You may sue any individual who committed the malpractice. Most often, the defendant will be a doctor, but sometimes a patient will sue a nurse, an anesthesiologist, or another hospital staff member. They may sue several different individuals who may have contributed to the error, especially if it is not immediately obvious who was responsible. If the person who committed the malpractice is an employee of a hospital or another entity, a patient likely can sue the entity as well. They would need to show that the employee was acting in the scope of their job duties when the malpractice occurred. A patient usually cannot sue a hospital if a doctor committed the malpractice, since most doctors are not employed by hospitals. However, there are some exceptions that may allow a patient to include the hospital in the lawsuit.