Chicago Emergency Room Error Malpractice Attorney

While emergency rooms (ER) are designed for specific emergency care requiring immediate medical attention. A hospital emergency room has many patients with nowhere else to turn to for medical assistance.

Most Chicago ER medical staff do their utmost to care for all their patients promptly. However, emergency room mistakes occur as patients can be overlooked or rushed through medical treatment due to high numbers of injured and sick people passing through their doors, often with strict deadlines for a qualified diagnosis.

All patients seeking care for a medical condition deserve a timely, proper diagnosis and treatment regardless of the reason. When this does not happen due to hospital negligence or medical errors, and a patient suffers life-threatening injuries or dies, there may be a case for a medical malpractice lawsuit against the medical professionals and support staff involved.

At Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC, our personal injury attorneys are experienced in handling medical malpractice cases. Our legal team can help you receive the financial compensation you deserve to pay for the medical bills and lost wages.

Contact our team of medical malpractice lawyers at (888) 424-5757 for a free initial consultation.

Emergency Room Error

The medical staff acts negligently when they do not provide the standard of care that other medical experts would have provided under similar circumstances, whether in emergency rooms or not.

An expert witness can review the circumstances of your case and your medical records and render an opinion as to whether the hospital met the appropriate standard of care that a reasonable healthcare provider would have met.

Medical mistakes in emergency rooms are increasing since the usage of this healthcare delivery system is on the rise, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It contributes to overcrowding, long waits, and, in some cases, delayed diagnoses. Regardless, ER doctors and support staff must avoid mistakes.

ER Malpractice is Complex

An ER error can happen in many ways. The most common type of ER error is a failed or delayed diagnosis. The harm caused in emergency rooms can be life-altering.

You may be facing a long medical treatment to recover, medical expenses, lost wages, and the inability to work.

A patient can file a medical malpractice lawsuit against an ER medical professional if the patient believes the doctor was negligent in providing care.

Medical malpractice cases are often complex, and a patient must consult an experienced medical malpractice attorney who can review the facts to determine if a valid claim exists.

Contact a qualified attorney from our offices, and they will review your case in a free consultation.

ER Doctors Handling Severe Injuries

In an ER malpractice case, the responsibility to provide care promptly might not be higher than in a less hectic environment, but the stakes certainly are.

Patients in emergency rooms often have life-threatening injuries from car accidents or illnesses, and even tiny mistakes by ER medical staff can have catastrophic consequences. ER doctors are more likely to be sued for emergency room malpractice than medical experts in other practice areas.

Potential Injury from a Chicago Emergency Room Error

Brain damage, heart attack, medication errors, internal bleeding, wrongful death, and paralysis are a few potential consequences of Chicago emergency room errors.

A medical malpractice claim filed against an ER may allege that the medical staff was negligent in their patient care, which may have resulted in additional medical bills, and further unnecessary medical treatment.

Common Emergency Room Mistakes

In this nation, there are around 100 million visits to emergency rooms each year. We rely so much on the emergency rooms to deliver high-quality treatment when needed. This very frequently goes wrong.

Anything may go wrong in an emergency room setting, and many of those problems might be avoided if doctors provided conventional medical care. Here are some of the most typical emergency room malpractice cases:

• Misdiagnosis: Doctors in emergency rooms may misinterpret symptoms or misread test results, omitting necessary emergency medical treatment. For instance, treating heart attack victims as stomach distress patients is typical practice.
• Medication/pharmaceutical mistakes: Poor penmanship, ineffective communication, and a simple error can result in the administration of incorrect medications. In an emergency room, the improper drug might result in severe or deadly injuries.
• Surgical mistakes: Every sort of surgery has its share of surgical blunders. However, they are held to the same standards of knowledge and care as other emergency room surgeons. Emergency room doctors are not held to the same standards for surgery as specialists. The wrong area of the body being cut (such as nicking an artery), failing to recognize and repair fractures, and leaving sponges or other medical equipment within the patient are all examples of emergency room malpractice and surgical negligence.

It's interesting to note that most of these mistakes do not originate with the ER doctor. According to one study, specialists working in the emergency room, not emergency physicians, are the ones who committed medical malpractice in the ER.

Doctor-Patient Relationship

A doctor-patient relationship in an ER setting is built on trust. You trust your emergency room physician to give you the best possible quality medical care, and your doctor trusts you to follow their orders.

Hospital Emergency Rooms' Standard of Care

"Standard of care" is a legal term used in medical malpractice that describes the level of competence that most doctors would have displayed in the same situation when treating the patient. An emergency room physician, including independent contractors working in the ER, will be given some latitude in this situation. Typically, the level of treatment provided in an emergency room is lower than in a setting with less commotion.

Consider a patient who complains of headaches in an emergency room. The standard of care might dictate that the doctor thoroughly test for and rule out various diagnoses utilizing tools like CT scans and MRIs if the patient went to a specialist. The quality of care, however, can alter in an emergency room. In that situation, it could be fair for a physician to run a few tests, administer painkillers, and advise the patient to see a specialist if the headaches don't go away.

Medical malpractice law might have viewed the specialist's failure to detect cancer as negligent if it turned out that the patient had a malignant brain tumor. In contrast, the emergency department doctor's treatment decisions might have been appropriate under the circumstances.

Establishing the standard of care typically necessitates expert testimony. The patient's attorney consults a doctor who specializes in emergency medicine. The expert examines all the information and offers an opinion on what sort of care would have been reasonable and competent given the circumstances and if the doctor committed medical malpractice.

Breach of the Standard

The plaintiff's next step to recover compensation in a lawsuit is to methodically demonstrate how the emergency room malpractice that was received fell short of the required standard of care under the circumstances — what should have been done (or not done), compared with what was done (or not done)? This is typically done by using expert opinion once more.

What Should I Do If I Am the Victim of Emergency Room Malpractice?

If you were the victim of emergency room malpractice, you might be puzzled and furious in addition to still being in pain from your medical condition. You might not know your legal options or how to get the treatment and financial compensation you require and deserve.

To ensure that you receive the necessary medical attention and recover compensation, a medical malpractice lawsuit makes the negligent doctor, nurse, or another medical practitioner accountable for their actions.

However, you have a limited time to submit a medical malpractice claim after the incident, so speak with one of the knowledgeable Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at our law firm in a free consultation to get started on recovery.

Emergency Room Mistakes FAQs

Our personal injury lawyers know many families have unanswered questions about emergency room malpractice and who is responsible for compensation and additional medical expenses. Our legal team has answered some of those questions below.

Call our medical malpractice attorneys at (888) 424-5757 for your legal options and a free initial consultation.

Award-Winning Emergency Room Error Lawyers Handling Illinois Medical Malpractice Claims

If your family member is a victim of physician malpractice in an Illinois emergency room or a nursing home, you have the right to pursue a lawsuit. Our medical negligence law firm has experience in medical malpractice and has successfully resolved hundreds of cases with beneficial financial recovery for the involved victims.

Our medical malpractice attorneys are available for cases in the Chicago area, Cook County, and Lake County.

Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, LLC attorneys are considered experts in Illinois medical malpractice cases. Contact our ER lawyers at (888) 424-5757 or use the contact form for a free case evaluation to discuss your Chicago emergency room error case with us during a free consultation.

All discussions you have with our medical malpractice attorneys will remain confidential through an attorney-client relationship.

Resources:

• A Staggering Amount of Malpractices Cases in Illinois
• Sample ER Court Cases