Types Of Cases

Emergency Room

It should not be unreasonable to expect that, when a patient seeks medical attention at a hospital emergency room, the patient will be treated efficiently and effectively by the doctors and nurses on staff. However, according to a Harvard study of more than 30,000 randomly selected hospital records, emergency rooms are affected by more instances of medical malpractice than any other area of the hospital.

Frequently, many emergency rooms are understaffed and not equipped to handle the patients that need their help. While rapid and specific treatment is often essential for a patient in a hospital emergency room, when efficiency becomes hurriedness and effectiveness becomes negligence, it can, and often does, lead to a bad outcome. All too often, emergency room patients are overlooked or mistreated, resulting in serious injuries or death.

Case files involving the Emergency Room

Pre-Term Labor
Failure to Recognize Signs of Fetal Distress
Failure to Recognize Signs of Fetal Distress
Stroke Diagnosis Error
Failure to Diagnose Preeclampsia
Heart Attack / Death
Failure to Diagnose Burn/Infection Resulting in Finger Amputations
Failure to Refer / Ulceration of cornea
Failure to Perform Cardiac Work-up in ER; Subsequent heart-attack-death
Failure to Diagnose Brain Injury in Emergency Room
Failure to Diagnose Acute appendix
Wrongful Death from failure to diagnose a pulmonary embolism
Hours of Unmanaged Dehydration Resulting in Death of 5-Year Old at Hospital

Common emergency room errors include:

  • Failure to fully evaluate a patient
  • Failure to diagnose or detect the symptoms of stroke, heart attack, heat exhaustion or bacterial infection
  • Failure to monitor a patient
  • Discharge or release of the patient without identifying or stabilizing his or her condition
  • Misreading x-rays, blood tests, lab tests or other data – or failing to order them altogether
  • Laboratory errors
  • Medication errors
  • Surgical errors
  • Delayed treatment

It’s important to have a top medical malpractice attorney on your side that both understands the legal responsibilities of doctors and nurses in an emergency room setting, and has the resources necessary to have your case reviewed by medical experts. Our experienced team of medical malpractice lawyers has successfully resolved many cases involving emergency room malpractice. If you have any concerns about the care someone received in an emergency room, or suspect that there was emergency room malpractice, our firm can review your potential case at no charge.