Malpractice or Not Malpractice?

To allege malpractice, you need to be able to prove that some sort of physical harm was done. In this case, while it is very unfortunate and shocking that your daughter was not helped immediately (blocked-airway should be considered the NUMBER ONE priority to treat a patient besides complete heart failure), it doesn't appear that any actual harm was caused because of it. Therefore, you would not be able to, say, sue the hospital for malpractice because no damage was caused. You may be able to sue the hospital for emotional damages, but I'm not a lawyer so I couldn't give you the details on that. I'm a nurse, and my information comes from what we were taught about malpractice in nursing school. I'd definitely write a complaint (or several) to the hospital. If you can't find a way for the hospital to take responsibility for it, I'm sure your local news channel would be interested in doing a story on it, then the hospital would have to face the press!