We visit the emergency room because we need urgent medical attention. When heading to the emergency room, we expect to receive the treatment we need. We do not expect to be harmed as a result of negligence or malpractice.
Unfortunately, physicians and other healthcare professionals can make mistakes in an emergency room setting. In some instances, these mistakes are understandable. Doctors are not superhuman. Like anyone else, for various legitimate reasons, they can sometimes err.
However, there are also instances when emergency room malpractice represents an unreasonable breach of a healthcare worker’s duty to provide a patient with a certain standard of care. Examples of such negligence include (but are not necessarily limited to) the following:
Misdiagnosis
Doctors must carefully review a patient’s symptoms and the results of any tests the patient undergoes in an emergency room to provide them with a correct diagnosis. A patient can only receive the treatment they need if their diagnosis is accurate.
Sometimes, patients are harmed because doctors do not diagnose their conditions properly. For example, in an emergency room, it is not uncommon for some doctors to misinterpret the symptoms of a heart attack as symptoms of gastrointestinal distress.
Failure to obtain a medical history
Understanding a patient’s medical history is key to ensuring that they do not receive any treatments which may cause harm. Being familiar with a patient’s medical history can also provide a physician with greater insights into the potential nature of the condition affecting a patient.
As the name implies, an emergency room is a setting in which healthcare professionals are often required to act quickly in order to address patients’ urgent needs. This does not mean it is acceptable in most cases for a doctor to neglect gathering important information about a patient’s medical history.
Medication error
Sometimes, medication errors occur due to misdiagnosis. If a patient’s condition is accurately diagnosed, a doctor may not prescribe the medication they need. That said, medication error can also be the result of poor handwriting, miscommunication, and other such mistakes.
This highlights the importance of proper communication in an emergency room. In emergency rooms, several medical professionals may be tending to the needs of patients. They all need to coordinate properly and effectively to minimize the chances of errors occurring because of misunderstandings.
Again, these are merely a few examples of common emergency room mistakes. Do you have reason to believe you were harmed as a result of emergency room error or malpractice? If so, you may be able to file a medical malpractice claim or lawsuit to recover compensation for your doctor bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other such losses associated with mistakes made in the emergency room.
Your odds of recovering the compensation for which you may be eligible will be much greater if you have proper legal representation. At the Weitz Firm, LLC, our Pennsylvania emergency room malpractice attorneys have substantial experience representing clients like you. To learn more about how we can help, contact us online or call us at 267-587-6240 to schedule your case review.
