Tuesday’s Washington Post contained an article about Michelle Hereford, whose husband died from sepsis (where an infection spreads throughout the body) while being treated at the hospital. Ms. Hereford claims that the hospital ignored the signs and symptoms and was unresponsive to her concerns over how her husband was doing. By the time the hospital acted, it was too late to save him and Mr. Hereford died.

Ms. Hereford says that she is speaking out because she hopes it will bring about some change, however small. “When mistakes happen in hospitals, it’s not because they don’t have bells and whistles and technology,” she said. “It’s because nurses become robots and they don’t listen.” Ms. Hereford should be applauded for her courage and her willingness to help others so that this does not happen again.

While it is a tragedy what happened to Ms. Hereford and her husband (and their young children), unfortunately, medical negligence, also known as medical malpractice, is all too common. And it has nothing to do with doctors and nurses not being decent human beings or making simple mistakes or worrying about rising insurance premiums for doctors: health care providers must adhere to the standard of care and when they do not (whether they call it a mistake or something else) and their actions or inactions injure someone, they are negligent. And the rising insurance premiums and doctors fleeing states are myths propagated by the insurance industry to justify its continued greed.

When you or a loved one are injured due to medical negligence, then you need to call an experienced experienced Silver Spring medical malpractice lawyer to advise you of your rights. Health care providers need to be held accountable when their negligence causes injury. Here at Goldberg Finnegan, we have experienced medical malpractice lawyers (including a registered nurse-attorney) ready to fight for you. For more information about medical malpractice/negligence, call our personal injury lawyers today at (888) 213-8140 (we are located in downtown Silver Spring very close to the Metro Station).