Emergency rooms are chaotic places to work. The doctors and nurses must make split-second treatment decisions with little or no medical history, and mistakes or oversights can have fatal consequences.
Contact Colling Gilbert Wright if you or your child suffered harm because a healthcare worker in an emergency department made poor decisions. Our Kissimmee emergency room error lawyer has an outstanding reputation and record of success. Other professionals in the area recognize our medical malpractice attorneys’ professionalism and tenacity, referring their clients to us for representation in medical malpractice matters.
Common Emergency Department Errors
Emergency room doctors and nurses face numerous challenges. Their trauma patients may not be conscious or able to provide important information, so the healthcare professionals are working blind. Less urgent patients may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or their reported symptoms might be ambiguous or confusing.
Understaffing can increase pressure and lead to serious mistakes. Some common emergency room errors that can have devastating consequences include:
- Improper triage resulting in dangerous treatment delays
- Failure to diagnose a serious condition
- Administering the wrong medication or an incorrect dosage
- Mistakes when performing a procedure
- Not seeking a consult with a specialist
- Failing to order diagnostic tests or misinterpreting the results
- Discharging a patient home without a proper diagnosis or follow-up instructions
Health emergencies like heart attack, stroke, appendicitis, head injuries, and others may be misdiagnosed or undiagnosed because of these kinds of mistakes.
If you or a loved one suffered harm because of poor medical care in an emergency department, contact a Kissimmee attorney at The Florida Firm. We can evaluate your case and let you know whether you have the legal basis for a malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and the medical professionals who treated you.
What Is the Standard of Care in an Emergency Room?
If you want to bring a malpractice lawsuit, you must prove that the medical care you received did not meet the appropriate standard. Florida Statutes § 766.102 defines the standard of care for medical professionals. A healthcare provider must use the knowledge and skill that a reasonable, similarly trained and experienced provider would offer in the same circumstances. If the care you received deviated from what another provider with similar credentials would have offered, your provider did not meet the standard of care.
The circumstances determine what the standard of care is in a specific case. The care you receive in an emergency room will be different than the care you could expect in a private physician’s office. An emergency room doctor is not expected to have the specialized knowledge and skills of a cardiothoracic surgeon or an oncologist.
The law requires a medical expert to review your medical records before you can file a medical malpractice lawsuit. If a specialist in emergency medicine determines that the care you received in a Kissimmee emergency room did not meet the standard of care, our lawyers can initiate a medical malpractice suit seeking damages for your injuries.
The Malpractice Lawsuit Process
Bringing a malpractice lawsuit is very different from a standard personal injury case. There are numerous additional procedural steps that you must follow to the letter, or your case may be dismissed.
Your malpractice attorney must investigate the treatment you received in the emergency department, consult with an expert, and obtain a written opinion from that expert explaining how the care you received did not meet the appropriate standard. Then the legal professional must send the healthcare provider a Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation, informing them of your intention to file a lawsuit, and including the information you intend to use to prove malpractice. The healthcare provider then has 90 days to review the information and make a settlement offer or reject the claim.
You can file a lawsuit once the 90-day window has closed, but the court may require mediation before it schedules a trial date. Most cases settle through mediation or pre-trial negotiations. When these do not produce a reasonable settlement offer, the Kissimmee attorneys at Colling Gilbert Wright do not hesitate to take an emergency room error case to trial.
Contact Our Kissimmee Attorneys to Pursue Damages for Poor Care in an Emergency Room
Our Kissimmee emergency room error lawyer at The Florida Firm has a history of achieving large settlements and verdicts in medical malpractice cases. We offer free consultations and never charge you until we achieve a favorable outcome in your case, so reach out to us today.