Is there anything that I can/should be doing after getting an infection from a hospital IV?

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Is there anything that I can/should be doing after getting an infection from a hospital IV?

I went to the hospital the other day for flu symptoms. I had blood drawn and an IV. However the tech who drew my blood couldn’t get the vein and left the rubber tied around my arm while drawing blood which went everywhere. I got very pale and felt woozy; I fainted for 20 seconds or so. The IV was hurting really bad while in. Yesterday, I started having very weird symptoms – dizziness, nausea and hallucinations. Basically, I was super tired, couldn’t focus and was just overall out of it. I noticed some weird red spots all over

my arm, chest and side. My arm had an extreme bruise and it was painful. I went to a different hospital and they confirmed that I have an IV infection, in other words sepsis. So what do I do? Do I file a complaint or sue? This is

not OK. The tech and doctors at the first hospital that I went to had no clue what they were doing.

Asked on November 27, 2018 under Malpractice Law, Arizona

Answers:

S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

Medical malpractice is negligence. Negligence is the failure to exercise due care (that degree of care that a reasonable hospital would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm).
Prior to filing a lawsuit for negligence against the first hospital, it may be possible to settle the case with the hospital's insurance carrier. After completing your medical treatment and being released by the doctor or being declared by the doctor to be permanent and stationary, which means having reached a point in your medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, obtain your medical bills, medical reports and documentation of wage loss. Those items should be included in your claim filed with the hospital's insurance carrier.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports document your medical treatment and are used to determine compensation for pain and suffering which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement.
If the case is settled with the hospital's insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed.
If you are dissatisfied with the settlement offers, reject them and file a lawsuit for negligence against the hospital.
If the case is NOT settled, your lawsuit for negligence against the hospital must be filed prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or you will lose your rights forever in the matter.


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