No one ever wants to head to the emergency room (ER). When you go there, you are in pain and scared. You may get there in such bad condition that you are unable to advocate for yourself, speak with the doctors, or find out about procedures. As a diligent medical malpractice attorney can attest, errors in the ER are not uncommon because medical providers often work with limited information and have to make their best guesses about the source of a problem and the treatment.
Not every ER error is malpractice. Sometimes, the best guess, following accepted medical guidelines, is wrong, leading to injuries or death. Determining whether you have a medical malpractice claim will depend on your situation, how quickly the medical professionals had to react, and the nature of their mistake. A Terre Haute emergency room error lawyer can help assess the situation and evaluate whether you have a potential malpractice claim.
Depending on the time and date of a visit, an ER visit can be smooth and orderly or complete chaos. When an ER is busy, the staff works hard to triage patients according to presenting symptoms to get those in the worst shape the fastest care. It can lead to people being assessed and treated in the waiting room rather than returning to bed areas.
While this chaos was most prevalent during the worst days of the COVID-19 epidemic, there are still times when ERs are overcrowded and understaffed, compromising patient care. Failure to diagnose severe conditions, misdiagnosis, medication errors, and more are not uncommon. No matter how busy the ER is, it is no excuse for care that does not meet the relevant standard, and a Terre Haute attorney can advocate for a person in order for justice to be served when a severe error has been made.
One of the most common ER mistakes is misdiagnosis, which occurs when doctors move too quickly to make an accurate diagnosis. Sometimes, doctors or nurses dismiss a patient’s self-reports of pain or symptoms.
The most likely scenario for misdiagnosis is when the patient does not conform to stereotypes doctors learned during training. Some examples may be heart attacks or strokes in young people, female health conditions, and unusual infections. If a symptom could describe several diseases, a doctor may make a diagnosis without ruling out potential diseases, leading to delayed or incorrect treatment. When this happens, it is crucial to reach out to a Terre Haute attorney for quick help with an ER error.
When a patient comes in, they provide information for admission. They may see a triage nurse, CNAs, and a nurse in the ER room before they ever see the doctor. Each of these professionals is supposed to enter information about the patient’s condition and any questions they have answered. Failure to keep and relay any of this information to the doctor can result in critical errors.
Sometimes, the failure to communicate is based on a third-party issue. Maybe the patient cannot communicate because they are unconscious or there is a language barrier. Other times, the staff may fail to communicate, and confusing orders can lead to malpractice. Those scenarios can be particularly tricky in medical malpractice claims because different providers may argue about who gave what order. A Terre Haute lawyer can use medical records to help discover the source of the ER error.
Any error a doctor can make in another environment can happen in the ER. Medication errors, operating on the wrong body part, and a misdiagnosis are just some of those potential errors. However, the fact that the patient is experiencing a medical emergency can make these errors more likely to have severe outcomes.
It can be challenging to determine whether an adverse outcome in the ER is due to malpractice or the condition that brought the person into the ER in the first place. Some people may suspect malpractice only to discover that the medical providers and facilities used all reasonable standards. Other people may have their suspicions verified by an investigation.
To learn more about your available legal options, consult a Terre Haute emergency room error lawyer at Fleschner, Stark, Tanoos & Newlin today. We would be happy to schedule a consultation at your convenience.
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The financial burden that often comes with a serious injury can be too much for many people to bear. Unexpected medical debt, damaged personal property, and the sudden loss of income can impact the budgets of most families. The good news is that a successful injury claim could help reduce that financial strain after a serious accident. Get in touch with a Terre Haute personal injury lawyer with Fleschner, Stark, Tanoos & Newlin to learn more.
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