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Hospitals in big cities like Dallas are often full of people who need help. Emergency department staff members often do their best to make sure that patients who need help get prompt attention and expert medical care. However, patients may fall through the cracks, and their care and health might suffer.
If you or a loved one sought treatment at a hospital or emergency room and suffered negligent healthcare, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit to seek substantial financial compensation. For a free legal consultation on your case and help seeking damages for the injuries you faced, contact our law offices immediately. Call the Dallas attorneys for emergency room and hospital mistakes at The Queenan Law Firm today to discuss your potential case. Our number is (817) 476-1797.
Common Examples of Negligent Medical Care in the ER and Hospital
If you need to go to the emergency room, you are likely suffering from a serious health complication or injury. In these situations, it is vital that the doctors and nurses give you prompt, effective medical care to stabilize you and reverse any health concerns as quickly as possible. In that rush, it is expected that some complications will arise, but many avoidable mistakes and instances of negligent care could set you up for serious harm. Some common examples of these kinds of issues include the following:
Ignoring Patients
In an ER, triage is often important. Nurses and doctors may need to prioritize some patients over others, and with limited beds and staff, some ERs may struggle to see everyone quickly. However, hospital employees need to make sure that they do not ignore serious concerns or brush patients off when they think they are overreacting. Sometimes the difference between a full recovery and serious health concerns can be how quickly the patient is seen, and hospitals who mistakenly push serious concerns to the side should be held accountable for those mistakes.
Misdiagnosis and Delayed Diagnosis
Similar concerns occur when doctors and nurses fail to properly identify what is wrong with you and treat those issues. If you arrive at the ER and the doctors or nurses mistake your symptoms for another issue, they could give you unnecessary treatment that could actually cause additional harm. Alternatively, delays in diagnosing your condition could mean delayed treatment and worsening conditions.
Some delays and mistakes are acceptable. Doctors and nurses need to run tests, get bloodwork, and run scans to properly identify some conditions, so delays and trial-and-error may be necessary parts of diagnosing you. However, errors that go beyond the normal expectations may be serious errors and examples of malpractice.
Reporting Errors and Chart Mistakes
Often, patients arrive at the emergency room from another department or another hospital. After spending time in the emergency department, the patient will typically be moved the ICU, a step-down unit, or another unit. During any of these changes, the hospital staff that was caring for the patient should make a full report to the new unit, sending the patient’s chart and informing the new unit of any treatment they performed. This report should include the drugs the patient is currently taking. Failing to add treatments to their chart or inform the new unit of drugs may mean double-dosing the patient or wasting time redoing procedures that should have been recorded, potentially to the patient’s detriment.
Surgical Errors
If your injuries or condition require immediate surgery, you may be taken to the ER and given the care you need. Doctors and the rest of the surgical team owe you a duty of care when performing surgery. This duty of care is often difficult to define and will end up being one of the main issues in any medical malpractice lawsuit. Violations of this duty may occur when doctors perform mistakes such as the following:
- Cutting too deep
- Nicking arteries or nerves
- Improperly administering anesthesia
- Performing unnecessary procedures
- Mixing up patients
- Performing the wrong procedure
- Performing surgery on the wrong body part
Though some of these errors are exceedingly rare, they may still occur and cause substantial harm and reduced chance of survival.
Compensation for Medical Malpractice in a Hospital or ER
When you face negligent healthcare or mistakes that worsen your condition or cause additional health problems, you may be entitled to substantial compensation. Your case often hinges on whether the healthcare provider’s care met the minimum standards of acceptable healthcare. If you can prove that it did not, then you should be entitled to financial compensation for any financial and physical harms that resulted from those mistakes.
In many cases, you will suffer physical pain and mental anguish from the case. The pain you face can be compensated directly, as can the mental and emotional distress of the injury and ongoing effects.
You can also claim compensation for the cost of correcting the mistakes. This can include the cost of seeking a second opinion to address the errors or additional medical care to correct the mistakes. Healthcare can be expensive, and additional care to reverse the initial mistakes often means greatly increasing these costs.
In most cases, you will claim this compensation against the doctor and the hospital. Typically, their malpractice insurance will pay the costs, but you should talk to a lawyer before accepting any money they offer you for your case. Rarely, if you receive negligent medical care after an accident like a car accident, you may be able to seek compensation for the malpractice from the party that caused the initial accident. Your attorney can advise you on whom to sue and how to seek the compensation you need.
Call Our Dallas Emergency Room and Hospital Negligence Lawyer for a Free Legal Consultation
If you need compensation for the negligent or dangerous healthcare you received in an emergency room or at a hospital, contact the Dallas attorneys for emergency room and hospital mistakes at The Queenan Law Firm. Our medical malpractice and hospital negligence lawyers may be able to fight to get you the compensation you need if you suffered negligent care or lost a loved one to hospital mistakes. For your free legal consultation, call our law offices today at (817) 476-1797.