Hundreds of people in Will County and throughout the neighboring areas visit emergency rooms every day for quick treatment in serious situations. These may include car accident evaluations, serious illnesses, or even heart attacks or strokes.
All doctors, nurses, and other staff who work in emergency rooms have a duty to provide competent and skillful care to their patients. Failures to provide this care that result in a foreseeable injury may be the legal basis for a medical malpractice claim.
A Will County emergency room errors lawyer could assist you if you have suffered a new or worsening injury after visiting an emergency room. Skilled malpractice attorneys could help you gather evidence of negligence, advise you of your legal rights, and connect you with medical experts who may be able to prove your cases in court.
The Obligations of Emergency Providers
The doctors and nurses who work in Will County emergency rooms have the same duty to care for their patients as all other medical professionals. While emergency rooms may be chaotic places, there is still an obligation to treat every patient with competent and considerate care. A Will County emergency room errors attorney could help plaintiffs to evaluate the quality of care provided in their local ER to determine the likelihood of emergency room errors in the facility.
The laws applicable to Will County that describe this duty also define medical malpractice in general. The Illinois Jury Instruction 105.01 states that all medical professionals must practice and perform medical services as a reasonably skilled peer would do considering the circumstances. While ER treatment may involve serious injuries or complicated illnesses, there is an obligation for providers to accurately diagnose a condition, order appropriate tests, and perform life-saving procedures when necessary for the health of the patient.
How Doctors May Fail in their Duty
The field of emergency medicine provides doctors with many challenges. They must be ready to swiftly diagnose a patient’s problem, refer them to specialists or surgery when necessary, apply appropriate medication, and even choose which patients must be seen in which order.
A failure to perform this duty within expected standards could have disastrous consequences. If an intake nurse does not recognize obvious signs of a heart attack, mere minutes could decide whether a patient lives or dies. Treating physicians who fail to properly set a broken bone could cripple a patient, and doctors who do not perform a proper medication conflict check may poison their patients.
Proving that a Defendant is Negligent
It is important to note that not every poor outcome after visiting an emergency room is an example of medical malpractice. It is only when an emergency room error results from care that falls below an acceptable standard and causes a new or worsening injury that malpractice takes place.
To prove the treatment they received was inappropriate, injured patients in these cases must work with a medical expert who could evaluate the quality of care provided by the defendant doctor. With the Will County lawyer the plaintiff elects to hire, this expert could review medical files to find mistakes and provide their opinion as to how an alternative treatment plan may have prevented the emergency room error.
Plaintiffs are recommended to consult with these experts as soon as possible to pursue their cases. A court may refuse to even consider a medical malpractice case if an expert is not involved. As dictated by the 735 ILCS 5/2-622, any complaint alleging malpractice must include an affidavit completed by such an expert stating that they have a good-faith belief malpractice actually occurred.
Talk to a Will County Emergency Room Errors Attorney as Soon as Possible
It could be easy to get discouraged following an injury that occurs in an emergency room, and it may seem like pursuing a lawsuit against a doctor or hospital will be a complex and impossible task. While these cases are certainly complicated, any injured person who suffers because of doctor error in an emergency room has the right to pursue fair compensation for their damages.
A Will County emergency room errors lawyer or medical malpractice lawyer could help you gather vital evidence, locate an expert who may testify on your behalf, and present your case in a clear and convincing manner. Contact a medical malpractice attorney today to discuss your case and see what may be possible.