An Illinois Emergency Room Failed to Diagnose or Treat Me Properly. What Are My Options? 

 Posted on March 11, 2022 in Personal Injury

Those who seek the aid of emergency room staff are in need of urgent, competent treatment from doctors and nurses who take the utmost care to ensure a patient gets treated and diagnosed according to the standard of care. 

Unfortunately, medical practitioners do not always meet their duty in this regard, and patients often suffer tremendously when an illness is misdiagnosed or poorly treated because of an emergency room mistake. Because emergency rooms are often hectic places with stressed, overworked staff who do not have ongoing relationships with patients, failure to diagnose and improper treatment may be more common than in traditional doctors’ offices. In some cases, this may rise to the level of medical malpractice. 

Common Emergency Room Errors

Medical mistakes have been pinpointed as the third leading cause of death in the United States, and research suggests that errors in emergency rooms are particularly common and occur in nearly every aspect of emergency care. Because staff are often switching between patients and changing shifts, small mistakes can quickly be exacerbated by poor communication or incorrect information. Other common mistakes include: 

• Failure to perform necessary tests

• Misdiagnosis

• Delayed treatment

• Improper medication 

• Failure to follow up

• Improperly recording existing or necessary procedures 

These mistakes can have serious consequences, including, but not limited to: 

• Heart attacks

• Strokes

• Ruptured appendixes 

• Infections from medical equipment 

• Internal bleeding 

• Aneurysms 

• Wrongful death 

Can I Sue an Emergency Room for Medical Malpractice? 

Because most emergency room errors are avoidable, many of them may be medical malpractice. To prove medical malpractice, a victim must show that the medical practitioner had a duty to care for them, that the practitioner was negligent in this duty, and that this negligence caused an injury with damages to the patient. 

Other times, the hospital itself may be responsible for errors including understaffing, inadequate training, or poor record-keeping. An experienced medical malpractice attorney can help you determine whether your injuries resulted from medical malpractice and whether a lawsuit might be necessary. 

Call a Winnebago County Emergency Room Malpractice Attorney

If you had an emergency room experience where the staff failed to diagnose or treat you appropriately and you have suffered harm, consider getting the help of a skilled Winnebago County emergency room malpractice lawyer with Mannarino & Brasfield, A Division of Schwartz Jambois. We passionately pursue justice on behalf of our clients so they can get the compensation to which they are entitled. Call us today at 815-215-7561 to schedule your free case review. 

Source: 

https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/fulltext.asp?DocName=073500050K2-622 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/05/03/476636183/death-certificates-undercount-toll-of-medical-errors