Were you or a loved one hurt because of a mistake in the emergency room? You could be entitled to compensation for medical bills, lost wages, suffering, and more. A Boca Raton emergency room errors lawyer at Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers can fight for the full financial award you deserve.
You only have a limited amount of time to act if you were hurt because of medical negligence. If you’re ready to learn more, don’t hesitate to call (561) 347-7770, or contact our Boca Raton law office online to schedule a free consultation today.
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How an Experienced Personal Injury Lawyer Can Help With Your Emergency Room Errors Claim
An emergency room visit is not something to be taken lightly. Some symptoms can be signs of potentially serious conditions. If you visit the ER after a trauma, like a car accident, you deserve to trust that you’ll receive the quality medical care you need.
Medical negligence can cause you serious pain. In some cases, emergency room errors can even be fatal.
Doctors and medical professionals should be held accountable when their negligence causes a patient harm. Unfortunately, it can be a challenge to get the fair compensation you deserve.
Florida medical malpractice rules are extremely complex. Hiring an experienced Boca Raton personal injury lawyer can make a world of difference in getting the fair compensation you deserve.
When you hire Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers, your attorney will:
- Investigate the circumstances to determine the exact cause of your harm
- Hire medical experts and specialists who can provide evidence that you received negligent emergency room care
- Fight back when the insurance company uses delay tactics to manipulate you into giving up on your claim
- Bring in experts and specialists to provide insight into what your case is worth
- Negotiate aggressively to secure the highest possible settlement for you
- Litigate your case through trial if the insurance company refuses to offer a fair amount
You were hurt because someone else made a mistake. It can still be hard to get the insurance company to take you seriously.
Our attorneys will protect you from deep-pocketed insurance companies that will do everything they can to manipulate you into accepting less than you deserve.
Our respected Boca Raton medical malpractice attorneys have more than 25 years of experience helping victims of medical negligence in South Florida. We’re here to hold negligent doctors and hospitals accountable for their mistakes.
Give us a call today to get the legal advice you deserve.
Quick Facts on Emergency Room Visits
In 2017, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that over 139 million Americans visited the emergency room. Around 60% of those people had to wait more than 15 minutes for emergency care.
In Florida, around 8.3 million patients visited the ER.
Medical errors are thought to account for nearly 250,000 patient deaths every single year. In the emergency room context, nearly half of all errors are caused by problems with information processing.
Studies show that patients with abdominal complaints are particularly likely to fall victim to medical errors in the ER.
Common Causes of Emergency Room Errors
The emergency room is a hectic place. Life-changing decisions have to be made in a split second in order to provide patients with the care they need.
That’s why doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals must complete intense and specialized training before working in an ER.
Any number of scenarios can give you the right to sue for damages if, despite this training, you still receive sub-standard care. Common errors in Boca Raton emergency rooms include:
- Diagnostic errors
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to run proper tests
- Medication errors
- Errors in performing basic procedures
- Failure to properly stabilize a patient after a trauma
- Miscommunication
- Documentation errors
- Overcrowding
- Poorly trained ER staff
Understanding the factors that led to your emergency room error can be critical to getting justice.
Diagnostic Errors
Diagnostic errors are one of the leading causes of patient harm in the ER context. Diagnostic errors can include:
- Failure to run the correct tests
- Misinterpretation of lab results
- Failure to address any abnormal results
- Failure to properly consider relevant information that’s available
Diagnostic errors can be tragic for the patient. For example, sending a patient who is really suffering from a heart attack home with heartburn medication can prove fatal.
However, it isn’t always easy to pinpoint the exact error that took place. Our medical malpractice lawyers in Boca Raton can help you get the answers you need.
Poorly Run Emergency Rooms
Countless emergency room errors are made because of administrative errors that are entirely preventable.
ER patients are often left to wait for hours before they receive any care. Errors in taking down proper patient data can lead to mistakes in the care they receive.
Emergency rooms are often overcrowded and understaffed. This results in communication errors between staff members–and failure to successfully communicate with patients.
Hospitals can be held responsible for the errors that happen because the ER is underfunded or their ER staff is poorly trained.
Emergency Room Errors Can Lead to Serious Injuries
Victims of emergency room errors are often hurt because their condition is allowed to deteriorate. In some cases, the patient is harmed in some way that’s completely unrelated to the reason they sought treatment in the first place.
Some of the consequences of emergency room errors include:
- The need for more invasive treatment
- A worsened underlying condition that was not properly diagnosed
- Infection
- Wrongful death
Our medical malpractice attorneys will fight to hold negligent ER doctors and staff accountable for all the harm you’ve suffered. All you have to do is call our law offices to arrange a free consultation to learn more.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Emergency Room Errors in Boca Raton, FL?
Not every medical mistake amounts to malpractice. However, when someone in the ER fails to provide care that’s in line with medical standards, they can be held liable for damages.
Under Florida modified comparative fault laws, anyone who contributed to the cause of your harm can be held liable.
In the emergency room context, that might include:
- Doctors and surgeons
- Radiologists
- ER nurses
- Anesthesiologists and pharmacists
- ER room staff
- Administrative personnel
- The hospital
Some ER doctors are independent contractors. Hospitals and emergency care facilities generally won’t be held responsible for the acts of an independent contractor. However, these doctors can be sued independently–and are required to carry malpractice insurance for that reason.
If a hospital room employee was negligent, the hospital itself can be held liable under general employment law theories.
At Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers, our Boca Raton emergency room errors attorneys have the resources to bring in experts who can help us determine exactly what caused your harm.
We’ll use that information and other evidence we find to hold every potentially responsible party accountable.
Florida Statute of Limitations in Emergency Room Error Cases
In Florida, you have two years to file a medical malpractice lawsuit based on an emergency room error.
The two-year limitations period starts running on the date you reasonably should have known that you were hurt because of an error in the ER.
If you suspect something went wrong during your ER visit, don’t hesitate to call Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers for a free case review. We’re always here to take your call.
What Types of Damages Are Available to Victims of Emergency Room Errors in Florida?
Doctors and other medical professionals have to be held to high standards. They literally hold lives in their hands every single day. When they’re careless and make mistakes, they should be held financially accountable for the damage they cause.
If you were hurt, our lawyers will work to recover all of the compensation you need to move forward, including damages for:
- Medical bills
- Lost wages
- Future medical expenses
- Lost future earning opportunities
- Physical therapy
- Rehabilitative care
- Long-term care
You’re also entitled to compensation for the less obvious non-economic costs related to the harm you’ve suffered. You might be entitled to money for:
- Pain and suffering
- PTSD
- Anxiety and depression
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of your loved one’s company and other damages for wrongful death
Unlike some other states, Florida doesn’t cap the amount of non-economic damages you can recover in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Because of this, healthcare professionals and hospitals have the resources to fight your medical malpractice claim at every turn. You should expect them to put up a fight if you were seriously hurt.
Our lawyers at Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers are on your side. We have the resources and knowledge you need to effectively fight back. We’ll put in the time and energy necessary to get the maximum amount of compensation available for your family.
Contact a Respected Boca Raton Medical Malpractice Law Firm For a Free Consultation Today
At Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers, we’ve seen countless medical malpractice cases over the years. We know how to help.
All you have to do is call to schedule a free case review with a respected Boca Raton emergency room errors lawyer. If you were hurt, it’s never too early to get the help you need.
