Emergency Rooms Common Failures
When it comes time to get immediate and drastic medical attention for life-threatening health conditions, the emergency department (ED) is a hospital ward that provides care for those who are in grave need. If you’re suffering from an acute injury or sudden illness, the ED will have people on hand to provide life-saving treatment and monitoring of your condition so they can keep you stable with their providance of apt medical equipment and attention until its safe and patient has recuperated enough for discharge to home.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated number of 136 million patients annually visit emergency rooms in the United States is recorded, 30% among the numbers are concerned with injury or disease. Given that, emergency rooms or the department is responsible for their patients lives and what if they commit a mistake or blunder? What would be the consequences of their action upon the patients which is under their responsibilities? Watching from these statistics:
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for every 100 people in America, we visit emergency rooms about 42 times a year. Around 63% of these patients are 18-65 years old and 85% live near metropolitan areas.
- Between years 2013 and 2016, a total of 277 patients died while in the emergency department, while having a mortality rate of 2.6/1,000.
- Of those numbers, Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of deaths following by cancer and injuries or trauma.
- Fatalities are commonly occurrence to men compared to women in deaths in emergency rooms, given factors such as lifestyle and gender-related disease.
The emergency room is a place where some people are saving lives, but others are losing their own. Some of these patients die from natural causes that doctors can’t prevent and other patients lose their life due to negligence by the hospital staff, unintentional or not, negligence is negligence. Many types of errors can be made here that cause harm to patients with varying degrees severity; some may delay recovery significantly while others might just add insult to overwhelming injuries causing additional pain and distress. Common mistakes include:
- Misdiagnosis (often leads to incorrect treatment and medication)
- Delayed time of treatment (due to inorganize work flow and bad staff organization)
- Misunderstood lab results or medications
- Failure of reducing risk of infection or mitigating complications (caused by negligence or unattended patient)
Many factors contribute to errors in an ER committed by medical professionals and staff such as overcrowding (medical facility can’t carry out and cater multiple patients’ needs at a time) or difficulty obtaining medical history from patients who may not have been able see their doctor regularly or maintain good health habits due to financial constraints or simply lost. Sub-par treatment will only add injury onto already painful injuries which requires more time and resources on behalf of staff members during what should be utilized instead.
How can victims of emergency rooms error should do?
If you’re a victim of medical error, then it is possible to file for a malpractice claim if the relationship between patient and doctor has been established. This type of lawsuit can be used as an avenue to cover your additional expenses from damages caused by medical providers’ mistake recently.
Medical errors can have serious consequences for your health and wellbeing. That’s why Cleveland medical malpractice law firm Ryan, LLP is committed to helping you receive the care you deserve by holding negligent parties accountable for their actions and pay equally for their medical damages dealt in form of compensation pay.