Are there common emergency room mistakes that cause harm?

Accidents and medical scares could lead someone to rush to the local emergency room. North Carolina patients hope to receive an accurate diagnosis and appropriate care. Things don’t always work out that way, and doctors could make mistakes when treating ER patients. Sometimes, those mistakes could have tragic consequences, resulting in an unavoidable medical malpractice lawsuit.

Mistakes in the emergency room

Untold numbers of people each year find their lives saved after a trip to an emergency room. Someone might discover a harsh case of heartburn turns out to be a cardiac incident, and immediate ER care keeps the person from becoming a fatal statistic. And then there are times when the opposite happens. A person’s breathing difficulties may receive an improper diagnosis. Later, x-rays that should have been performed in the ER reveals a growth that turns out to be cancer.

Not everyone who suffers from a medical mistake in an emergency room gets proper care in time, though. Statistics show that errors lead to 250,000 deaths per year. Among the most common mistakes that happen at an ER involves information processing. Sometimes, improperly probing for information about a patient’s condition leads to errors and disastrous results.

Malpractice makes things worse

Medical malpractice could take many forms in an emergency room. Misdiagnosing a condition might prompt an early discharge when the patient should be admitted to the hospital. Giving a patient the wrong medication might also cause a disastrous reaction and possibly a fatal one.

The chaotic nature of an emergency room may play a role in malpractice incidents. Regardless, a patient deserves to receive proper and adequate care. When physicians and emergency room staff fails to deliver appropriate treatment, they may face malpractice claims. The injured patient might then receive compensation for the harm inflicted.