Injuries Caused By Emergency Room Errors
Common Emergency Room Mistakes
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 5 Americans visited a hospital emergency room department in the last year. The reasons for these visits include treatment for accidents and injuries, as well as treatment for medical issues, such as experiencing symptoms of heart attack or stroke. Asthma attacks and other breathing-related disorders cause many people to head to their local E.R., and general symptoms such as lethargy and fever are common for children’s emergency room visits.
Common mistakes in emergency room department care that can result in serious consequences include:
- Failure to diagnose a critical condition, such as a heart attack or stroke
- Failure to order x-rays or other diagnostic tests in order to correctly assess injuries
- Failure to provide proper medication, or to take into account other medications prescribed
- Failure to treat patients in a timely manner due to excessive wait times
- Failure to admit patients and early discharge before condition is properly treated
Understaffing in emergency departments is frequently the reason behind the long wait times and inadequate care patients receive. Other times, actual misdiagnoses by the E.R. staff are the problem. Depending on your condition, any of the above mistakes can be potentially life threatening.
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Compensation For Emergency Room Mistakes
If you or someone you love has been hurt as a result of emergency room errors, there is legal recourse available. Under the South Carolina Code of Laws, Section 15-79-110, you may be entitled to file a medical malpractice action against the hospital or the medical providers who treated you. For a medical malpractice suit to be successful, you would need to prove that your emergency health care provider either did something that was not medically prudent, such as giving you the wrong medicine, or didn’t do something that would have been reasonable for a medical provider to do, such as ordering tests, or admitting a patient. If either of these situations exists, you may be entitled to compensation for damages or losses you’ve incurred as a result of the hospital’s error.
Contact Our Experienced South Carolina Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Filing a lawsuit for medical malpractice can be a complicated process, and you will want someone on your side to represent your best interests. At Anastopoulo Law Firm our experienced medical malpractice attorneys understand the serious damages that can result from hospital emergency room mistakes. We’ll fight to get you and your loved ones the compensation you deserve for the injuries you’ve suffered. With offices in Charleston and throughout South Carolina, lawyers at Akim Anastopoulo Law Offices can give you a free review of your case.
Call or text 803-222-2222 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form