If you or someone you love has been injured due to negligent hospital care in New Mexico, you may be able to take the hospital to court. Determining when you can sue for hospital negligence, though, can be tricky. Not every case will be viable in court. Nor will every case be worth taking to court. You have to think about court costs and if you can even prove your case to determine if you have a viable hospital negligence case.
According to CNN, you would need to prove that a lack of care occurred that will cause ongoing damages. This must have been caused by a low level or violation in the standard of care. In essence, you have to prove that the care you received was below that of what would be reasonably expected.
When deciding if you have a case, it is important to understand that you must have damages to recover. If you were simply upset that you had to wait too long for a doctor’s care but waiting was only an inconvenience and did not cause you harm, then you wouldn’t have a case. Another example is if an error was committed during a surgery but it didn’t cause you any long-term issues, then it would not be a good case. You also may not have a solid case if you were simply not happy with the care or didn’t like your doctor. Subjective issues with your care are not provable in court, so your negligence case probably would not get too far.
The bottom line is that hospital negligence is something that can be very serious. However, not every case is going to be viable in court. You should weigh all the details of the situation carefully. This information is only intended to educate and should not be interpreted as legal advice.