alert the obstetrician to signs of distress. Delayed notification can lead to oxygen deprivation and lifelong injury to the child.
- Infection control: Nurses care for catheters, IV lines, and surgical wounds. Missed signs of infection, such as fever, redness, and a rising heart rate, can allow a local infection to progress to sepsis.
- Failure to diagnose: Symptoms that a nurse observed but did not report, or abnormal results that never reached the physician, can delay a diagnosis until treatment options are lost.
Why Choose Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers as My Nursing Negligence Lawyer in Stonecrest, GA?
Experience From the Defense Side of Nursing Claims
Before he began representing patients, Daniel J. Moriarty defended hospitals and their nursing staffs in malpractice litigation for six years. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and earned his law degree at the University of Texas. Our firm reads the nursing flowsheets, medication records, and audit trails line by line before any outside review begins. Knowing how a hospital will defend its nursing staff is what a patient should expect from a medical malpractice lawyer in Stonecrest, GA.
Results for Injured Patients and Their Families
Our firm has recovered more than $200 million for clients since 2019, through verdicts and settlements for patients harmed in hospitals and other care settings. We handle these cases on contingency, so clients pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation. Representative medical malpractice results include:
- A $30 million jury verdict
- A $17.5 million recovery
- A $13.5 million recovery
- An $8.8 million recovery
Each result depended on the facts of that case, and past outcomes do not guarantee a similar result in any future matter.
What Is Important to Understand About a Nursing Negligence Case?
Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Nursing Negligence Cases
A nursing negligence claim requires proof that the nurse owed the patient a duty of care, failed to meet the standard for that nursing role, and caused an injury. A hospital or facility is generally responsible for the conduct of the nurses it employs, and a staffing agency may share responsibility for the nurses it places. Recoverable damages include:
- Medical expenses: Past and future treatment, rehabilitation, and home care
- Lost income: Wages already lost and reduced earning capacity
- Pain and suffering: Physical pain, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life
- Wrongful death: The full value of the life of a patient who died, under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2
Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, a jury may assign part of the fault to the patient, which lowers the award by that percentage. When the patient’s share reaches 50 percent, no damages are recoverable. Patients with a pre-existing condition are owed the same nursing care as anyone else, and compensation is measured by the additional harm the negligence produced.
What Are Important Aspects of a Nursing Negligence Case?
Nursing claims are proven largely through records that patients rarely see. These factors often determine the strength of a case:
- Nursing standards and licensing: Nurses in Georgia are licensed by the Georgia Board of Nursing and are measured against the practice of other nurses in the same role.
- Staffing and assignments: Research summarized by AHRQ links higher patient-to-nurse ratios to missed nursing care and worse outcomes, so assignment sheets and census records matter.
- Monitoring after sedation: Patients recovering from deep sedation need continuous observation of breathing and oxygen levels.
- Prevention protocols: More than 2.5 million people in the U.S. develop pressure ulcers each year, and hospital protocols set out the turning and skin checks nurses must perform.
- Electronic audit trails: Time stamps show when each entry was made, including late entries added after an injury.
What Is the Nursing Negligence Case Timeline?
Most nursing negligence cases follow a similar sequence, although the length of each stage varies with the complexity of the injury. The typical stages are:
- Consultation and records: We obtain the full chart, including nursing flowsheets, medication records, and audit trails.
- Clinical review: Nurses and physicians in the relevant fields evaluate whether the care met the standard and caused the injury.
- Filing: O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71 generally gives an injured patient or family two years from the injury or death to file suit. The same statute sets an outer limit of five years from the negligent act.
- Discovery: Both sides exchange records and take depositions of the nurses, charge nurses, and supervisors involved. Many local cases are heard in the DeKalb County State Court, which presides over civil litigation in the county.
- Resolution: Most cases resolve through settlement or mediation, and we prepare each one for trial.
What Should You Bring to Your Nursing Negligence Consultation?
You do not need a complete file to meet with us. These items help a nursing negligence attorney in Stonecrest, GA evaluate the claim quickly:
- Discharge papers and any incident or fall reports you received
- Names of the nurses and units involved, if you know them
- Medical bills and insurance statements
- A written timeline of what you observed and when
At the consultation, we will review your account and these documents, explain whether the facts support a claim, and outline the records we would request.
Reach Out to Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers to Schedule a Consultation
A nursing error that caused a new injury or a death deserves a careful look at the nursing record. Moriarty Medical Malpractice Lawyers reviews these claims at no cost, and our fee depends on a recovery. Our Stonecrest nursing negligence lawyer will go over the care you received, the staff involved, and the options available to your family. We follow up on new inquiries quickly. Contact us to arrange a time to talk.