Falls: No Medical Expertise Required to Prevent Patient Fall from Operating Table

May 31, 2017 | Strategic Insights for Health System

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​The facts and circumstances surrounding a sedated patient's fall from an operating room (OR) table prior to surgery are suggestive of ordinary negligence, not medical malpractice, held a U.S. district court in Connecticut. In so holding, the court denied the defendant hospital's motion to dismiss a retail chain's third-party complaint, allowing its case against the hospital to proceed.

According to court records, the hospital was treating a patient who sued the retail chain after she sustained multiple musculoskeletal injuries when a box fell on her while she was shopping at one of its stores. Reportedly, hospital employees placed the patient on an OR table and administered sedation; before surgery began, the patient...

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