Nursing Negligence Lawsuit
Nurses are the primary point of patient contact in hospitals — and nursing negligence is a significant and underappreciated source of preventable patient harm. When nurses fail to meet the standard of care, the hospital and nursing staff may bear liability for the resulting injuries.
What Is Nursing Negligence?
Nursing negligence occurs when a registered nurse (RN), licensed practical nurse (LPN), or other nursing staff member fails to meet the standard of care applicable to their role — and that failure causes patient harm. Because nurses are the most constant presence at the bedside, nursing care failures can result in outcomes ranging from preventable falls and pressure injuries to catastrophic delayed recognition of life-threatening deterioration.
The nursing standard of care is determined by what a reasonably prudent nurse with similar training and experience would do in the same circumstances. It encompasses assessment skills, monitoring obligations, documentation practices, medication administration protocols, and the duty to communicate deterioration to the treating physician promptly.
Nursing negligence cases are typically brought against the hospital — not the individual nurse — under the legal theory of respondeat superior (employer liability for the acts of employees acting within the scope of their employment). However, where a nurse is an independent contractor rather than an employee, direct liability claims against the nurse or contracting agency may also apply.
Because nurses operate under physician orders but have independent professional duties, nursing liability cases often involve the intersection of physician negligence and nursing negligence — both of which may independently contribute to patient harm.
Common Forms of Nursing Negligence
Failure to Monitor and Assess
Inadequate patient assessment, missed vital sign deterioration, or failure to conduct required assessments — particularly in post-operative and ICU settings.
Failure to Communicate Deterioration
Failure to call the attending physician or rapid response team when patient condition worsens — a critical nursing duty that prevents deterioration from progressing to crisis.
Medication Administration Errors
Wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong route, wrong patient, wrong time — the 'five rights' of medication administration. Nurses are the final checkpoint before medications reach patients.
Patient Fall Prevention Failures
Failure to implement fall precautions for high-risk patients — inadequate bed alarms, missing call-light access, failure to assist with ambulation — leading to preventable falls and fractures.
Pressure Injury Prevention
Failure to implement and maintain repositioning protocols for immobile patients, resulting in preventable stage III/IV pressure injuries.
IV and Line Complications
Improper IV insertion, failure to recognize infiltration or extravasation, central line-associated infections (CLABSI) from inadequate sterile technique.
Failure to Follow Physician Orders
Missing or delaying execution of physician orders — for medications, tests, procedures, or consultations — resulting in harmful delays in care.
Documentation Failures
Falsifying records, failing to document critical observations, or charting by exception in a way that conceals important clinical events.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Nursing Negligence a Factor?
Nursing negligence cases often involve detailed review of nursing notes, medication records, and flowsheets. MDLaw Firm evaluates hospital negligence claims — including nursing care failures — based on what the medical record shows and what the standard of care required.