An emergency room errors can mean the difference between life and death or prolonged illness and a speedy recovery. Emergency room nurses and physicians are responsible for diagnosing injuries and medical conditions accurately. When their negligent mistakes cause injury, illness or death, the injured person or the family will need help obtaining resources, information and support.

Very often, our first source of medical care is a hospital’s emergency room; and if we are traveling, we may wind up in the emergency room of a hospital far from home.

Emergency room physicians and other healthcare personnel operate under strict sets of guidelines and directives, both of the hospital, and most importantly, pursuant to the standards of emergency and trauma care medicine accepted within the emergency medical care community. These standards must be maintained in assessing and implementing the mode and timing of emergency treatment. If contraindicated treatment is rendered, or an incorrect diagnosis made, that would constitute medical malpractice, which could result in a patient dying or suffering significant injury.

In the practice of emergency medicine, seconds may make a difference between life and death, or significant permanent injury. In an emergency room setting, or at the scene of an accident, the first hour after the trauma or medical event is known as “the golden hour”. It is widely believed that during this hour, the efficacy of treatment is greatly enhanced., this of course depending upon the level of trauma or the patient’s condition from which they suffer (e.g., stroke or heart attack). If treatment is delayed, the likelihood that it will be ineffective, or not as effective, will increase. Essentially, it is an accepted premise, that the sooner the treatment commences, the better the prognosis and outcome. Accordingly, undue delays in emergency medical treatment may constitute malpractice.

Steven Weinberg,  California Medical Malpractice Lawyer has the experience and expertise to determine if a patient’s emergency treatment was delayed or incorrect, and if such malpractice resulted in an injury for which damages may be recovered. Call us for an evaluation at no cost to you.

Emergency Room Malpractice and Failure to Diagnose

When someone goes to an emergency room, they expect prompt, competent treatment.  If a medical condition is misdiagnosed, not diagnosed, treated inappropriately, or not treated at all, the patient may have a medical malpractice claim.

Emergency room malpractice often involves failure to diagnose, for example:

• Failure to diagnose heart attack during emergency room visit. For example, a young man shows up at the emergency room complaining of severe chest pain.  The emergency room doctor dismisses his concerns, briefly examines him, and sends him home for rest.  The man dies of a heart attach later that night.
• Failure to diagnose stroke. For example, a man arrives at the emergency room complaining of dizziness, slurred speech and facial weakness.  The emergency room doctor misdiagnoses the man, prescribes some medication and sends him home.  However, the man has had a stroke and suffers permanent injury due to the failure to diagnose stroke at the emergency room.  
• Failure to discover a life-threatening aneurysm.  For example, an emergency room doctor fails to recognize the grave danger facing a patient who had an orange-size aneurysm threatening to rupture a major blood vessel in his stomach. Instead of calling a surgeon to examine the patient, the doctor sends him home with a painkiller, a bad choice for a patient at risk of abdominal bleeding.  Later that night, the aneurysm bursts and the patient dies.
• Failure to diagnose meningitis.  For example, a mother brings her infant to an emergency with fever, irritability that is difficult to calm, decreased appetite, rash, vomiting, and a shrill cry. The doctor prescribes ibuprofen and sends the infant home.  The infant later dies from complications of meningitis.
• Failure to diagnose pulmonary embolism.
• Failure to diagnose and treat a broken bones

In addition to failure to diagnose, emergency room malpractice can involve:

• Failing to treat a patient in a timely manner.  A patient’s condition worsens or a patient dies while in the waiting room.
• Inadequate follow-up.  An emergency room doctor sends a patient home and does not follow-up when standard medical care would require some follow-up.  This can include not reporting test results.
• Administration of the wrong medication or the wrong dose of a medication.
• Prescription error. Read about a prescription errors
• Failure to Admit
• Failure to refer to or call in a specialist. 

Injuries caused by emergency room malpractice

Emergency room errors inevitably lead to injury, often permanent injury, and sometimes death. What may start out as a minor medical emergency can end in tragedy. Injuries caused in the emergency room may or may not be related to the underlying condition which prompted the emergency room visit. Common emergency room injuries include:

• Medication overdose
  
• Adverse reaction to medications
  
• Infections
  
• Second, more harmful occurrence of misdiagnosed medical event (such as a heart attack or stroke)
  
• Loss of limbs or organs
  
• Severe pain
  
• Brain injury
  
• Paralysis
  
• Extended recovery time
  
• Permanent disability
• Death
  

Compensation for emergency room malpractice

If you or a loved one has been injured or killed by emergency room malpractice, you may be entitled to compensation including:

• Current and future medical bills
  
• Current and future loss of wages
  
• Long-term disability
  
• Long-term care expenses
  
• Rehabilitation
  
• Pain and suffering
  
• Loss of enjoyment of life
  
• Loss of companionship
  
• Burial expenses

How we can help

 Steven Weinberg has  been representing victims of emergency room errors and their families  since 1977. He has successfully obtained compensation for lost wages, medical expenses and non-economic damages such as past and future pain and suffering.

Mistakes that are made in emergency rooms can be devastating. Too often, people are sent home from the emergency room when in fact further medical care should have been administered. If you or a loved one has been injured by an emergency room error, we can help. Contact Steven Weinberg,  California Medical Malpractice Lawyer today to learn more.