WHAT IS EMERGENCY ROOM MALPRACTICE & NEGLIGENCE?
Emergency room malpractice can involve misdiagnoses, delayed diagnoses, and/or failures to diagnose various injuries or illnesses, such as cauda equina misdiagnosis, in the ER. Unfortunately, medical errors in hospital emergency rooms are not uncommon and can result in devastating consequences. Due to the often fast-paced and highly varied nature of a New Jersey or Philadelphia ER, emergency medicine care generally has higher error rates than other medical specialties. Studies have shown that nearly half of all NJ or PA medical malpractice injuries are sustained in emergency rooms.
Common Emergency Room Errors Include:
- Failure to take an adequate history
- Failure to perform a thorough physical examination
- Failure to consider life threatening causes of the patient’s presentation
- Failure to collect data or perform tests to rule out possible life threatening conditions
- Reaching conclusions about a patient in a hasty manner, without carefully considering alternative, dangerous medical conditions which could be present
- Delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or failure to diagnose
- Delay in performing testing and treatment
- Failure to consult specialists in a timely manner
- Laboratory errors
- Patient dumping
- Failure to properly monitor a patient
- Failure to fully treat a patient
- Inappropriate medications or improper doses
- Contaminated blood transfusions
- Surgical errors
COMMON NEW JERSEY & PHILADELPHIA EMERGENCY ROOM MALPRACTICE INJURIES
Some PA or NJ emergency room injuries are related to the underlying condition, while others depend solely on the type of mistake that was made. It would be impossible to list all of the injuries that can result from emergency room malpractice. However, some are more common including:
- Severe cardiac damage or death from undiagnosed heart attack or embolism
- Paralysis or death from undiagnosed stroke or spinal cord compression (Cauda Equina syndrome)
- Loss or severe damage to limbs or organs due to misdiagnosis
- Infection
WHAT ARE YOUR LEGAL OPTIONS FOLLOWING EMERGENCY ROOM MALPRACTICE IN NEW JERSEY OR PENNSYLVANIA?
A trip to the emergency room means trusting complete strangers to save your life. While some emergencies will not have a good result even with the best of care, some bad outcomes are unnecessary and preventable.
Emergency room negligence or malpractice can mean sudden physical, emotional, and financial hardships for patients and their families. During this time, it is difficult to think about seeking legal help, but there are time limits for taking legal action. In addition, in many cases you will need the compensation that you deserve as soon as possible.
If you or a loved one has experienced serious injury or death which you believe may have been due to emergency room negligence, it might benefit you to seek an emergency room malpractice lawyer. It is possible you may be entitled to compensation including:
- Current and future medical bills
- Current and future loss of wages
- Long-term disability
- Long-term care expenses
- Rehabilitation
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of companionship
- Burial expenses
Learn more about frequently asked questions related to emergency room malpractice.
Collectively, New Jersey and Pennsylvania emergency room malpractice attorneys Weiss & Paarz have presented dozens of emergency room negligence and misdiagnosis claims to juries and have helped many families achieve substantial financial recoveries. They are committed to using their knowledge and experience to help any individual or family who has suffered a severe, permanent injury or death due to medical malpractice to obtain fair compensation.
If you believe you or a loved one may have experienced such an injury, please contact Weiss & Paarz, P.C., in either New Jersey or the Philadelphia region today.