What to Do if You Are Injured in the Emergency Room
June 17, 2021 in Medical Malpractice
An emergency room’s fast-paced environment can sometimes result in medical errors. If an emergency room doctor fails to adhere to the accepted standards of care, a patient could be injured as a result of their mistakes. Below, the medical malpractice attorneys at Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas and Cannavo P.C. outline what may be considered medical malpractice in an emergency room as well as how to seek compensation if you have been injured.
Medical Errors in the Emergency Room
Emergency room patients are vulnerable and entrust the medical staff to correctly diagnose and treat their injury or illness. Medical providers are required to carefully examine, test and diagnose patients. Unfortunately, medical staff may fail to follow accepted medical practices leading to mistakes in care and injury to patients.
Common medical errors that can occur in an emergency room include:
- Failure to record adequate patient history,
- Failure to perform a thorough physical examination,
- Failure to consider life-threatening causes of the patient’s presentation,
- Failure to collect data or perform tests to rule out possible life-threatening conditions,
- Reaching conclusions about a patient in a hasty manner without carefully considering an alternative diagnosis,
- A delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose,
- A delay in performing testing and treatment,
- The failure to consult a specialist in a timely manner,
- Laboratory errors,
- Patient dumping,
- Failure to properly monitor a patient,
- Inappropriate medications or improper doses,
- Contaminated blood transfusions, and
- Surgical errors.
Medical Malpractice and Emergency Rooms
In order to ensure a successful medical malpractice lawsuit, a plaintiff must be able to prove the following three elements:
The doctor owed the plaintiff a duty of care and/or a doctor-patient relationship was established.
A doctor-patient relationship is established when a doctor examines a patient or provides treatment in an emergency room. A plaintiff does not need to prove that a continuing doctor-patient relationship was established beyond the initial treatment, only that the relationship was in place when the alleged malpractice occurred.
The treatment provided at the emergency room involved negligence.
Negligence occurs when a doctor fails to provide the quality of care that other reasonably competent doctors would have provided under similar circumstances. A plaintiff and their legal team must establish the standard of care as well as prove the breach of the standard of care.
The plaintiff was harmed by negligence.
Harm can take many forms such as pain and suffering, expensive medical bills due to additional corrective treatment, the loss of earning capacity, the loss of the ability to enjoy life, and/or wrongful death.
Seeking Legal Defense for Emergency Room Mistakes
Like all medical malpractice cases, it is imperative to seek legal counsel if your medical malpractice case occurred in an emergency room. A medical malpractice attorney can represent you and fight for monetary compensation for your injuries
In addition, retaining a medical malpractice attorney will expedite your claim and will provide expertise acquired through years of education and experience.
Reach Out to the Medical Malpractice Attorneys at Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas & Cannavo P.C.
Medical errors that occur in the emergency room due to negligence and result in injury are compensable. If you believe that you or a loved one was injured in an emergency room as a result of negligence, contact a medical malpractice attorney at Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas & Cannavo P.C to schedule a free consultation. Call (212) 732-9000 today.