If you were involved in an accident or suffered from an emergency medical condition and were taken to the hospital, you may trust that the physicians and medical experts have your best interests in mind. We typically have no choice but to seek emergency medical treatment, especially if we are unconscious or incapacitated. Unfortunately, emergency surgical procedures and life-saving healthcare often have the highest risks of complications or errors that can make your injuries worse.
If you faced negligent healthcare in the emergency room, contact our Miami attorney for emergency room and hospital mistakes to discuss the potential of filing a medical malpractice case. For help with your case, call Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA today at (305) 694-2676.
Injuries from Negligent Emergency Room Treatment in Florida
The medical treatment you undergo at the emergency room is often used to prevent moderate injuries from getting worse. Alternatively, the care can consist of life-saving interventions to heal injuries that could be fatal if you go without treatment. If you are unconscious or unable to consent when you arrive at the hospital, it is still usually assumed that you consent to emergency lifesaving medical care. However, this does not give the doctors or hospital an excuse to provide inadequate care because of the rush or urgency.
Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals in the emergency department are required to provide medical care that meets certain standards of care. In most cases, the standard of care is not something you can reference in a textbook or learn in a medical school course. Instead, the standard of care is determined by the specific circumstances of the situation at hand. Another doctor can review the care you received and determine, in their expert opinion, whether the care you received fell below the expected standard of care.
If the care you received was inadequate, you could suffer harm. Typically, surgical intervention and medical procedures have some risks associated with them, but serious harm that falls below the standard of care is unacceptable and can lead to medical malpractice lawsuits.
Any additional injuries you suffer because the medical professionals gave you inadequate care could be compensated through one of these medical malpractice lawsuits. Typically, you can include the doctors and the hospital in this lawsuit, suing for any additional medical care, lost wages, pain and suffering, or other harms brought about by the surgical mistakes and negligent healthcare.
Suing for Medical Malpractice after an Accidental Injury
If you suffered negligent medical care after an accident, you may be able to hold the person responsible for the accident liable for the negligent medical care. While the doctors and the hospital might be responsible for their own errors, you would never have needed emergency medical care in the first place if it were not for the accident.
When you face injuries in a car accident, slip and fall, or other accident, the person who caused that accident is liable for any harm that results from the accident. Medical malpractice during the treatment of your injuries is considered a foreseeable harm related to the accident. This allows you the choice of suing the initial defendant – the person who was responsible for your accident – for the harm from medical negligence in the emergency room. Talk to an attorney about whom to sue and what the best path to full compensation is in your case.
Examples of Emergency Room Negligence
In a medical emergency, there is less time to examine the options to get the patient the care they need. The hospital may have little or no information about the patient, which also makes it more difficult to look up the patient’s medical history to know if they have any allergies or illnesses that could be made worse through certain healthcare decisions.
This often gives doctors more protection for minor errors, as things that would otherwise be negligent are forgiven in emergency situations. However, the following examples of negligence still generally fall below the standard of care in emergency medical cases:
- Allowing a patient to suffer from an infection because of unsafe or unclean hospital conditions
- Failing to properly disinfect tools, materials, and personnel before performing medical care
- Cutting too deep or causing damage to the wrong location during surgery
- Accidentally nicking arteries or severing nerves
- Performing medical care that is unnecessary or unrelated to the emergency at hand
Lawsuits for DNR Violations in Miami
One controversial issue at hospitals is the effectiveness of “do not resuscitate” (DNR) orders. If a patient has a DNR order, they have expressed their right to decline any extensive life-saving procedures such as use of defibrillator “paddles,” use of respirators, use of feeding tubes, and other care. If physicians violate the patient’s rights by ignoring a DNR, they may be liable for the prolonged suffering and end of life care that the patient endures. Talk to an attorney if doctors violated a DNR for you or a family member.
Miami Emergency Room and Hospital Negligence Lawyer Offering Free Legal Consultations
If you or a loved one suffered from negligent healthcare in the emergency department at a hospital in South Florida, contact Prosper Shaked, a Miami attorney for emergency room and hospital mistakes. Call Prosper Shaked Accident Injury Attorneys PA at (305) 694-2676 to schedule a free legal consultation on your case today.