Dim Lighting in Hospitals, who is liable?

Hospitals are supposed to provide a safe environment for people, especially their patients. While factors like staff and machines are important there are some other factors that play crucial parts in the working of hospitals such as dim lighting. At once, they can seem calming and relaxing, but they can have some dangerous outcomes and people can be injured because of it. This article delves into potential legal outcomes of being injured by dim lighting.

Danger of Dim Lighting in Hospitals

Dim lighting are supposed to create a peaceful ambiance but sometimes the results can be opposite and it can be dangerous.

1. Increased Fall Risk: Patients and people who have problem walking and seeing and elderly people can fall due to dim lighting and get injured . This can result in broken bones, serious injuries, or other severe injuries.
2. Difficulty with Daily Activities: Dim lighting can really affect the daily routine such as reading, working of people, especially people who have visibility issues and even those who have no problem at all. This can lead to anger and frustration in patients and people.
3. Missed Hazards: Dim lighting can really lead people to miss the hazards or obstacles such as spilled liquids and broken floors, which can lead to falls and dangerous injuries.
4. Delayed Diagnosis: Low lighting can cause trouble and difficulty for health professionals to properly do their work and diagnose the patient properly, which will lead to negligence in main duty of hospitals which is providing proper health care.
5. Increased Anxiety: While dim lighting is supposed to create a peaceful environment it can also be very frustrating for some other people, due to this unwanted anxiety and frustration the recovery process can be slowed down.

Legal Responsibilities

According to the legal laws hospitals have a legal duty to keep anyone in their premises safe whether it’s patients, visitors, or staff. Which means they should provide proper lighting on the premises to ensure safety. If hospitals management failed to complete their duty, then it is considered negligence.

Determining Liability

If someone is injured in any circumstance, the most crucial question that arises is who is liable for the negligence. Here’s how you can determine liability:

1. Severity of Injury: How severe the injury is playing a vital role in determining the liability of the other party. More serious injuries are likely to lead to larger claims.
2. Reasonableness of Lighting: The judge will consider the lighting and its intended purpose, such as if a patient’s room is dim lighted then it’ll hard to determine the liability on the other hand if a staircase had dim lighting, then determining liability can be more easy.
3. 3. Awareness of Lighting Issues: If the hospital administration was aware of the dim lighting and still, they chose not to act upon it and someone got injured then, it could strengthen the case for liability.
4. 4. Patient’s Negligence: If a patient fell or got injured due to their own negligence such as they were using mobile phone, was distracted then it’ll effect the liability chances.

Legal Professional

Legal matters are one of its kind and any normal civilian can’t deal with them on their own, one needs a legal professional to help them move through the legal maze smoothly. After getting injured due to dim lighting of hospitals you should consult a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible.

If you or someone you love needs legal advice, then call now for a free consultation at (718) 414-6642.