Visiting the emergency room is typically a stressful situation, especially when there are serious injuries or illnesses involved. In light of this, emergency room errors or medical malpractice can be especially devastating and cause a lot of damage.
If you suffer from malpractice or negligence in the ER, an experienced personal injury attorney could work to ensure that your case is handled in the best possible manner. With the help of a compassionate Cicero emergency room errors lawyer, you may be able to receive significant compensation for your injuries.
What Causes Errors in Emergency Rooms?
Emergency rooms are often packed full of patients seeking urgent medical attention, which often causes serious logistical problems. A typical ER is chaotic and full of stressed doctors and nurses trying their best to tend to the needs of multiple patients at once. Despite the best intentions of those who work in it, this environment can lead to serious mistakes.
These kinds of mistakes often result in severe injuries or damage to patients, and those patients may have an actionable legal claim for compensation. An experienced Cicero emergency room errors attorney may be able to help clients by bringing in medical experts who could attest to the severity of injuries resulting from medical malpractice.
Common Emergency Room Errors
One of the most common errors that occur in emergency rooms is a failure to properly diagnose a patient. This can be in the form of a misdiagnosis, in which the doctor diagnoses a patient with the wrong illness, but it can also include situations in which the doctor’s diagnosis is unreasonably delayed or the doctor misses the diagnosis altogether.
A common example of a failure to diagnose is when the ER discharges a patient who had an undiagnosed serious illness at the time of discharge. In order for this to be an actionable case, though, it must be shown that the emergency room doctor reasonably should have been able to spot the symptoms and diagnose the illness with the given information available at the time.
Unique Concerns Regarding Emergency Room Errors
In some tragic cases, patients who are improperly treated in emergency rooms may die as a result of their injuries. In these cases, it may be possible for the surviving family members to bring a wrongful death claim against the hospital or doctors.
This works in much the same way as a personal injury claim, in that the family will sue for the damages they have incurred (such as medical bills, funeral expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering). However, the key difference is of course that the person who suffered injury is not the one bringing the case to court.
Additionally, emergency room injury cases can be difficult to litigate because they are a form of medical malpractice. In Illinois, any medical malpractice claim must be backed up by testimony from an expert doctor who can attest that the defendants—the hospital or doctors involved with the case—did not exercise due care or adhere to national medical standards. A seasoned emergency room errors lawyer in Cicero may be able to help clients by connecting them with medical experts willing to testify on their behalf.
Seek Help from a Cicero Emergency Room Errors Attorney Today
If you go to the ER for medical care and experience malpractice while there, contact a Cicero emergency room errors lawyer as soon as possible. The sooner they are on the case, the sooner they could begin to help you and your family fight for appropriate financial compensation.