Emergency room doctors, nurses, and other medical staff are often required to make quick decisions and prioritize patients based on their symptoms. Unfortunately, patients become injured or killed every year due to preventable emergency room errors. When emergency room doctors fail to meet the standard of care, patients who become injured can pursue a medical malpractice case for compensation.
At Dell & Dean, PLLC, we have been representing victims of emergency room errors for decades. Our attorneys are prepared to stand up for victims of hospital negligence in Garden City, New York, and the surrounding area. After learning more about your case, we will advise you of your legal options. Contact Dell & Dean, PLLC to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation consultation and learn more about your legal rights period.
Common Emergency Room Errors that Cause Injuries or Death
Emergency room errors happen more frequently than many people realize. Hospital doctors, nurses, and emergency room admission staff can cause emergency room errors, resulting in injuries and death. For example, suppose a nurse gives a patient the wrong type of medicine or fails to consider how multiple drugs can interact with a patient. In that case, the error can seriously compromise the patient’s health.
An emergency room doctor may be tired and trying to move patients through the emergency room more quickly. In doing so, the doctor could misdiagnose the patient and send the patient home, resulting in the patient’s death. Some of the most common and dangerous types of emergency room errors include the following:
- Misreading medical charts or X-rays
- Providing the wrong medical services
- Failing to provide the patient with the correct diagnostic tests
- Giving patients the wrong medication or the wrong dosage
- Discharging a patient too quickly from the emergency room
- Failing to treat the patient in a timely matter
- Making surgical errors
- Making mistakes during emergency medical treatment
Emergency Room Errors Can Cause Serious Injuries
Emergency room staff must triage patients as they enter the emergency room. Triage is the process of quickly deciding which patients need to be seen first to treat their condition. Patients that have symptoms of severe medical conditions, such as heart attacks or stroke, should be seen before patients who have suffered moderate or mild injuries, such as small cuts that require stitches.
Medical personnel are under extreme pressure to make quick decisions, but the pressure does not exempt them from making reasonable decisions to prevent injuries. Many emergency room personnel are fatigued and under a tremendous amount of stress. Emergency rooms may require staff members to work extremely long hours or double shifts, causing them to make simple mistakes that can endanger patients. When emergency room staff fail to triage patients correctly, patients can suffer permanent injuries and death.
Triage Mistakes Can Cause Patients’ Deaths
Every year, New York emergency room patients die because of emergency room errors. For example, a patient with heart attack symptoms may come into the emergency room. Their symptoms may be diagnosed as indigestion, and they could be sent home. When they arrive home, they could suffer a life-threatening and preventable heart attack that needs to be treated immediately.
Another common example would be a failure to triage patients experiencing stroke-like symptoms properly. If a patient comes in with stroke symptoms and the emergency room fails to prioritize them and treat them immediately, they could suffer another stroke that causes permanent injuries to the brain or death.
Proving Liability in an Emergency Room Malpractice Lawsuit
New York law recognizes that emergency medical care is different from non-emergency care. Consequently, courts take that consideration into account when reviewing medical malpractice cases. If an emergency room error has injured you, you will need to provide evidence with the help of your attorney that the medical staff deviated from the reasonable level of care.
Specifically, you must show that the staff failed to provide the reasonable care that another reasonable medical personnel would have provided under the same or similar circumstances. Many emergency room error cases rely on medical experts who can testify about the type of willful and wanton negligence by the medical staff or emergency room administrative staff. Additionally, you must prove that the medical professional’s error directly caused you an injury.
Compensation Available in Emergency Room Error Lawsuits
Many different types of injuries can be caused by emergency room errors, including traumatic brain injuries (TBI), spinal cord injuries, neck and back injuries, and heart attacks and strokes. In other cases, patients can suffer infections, loss of bodily functions, and damage to internal organs.
Some errors are mistakes in the emergency room that may not cause permanent damage. Still, in other cases, patients may develop a permanent disability impairment or even die from injuries caused by emergency room errors. The negligent medical professional responsible for the emergency room error can be held financially liable for all of the patients’ damages. The medical malpractice attorneys at Dell & Dean, PLLC is prepared to review every piece of evidence in your case and identify all of the parties that may be liable for your damages, which may include the following:
- The cost of current and future medical treatment
- The cost of medical care
- Financial losses caused by missing time from work
- Financial losses due to loss of future income
- Loss of quality of life or enjoyment of life
- Damages for pain and suffering, including emotional, physical, and mental suffering
- Permanent impairments, disabilities, scarring, and disfigurement
Discuss Your Case with a Skilled New York Attorney
Have you or your loved one been seriously injured or killed by an emergency room error? The attorneys at Dell & Dean, PLLC are here to help. You may be entitled to compensation for your medical expenses, lost income, pain, suffering, and other damages. Our medical malpractice attorneys understand how devastating emergency room errors can be for injured patients and their loved ones. We have a proven track record of obtaining the full and fair compensation our clients deserve. Contact Dell & Dean, PLLC to schedule an initial consultation.
