When we become ill or suffer an injury, we trust that the staff at our local hospital will treat us with the utmost care. The relationship between a patient and physician is based on trust, as we look to medical providers to keep us safe and explore options for helping us feel better. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals are not immune from making mistakes. Although small oversights may not lead to significant complications or disastrous outcomes, some errors can harm patients and even cause them lasting or permanent damage. In some cases, an emergency room worker’s mistake may result in a wrongful death, triggering unimaginable grief for the patient’s loved ones and family members.
We visit the hospital or emergency room because we need urgent medical care, but there are times when the care we receive winds up harming us further. If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to an emergency room error in Washington state, it’s natural to demand answers. You likely want to know who caused the issue and why. When you enlist the help of a dedicated and compassionate Seattle medical malpractice attorney, you can explore your options for holding the negligent party liable for their actions. Depending on the specific circumstances of your case, you may be able to file a medical malpractice or wrongful death claim to recover the compensation you deserve in the wake of such a tragedy. However, one of the most challenging aspects of building a medical malpractice claim or wrongful death lawsuit is determining the party responsible for the injury or loss of life. Your experienced medical malpractice lawyer will work with you to identify the most strategic course of action that enables you to secure the relief you need to start putting the pieces of your life back together.
Common Examples of Emergency Room Negligence
There are many ways that a patient seeking medical attention can suffer harm at the hands of a negligent or careless provider. Although healthcare workers take an oath to “do no harm” to those they treat, mistakes can and do happen. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “there is compelling evidence of a huge burden of avoidable patient harm globally across the developed and developing health care systems.” Medication errors, surgical mistakes, healthcare-related infections, and many other hazards can threaten a patient’s health outcomes when they seek treatment at their local emergency room or urgent care facility. Let’s take a look at some of the most common types of emergency room negligence incidents that have been reported in recent years.
Failure to Diagnose, Misdiagnosis, or Delayed Diagnosis
When you visit the emergency room, the attending physician should perform a comprehensive medical evaluation to identify the cause and nature of your distress. Unfortunately, the doctor may neglect to order the proper tests or diagnostic tools to arrive at an accurate diagnosis of your condition. Moreover, a healthcare worker may fail to interpret the results of a test, MRI, or lab result, causing them to overlook a serious medical condition (i.e., tumors, cancerous cells, etc.). If the hospital worker should have been able to spot a threatening or severe medical issue but failed to do so, you can discuss your options for seeking compensation by enlisting the guidance of an experienced and knowledgeable medical malpractice lawyer.
Releasing a Patient Prematurely
Before the hospital can release a patient from its care, medical professionals must check and monitor the patient to ensure that there is no continued threat of suffering an adverse medical event upon release. For example, the hospital must monitor your vital signs to make sure that they are stable before discharging you from its care. If the doctor or nurse failed to check your blood pressure or heart rate before releasing you and you suffered a stroke when you returned home, this may be an example of medical malpractice. In this case, the medical providers failed to uphold the duty of care they owed you by releasing you without checking for potential health risks. Moreover, if your loved one died because the hospital failed to monitor them for a life-threatening condition like a heart attack or stroke, discuss your options with a dedicated and experienced wrongful death attorney.
Medication Errors
There are several errors that can occur when a doctor provides a patient with medication. For instance, a physician may fail to diagnose your condition sufficiently or accurately, prompting them to prescribe the wrong type or dose of medication. Or, the doctor may neglect to ask you about other medications you are using, leading to complications when the newly prescribed drug interacts poorly or dangerously with other medicines. Whatever the specific issues of your situation may be, you can trust that working with a team of seasoned Seattle medical malpractice attorneys will help you hold the negligent party responsible for their careless errors.
Contaminated Samples or Medical Equipment
Hospitals implement a series of strict procedures and protocols for administering tests and performing assessments to ensure the safety and integrity of these procedures. However, there are times when a medical professional may cut corners or fail to follow a specific protocol, leading to infection or harm. Using unsterilized needles, confusing samples of blood, and other mistakes can injure patients. For example, failing to clean or sterilize an instrument properly may lead to a bacterial infection, subjecting the patient to further harm and health complications. Sometimes, healthcare workers may mistakenly switch blood samples, causing them to misinterpret your results—leading to a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis.
Determining Liability in Emergency Room Error Cases
When a mistake is made that leads to further harm to an already vulnerable hospital patient, it can be difficult to assign blame. The hospital and its medical staff may not be willing to admit fault, so you will need to rely on the guidance of a skilled and caring Seattle medical malpractice attorney to assist you with this determination as you build your medical malpractice claim. Let’s take a closer look at potential defendants in Seattle medical malpractice lawsuits to give you an idea of how to approach and strengthen your claim.
The Hospital
Hospitals carry a legal obligation to maintain and enforce policies for the proper triage of patients. If a hospital is understaffed or has cut corners in some way to save money, these shortcuts may increase the risk of patient harm. Your medical malpractice lawyer will assess the details of your case to determine whether the hospital itself should be held liable for its negligence or careless disregard for patient safety.
Emergency Room Employees
Doctors and medical specialists are bound by licensing requirements set forth by state and local medical boards and professional ethics committees. Failing to uphold the duty of care they owe to their patients may leave them legally liable in the event that their negligence leads to patient injury or death. If you believe that a doctor failed to diagnose your condition and this failure led to harm, you may be able to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit against this negligent hospital worker.
Pharmacy Staff
Some errors occur when a doctor prescribes medication for a patient. The pharmacist or pharmacy technician may fail to fill the prescription correctly, either by providing the incorrect dosage or the wrong medication altogether. If you suffered an injury because of a medication error, your medical malpractice attorney will work with you to build a compelling medical malpractice claim against this negligent pharmacy worker whose oversight caused you considerable physical pain and emotional distress.
Recovering Compensation From a Negligent Medical Provider
Suffering harm at the hands of a medical professional whose obligation is to ease your pain can be a frustrating and devastating experience. In addition to feeling a loss of trust in the healthcare profession, you may struggle with significant physical pain, a lengthy and complex recovery, and substantial emotional distress. Fortunately, Washington State allows injured parties to seek and recover compensatory damages from negligent parties to account for the suffering they endured. As you work with your Seattle medical malpractice lawyer to compile a claim, you can determine the costs for which you are seeking reimbursement from the at-fault party.
Medical Bills and Associated Costs
When an emergency room error leads to further harm and health complications, you may have to undergo a new surgery, attend follow-up visits with doctors, participate in physical therapy, or invest in other expensive medical treatments. Be sure to keep all of your medical bills stemming from the doctor’s negligence in an organized place. You will need to include these bills in your medical malpractice lawsuit to demonstrate the financial toll inflicted by the negligent hospital or healthcare worker.
Lost Income Due to Your Injury
Many medical malpractice injuries cause substantial damage that requires a considerable recovery period. As you focus on your physical recovery, you may be unable to work. Your medical malpractice lawyer will help you illustrate the devastating loss of income you endured because of this injury. When you prepare your claim, you can seek compensation that accounts for the lost wages you encountered while recovering from the incident.
Emotional Distress
Many medical malpractice cases involve much more than physical injury. It’s common for victims of medical malpractice to feel betrayed by their healthcare professionals, and they may develop symptoms of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), insomnia, and many other adverse mental health issues. As overwhelmed as you may feel in the wake of this traumatic event, it’s essential to recognize that you are not alone. Relying on the guidance and reassurance of a dedicated and empathetic Seattle medical malpractice attorney is the best way to face the future with greater certainty and confidence.
If you or a loved one has suffered an injury due to an emergency room error in Washington State, you may have the right to file a medical malpractice or wrongful death claim against the negligent party. Reach out to Menzer Law today at (206) 903-1818 to schedule a complimentary case review with a dedicated and experienced Seattle medical malpractice law firm.