The responsibilities associated with being a healthcare professional are strenuous, a fact that most people understand and recognize. Doctors and nurses are expected to provide crucial care to numerous patients each day, making important decisions or carrying out important treatment procedures that can have a massive impact on their patients’ health.
However, it is the responsibility of administrators and the doctors themselves to ensure that they are not overscheduled or work to a point where they are overextended or make serious mistakes.
Too Much Work as a Cause for Concern
Although many hospitals need their doctors and nurses available for as long as possible due to heavy demands, these professionals should be given reasonable time to rest if their shifts are exceedingly long.
The following instances of over-scheduling may lead to grim health consequences for patients:
- Expecting first-year doctors for on-call shifts exceeding 24 hours
- Exceeding 10-hour work days
- Expecting surgeons to perform delicate procedures after excessively long shifts
- Pushing nurses to excessively long shifts and expecting a lack of clerical errors
A simple mistake in paperwork or during a treatment procedure can mean the difference between the proper medical care and a disastrous error. If a hospital’s scheduling is the root cause for these mistakes, the administration responsible for that scheduling may be held accountable by those who suffer harm.
Contact Us
If you’ve been injured by a doctor or nurse who made a mistake because of an unreasonably excessive work schedule, it may be possible to pursue financial compensation for the losses you have sustained. To learn more about how to prepare a medical malpractice claim against a liable hospital administration, contact an attorney from the Cottrell Law Office, today by calling 800-364-8305.