Washington, D.C. Attorneys Handling Emergency Room Errors
Representing people harmed by medical negligence in emergency departments
Emergency rooms are notoriously crowded, under-staffed and chaotic. Because of this, your chances of sustaining further injury in an emergency room may actually increase depending on when you enter the building. At Paulson & Nace, PLLC, we hold negligent E.R. staff and administrators accountable when they do not provide the expected level of care. For the last four decades, our skilled team of medical malpractice attorneys has protected people who suffered additional harm in Washington, D.C. emergency rooms. We look out for your family and your future, so you can focus on the healing process.
What you should know about emergency rooms
The Centers for Disease Control puts the estimated amount of emergency department visits at 130 million people a year. Of those 130 million, 43.5 percent of them were seen within the first 15 minutes of their arrival; that leaves around 56.55 million people in an emergency room whose injuries or illnesses may not have been treated like an emergency.
While the numbers are a bit overwhelming, they are not necessarily shocking: E.R. doctors tend to work long shifts with very little respite, and the sheer number of patients in the emergency room at any given time may make it impossible to treat each person immediately. This means that hospital staff needs to make a judgment call about who is seen first. The wrong call by even an experienced doctor could lead to catastrophic results.
Common emergency room errors caused by medical negligence
Aside from waiting too long to treat a patient, some acts of medical negligence are more prevalent in emergency rooms. The most common emergency room errors include:
- Failing to obtain a proper family medical history
- Failing to properly record a patient’s medical history
- Failing to learn all other medications the patient might be on when he or she enters
- Failing to adhere to a patient’s wishes to not receive treatment
- Misdiagnosing the symptoms of a patient by relying on prior experience alone, as opposed to running the necessary tests
- Failing to diagnose and treat a stroke or a heart attack
- Subjecting a sick patient to an unsterile environment
- Scanning the wrong bar code on a patient’s wrist
- “Patient dumping,” the act of releasing a patient too soon to create more space in the E.R.
- Surgical errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Failing to warn the patient about potential side effects from treatments
- Failing to monitor the patient’s vital signs
- Allowing patients with life-threatening conditions to be diverted elsewhere
Many of the mistakes made in emergency rooms are preventable. If a preventable error in an ER or emergency department caused you or your loved one harm, you may be able to bring a claim for damages against the staff, the emergency department, the EMS, or the hospital itself.
What you should know about ER doctors and prescription medication abuse
An alarming number of doctors, nurses and hospital staff members are abusing prescription medications. Paulson & Nace handles complex cases involving doctors who were under the influence at the time they treated you.
We have the skills, the resources and the experience you want on your side when you or your family member has sustained an injury in the emergency room or at an urgent care center. We have secured millions of dollars for our medical malpractice patients in Washington, D.C. If your family was affected by negligent E.R. staff, our family wants to help.
If you suffered an injury in an emergency room, you are not alone
The experienced team of medical malpractice attorneys at Paulson & Nace, PLLC, is here for you. We represent clients in cases involving complex E.R. errors, and we stay with you until the end. If you were injured in an emergency room in Washington, D.C., please call 202-463-1999 or fill out our contact form to schedule a consultation.