Call for Consultation (337) 366-8994
Call for Consultation (337) 366-8994
Legal Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about medical malpractice claims in Louisiana, including lost chance of survival and hospital-acquired infections. It does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such.
Every case is unique, and outcomes depend on specific facts and circumstances. If you or a loved one has been harmed by medical negligence, consult with a qualified Louisiana attorney to discuss your individual situation.
Yes, you can sue a Louisiana hospital for making you sick.
Louisiana law offers the lost chance of survival doctrine. This doctrine is vital for patients let down by the medical system.
It exists because Louisiana courts recognized a key truth: if a doctor’s negligence robs you of a chance to heal, you deserve compensation. Even if no one can predict the exact outcome.
For families waiting in hospital rooms, patients hit by infections they should not have gotten, and those grieving someone who might still be alive if a doctor had done their job, this doctrine is the line between justice and nothing.
If you or someone you love was harmed by a hospital’s negligence, you do not have to sort through the legal questions alone.
The Ikerd Law Firm offers consultations to families dealing with medical malpractice in Louisiana. Call us at (337) 366-8994. We are here to listen and help you understand your options.
In a typical negligence case, you have to prove the other person’s actions “more likely than not” caused your harm.
That works fine when someone runs a red light and hits your car. Cause and effect are clear.
But it is different with medical malpractice. Patients are often sick, and outcomes are uncertain. Under old rules, if a patient had less than a 50% chance of survival (even with perfect care), the family could not recover anything.
The Louisiana Supreme Court recognized the lost-chance doctrine specifically because the traditional standard left too many families without recourse.
Under this doctrine, you do not have to prove your loved one would have survived. You have to prove the doctor’s negligence reduced their chance of surviving or achieving a better outcome. That is an important distinction, and it opens the courthouse doors to cases that would otherwise be shut out.
As the Court put it: “The law does not require the plaintiff to prove to a certainty that the patient would have lived had he received more prompt diagnosis and treatment.” A lost chance of survival in any degree may be compensated.
Think of it this way. A woman goes to her doctor with symptoms that should raise red flags for cancer. The doctor waves them off.
Months pass. By the time the cancer is finally diagnosed, it has progressed significantly. With timely treatment, she had a 60% chance of beating it. Now, because of the delay, her odds have dropped to 25%.
That 35% gap (the difference between what she had and what negligence left her with) is the lost chance.
A jury can apply that percentage to the total damages in the case. It is a proportional approach, and it was recognized by the Louisiana Supreme Court in cases like Smith v. State, Department of
Health and Hospitals, 676 So. 2d 543 (La. 1996).
A negligent doctor should not escape accountability simply because a patient was already facing a tough fight.
A hospital-acquired infection (HAI) is exactly what it sounds like: an infection you picked up at the hospital. You did not walk in with it. It was not part of your original diagnosis.
It developed because something went wrong during your care: contaminated equipment, poor hand hygiene, or a surgical site that was not properly monitored.
And it happens far more often than most people realize. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that roughly 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection on any given day.
Most of them are preventable. When a hospital cuts corners on infection control, and you pay the price, that is not bad luck. That may be malpractice.
Louisiana law holds hospitals to a standard of reasonable care, and that includes something basic: do not make your patients sicker.
Maintaining a clean, sanitary environment is not optional. When hospitals fall short, it tends to look like one (or more) of these failures:
This is where the lost chance doctrine connects directly to hospital infections. If a hospital’s failure to catch or treat your infection in time reduced your chance of surviving sepsis, you or your family may recover damages for that lost chance. Even if the infection was already serious by the time anyone noticed.
Louisiana does things differently than most states when it comes to medical malpractice. If you are considering a claim, you need to know the rules of the road before you start.
Before filing a malpractice lawsuit, Louisiana requires most claims to go through a Medical Review Panel first (La. R.S. 40:1231.8).
The panel is made up of three healthcare providers and one attorney chairperson. They review the evidence and issue an opinion on whether the healthcare provider fell below the standard of care.
That opinion is not the final word. A jury can see it differently, but it carries weight. The good news is that while the panel does its work, your filing deadline is paused. The clock does not keep ticking while you wait.
Louisiana calls it a prescription, not a statute of limitations. You have one year from the date you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the malpractice, with a hard outer limit of three years from the date it happened (La. R.S. 9:5628).
For comparison, Mississippi gives you three years. Texas gives you two. Louisiana gives you one.
Under the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act (La. R.S. 40:1231.2), total general damages against a qualified healthcare provider are capped at $500,000.
Past and future medical care costs are not capped. When damages exceed $100,000, the Louisiana Patient’s Compensation Fund picks up the rest up to the cap.
For patients dealing with long-term consequences of a hospital infection, such as ongoing treatment, rehabilitation, and additional surgeries, those uncapped medical expenses can be substantial.
Whether your claim involves a lost chance of survival, a hospital-acquired infection, or both, the core of the case comes down to:
1. The hospital or doctor owed you a duty of care.
2. They breached that duty. The care you received fell below what a competent healthcare professional would have provided in the same situation. In HAI cases, this often means the hospital ignored its own infection prevention protocols.
3. That breach cost you a real chance at a better outcome. You do not need to prove that the negligence definitely caused your injury or your loved one’s death. You need to show it took away a meaningful chance of recovery or survival. This almost always requires expert medical testimony.
4. You suffered real damages. Medical bills, lost income, pain, and loss of enjoyment of life. And in wrongful death cases, the loss of a parent, a spouse, or a provider. These numbers represent what negligence costs your family.
Hospital records, infection control logs, and staffing schedules do not last forever. Evidence gets harder to obtain with every month that passes. And Louisiana’s one-year prescription is unforgiving.
Filing a request with the Medical Review Panel pauses the clock. Which is exactly why talking to an attorney early matters.
Dealing with a hospital-acquired infection or the loss of a loved one because a doctor did not act in time is overwhelming. You are grieving and frustrated, and you are trying to figure out whether anything can be done.
We understand that.
We have sat across the table from people in your exact position, and we know how much it matters to have someone in your corner who will tell you the truth about your case.
At the Ikerd Law Firm, we handle medical malpractice cases involving lost chance of survival and hospital-acquired infections. We know the medicine. We know the law. And we know how to hold hospitals accountable when they fail the people who trusted them with their lives.
No cost, no obligation. Just a straightforward conversation about your situation and what your options look like. That is how it should work.
Yes. If the infection resulted from the hospital’s failure to follow accepted infection control standards. You may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim.
One year from the date of discovery, with a hard three-year outer limit.
In most cases, yes. Louisiana law requires a panel of three healthcare professionals and an attorney chairperson to review your claim first. Their opinion is not binding, but it carries weight with juries.
General damages are capped at $500,000. However, past and future medical care costs are not capped. Which matters in long-term treatment for hospital-acquired infections.
Surgical site infections, catheter-associated UTIs, central line bloodstream infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia are the most common. Any infection caused by a hospital’s failure to meet the standard of care could support a claim.
Ikerd Law Firm