Las Vegas Emergency Room Errors and Malpractice
When you enter the Emergency Room (ER), you expect to be treated with care and precision. However, this isn’t always the case. Some ER personnel can be negligent and cause more harm on top of your already debilitating injuries. In the worst case scenario, a healthcare professional’s negligence may even lead to wrongful death. When you or a loved one suffer injury or wrongful death due to emergency room negligence, contact the Las Vegas medical malpractice team from Lerner and Rowe. But what is an emergency room error, and what can you do?
What is an Emergency Room Error?
An emergency room error occurs when a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional behaves in a negligent manner that harms an ER patient. This could occur through a variety of scenarios. Some examples of emergency room errors include the following:
- Delayed or lack of treatment or testing
- Patient dumping (refusal of treatment due to no ability to pay)
- Errors during surgery
- Incorrect diagnoses
- No/poor documentation leading to errors
- Overcrowding
- Overburdened staff
- Prescription/medication errors
NOTE: Keep in mind that hospitals can be responsible for medical malpractice, too. Even if certain individuals caused or contributed to your injury, the hospital may be liable because these individuals are agents of the hospital, and the hospital is responsible for their lack of enforcement of procedures, protocols, or organization, among other factors.
This list is by no means exhaustive, and the fact is that there are many more circumstances that might count as emergency room malpractice. Because of this, contacting an experienced attorney who knows how to identify emergency room malpractice is critical to determining whether you have a legitimate claim.
How to Identify Emergency Room Malpractice
Emergency room malpractice can be tricky to identify, but there are some key markers that will no doubt strengthen your legal case. Attorneys keep a close eye out for these signs of medical malpractice:
- Medical Relationship – The first step in identifying medical malpractice is determining whether there was a medical relationship. This step is usually easy to figure out and can be established by medical records, doctors’ notes, medication receipts, and other documents that prove a healthcare professional cared for you in the ER.
- Negligence – The next step is proving negligence. This step can be a bit trickier to identify. First, the standard of care must be established through expert testimony. Experts in the medical field will testify as to how a reasonable, prudent person would have acted in similar circumstances. If the person caring for you acted outside those reasonable bounds, negligence may have occurred.
- Resultant Harm – It’s not enough that negligence occurred. You must have been harmed as a direct result of the healthcare professional’s negligence. For instance, let’s say that you go to the ER for chest pains. Let’s further say that a doctor dismisses you because they don’t believe the injury is serious. Later, you have a heart attack that could have been prevented. In this case, you suffered an injury due to negligence.
What Can Be Done?
If you believe that you or someone you know has suffered from emergency room malpractice, there are a few things you can do to seek compensation.
- Gather Information and Evidence – It’s important to get as much data as you can. Documents such as medical records and treatment notes can help identify where the error that caused injury or wrongful death occurred. Keep track of dates and times, and especially remember if a healthcare professional did something you thought was suspicious.
- Contact Legal Help – You should immediately contact the medical malpractice team at Lerner and Rowe. Timely consultation is vital, so don’t hesitate. We can get started on evaluating your medical malpractice case right away.
- Rest and Recover – Focus on healing as much as you can. Recovering from injuries can be a slow, unpleasant process. Therefore, you should concentrate your energy on getting well again while we focus on your compensation.
Suffer from Las Vegas Emergency Room Errors and Malpractice?
If you or someone you know suffer from an emergency room malpractice error, contact the experienced lawyers at Lerner and Rowe Injury Attorneys. Our professional medical malpractice team knows the intricacies of medical malpractice law, and we will work tirelessly for your compensation.
Stop by our office hours Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Additionally, you can get in touch with us online through a form or through our convenient LiveChat feature. You can also call us anytime at 702-877-1500. Remember, consultations are free, and we don’t collect a penny until we win your case. Don’t wait; contact us today!