Not Every Claim Against a Hospital Involves Medical Malpractice
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Not every claim against a hospital involves medical malpractice. Many functions performed by a hospital and its staff do not involve the "rendering of medical care." Although many services performed by the hospital and its staff do involve rendering medical care such as giving hypodermic injections, drawing blood, etc., many functions of the hospital do not involve such care. Some of the non-medical functions regularly performed by a hospital and its staff including moving patients from one bed to the other, walking with patients, feeding patients, and cleaning rooms.
If negligence arises out of the performance of medical services, that negligence must be proven by an expert with expertise in the same field as that of the negligent party. For instance, a nurse or doctor must give testimony concerning negligent nursing care in order for that case to be allowed to be submitted to a jury. However, in cases involving non-medical care, expert testimony is not required.
For instance, in order to win a case against a hospital arising out of the transfer of a patient from a bed to a wheelchair, it is not necessary to call an expert witness. The law considers ordinary individuals serving on a jury, without any particular expertise in medicine, to be just as competent to form an opinion as to whether there was negligence arising out of the movement of a patient from a bed to a wheelchair.
A recent case demonstrating this rule of law arose in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In that case, a patient undergoing a mammogram examination fainted and fell to the floor, seriously injuring herself. The injured victim sued the hospital, claiming that the hospital was guilty of ordinary negligence in allowing her fall to the floor, in failing to have someone to protect her from falling and to have a mat on the floor in order to cushion the fall. The allegation was that the hospital was guilty of ordinary negligence in failing to take the proper precautions. Since preventing a patient from falling does not involve medical care, it was not necessary to call an expert witness to testify.
The jury agreed with the victim that the hospital personnel were negligent in allowing her to fall. The jury returned a verdict of $3 million for these damages. This is true even though no expert witness testified that anybody at the hospital was guilty of medical negligence or medical malpractice.
For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Medical Malpractice and Negligent Care.