Is it Emergency Room Malpractice? |
Posted: September 16, 2020 |
Each and every day people are injured and have to go to an emergency room in order to get some form of medical care. Emergency rooms provide a service of what the name itself entails; when you have a medical emergency, this is the place you go to get medical help. However, there exists instances whereby the errors of doctors may result in causing greater harm to a patient. When such errors are acts of negligence, the injured patient may be eligible for compensation by way of a personal injury claim. This article will discuss when an injured patient can pursue a personal injury claim for emergency room malpractice. Before getting into the elements that qualify a case as a malpractice case, it is important to realize that emergency rooms are by nature chaotic. The doctors are almost always on their toes and the patients were not expecting to be seeking medical care. Emergency rooms are often characterized by persons who are made patients because of acts of violence, accidents, a sudden illness or other medical condition. As a result, the general atmosphere and environment is hectic. It is due this atmosphere that medical records are not reviewed thoroughly, as there is not a lot of time for in depth assessments to be made. As a result, emergency room doctors are given a little more latitude than other doctors who have time to consider and analyze different possible treatment courses. That being said, emergency room doctors are not exempt from liability in all cases where substandard care is provided to a patient. To have a valid medical malpractice case, it is necessary for the victim to prove specific elements. If any of these elements are not proven, the case is likely to be unsuccessful. Medical malpractice case elements include: 1. Doctor-patient relationship - There must exist a doctor and patient relationship. Such a relationship is proven by the attending physician performing medical work on the patient upon arrival to the emergency room. This element is not very difficult to prove; by proving there existed a doctor-patient relationship it establishes that the doctor owed a duty of care to the patient. However, overhearing general advice being given about some condition and a patient follows the advice to their harm, shows there existed no doctor-patient relationship. 2. Negligence – Negligence is proven in medical malpractice cases based on the quality of care other reasonably competent doctors in the same area under the same circumstances would have provided. This element is difficult to establish because the standard of care required of emergency room doctors is different compared to other doctors in a different environment. While the emergency room environment does not remove the doctor’s duty of care, the expectation needs to be adjusted to take that atmosphere into account. However, to prove negligence an expert witness is required. 3. Harm - The victim must be able to show that they suffered some form of harm as a result of the negligent act of the doctor; e.g. misdiagnosis, lost wages or pain and suffering. By looking for malpractice lawyers in Memphis Tn you can receive legal advice and representation. Resource Box: To sue lawyer for negligence, the author recommends Watson Burns.
|
||||||||||||||||
|