Delayed Treatment Errors: When Slow Medical Care Becomes Negligence

When you seek medical treatment for yourself or a family member, it is likely that you are doing so in a period of extreme need. Concerns over a heart attack, a broken leg, or even a very high fever, when you step into a doctor’s office, you presume that it is possible to receive medical attention quickly. An emergency requires emergency measures to attend to the life-threatening issue.

However, what would happen if you did not receive immediate medical attention? Instead, your care was delayed for several minutes. Delayed medical treatment can have profound effects on your long-term well-being. How can you look into the situation to determine whether the treatment delays were more appropriately classified as medical negligence?

Liberman, Cabrera, Thompson & Reitman are Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorneys who serve clients who were injured due to delays in receiving medical treatment. Contact our office today for a free consultation.

What is delayed medical treatment?

Often, one of the goals of the medical profession is to limit the time that a patient waits to receive care. From the moment a person walks through the door of a clinic or hospital, medical professionals there work to limit the time the person will wait for medical care. Seconds truly do matter in the world of medicine when it comes to receiving necessary medical care.

In some situations, unavoidable delays in receiving medical care occur. Those are circumstances that do not rise to the level of negligent medical care. What may rise to qualifying as negligent medical care is when delays to treat you were avoidable. Did the doctors, nurses, or other care providers not provide care to the same extent that a similarly situated medical professional would have?

What are some potential outcomes related to delayed treatment errors?

Unfortunately, delays in receiving medical care can have a lasting impact on your health. The first type of injuries that require immediate medical attention related to strokes and heart issues. Your heart and your brain must be cared for immediately upon the first sign of either a heart attack or stroke. Delayed care errors can exacerbate conditions affecting your heart and brain and may reduce your quality of life or even your life expectancy.

Another risk associated with delayed medical treatment has to do with untreated infections. An infection that is not treated quickly enough may worsen and become septic. This is an extremely serious condition, which requires ongoing medical care and usually with a course of antibiotics and an inpatient hospitalization. Without delay, an infection can be mitigated and treated. Delayed treatment for an infection can result in the infection becoming septic and requiring an extended hospitalization.

In extreme situations, delays in medical treatment can result in cancer diagnoses being disrupted. In some instances, cancer can be treated somewhat conservatively if caught early enough. However, if a diagnosis is delayed, then that more conservative treatment is no longer an option.

How does the law define medical negligence?

There is an accepted standard of care in Florida that applies to medical professionals and delays in care. This accepted standard asks whether the doctor or nurse in question acted in a way that a similarly trained and experienced doctor or nurse would have done. If the hypothetical “reasonable” doctor or nurse had done the same thing as the actual doctor or nurse did, then there likely is no claim for medical negligence available.

What must be proven in a medical negligence case?

Beyond showing that the doctor or nurse failed to act reasonably in the situation in question, the following must also be proven to a judge or jury:

• A “doctor-patient” relationship existed between the caregiver and the patient
• The duty of care between the caregiver and patient was breached
• The breach of the duty of care was the proximate cause of the injury in question
• The injury (and any other harm) suffered by the patient amounts to damages as measured in dollars and cents

Where are treatment delays most likely to occur?

Emergency rooms are frequently becoming locations where patients struggle to receive immediate care. This is a major issue because patients are taken to emergency rooms in order to receive care as quickly as possible. Issues regarding an insufficient number of doctors being on-call or other logistical problems can lead to dire consequences for patients. In emergency medicine, a delay in treating a patient can lead to severe injuries or even death.

Many times in medicine, doctors and other treatment providers will need to wait for the results of a blood test or other lab work to be completed, analyzed, and submitted back to the requesting physician. If the results of the lab work are not communicated quickly enough to the physician who asked for the testing to be performed, then delays can result. Poor communication between the lab where testing occurred and the doctor’s office can contribute to what already amounts to a delay in treatment.

Finally, issues regarding delays in treating children can be especially dangerous. Young children, especially, are not able to communicate well about how they feel. What may actually be an emergency medical situation may slip right past a child. Likewise, a relatively minor condition may be complained of as an emergency by a child prone to exaggeration. When a doctor misses a diagnosis for a child, that condition may go unchecked for weeks or even months until it becomes more painful or symptomatic.

When experience and results matter, seek out Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman.

The team of attorneys and staff with Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman understands the challenges associated with delayed medical treatment. The sooner you can receive answers regarding your case, the better you will be able to attend to these important matters by potentially filing a claim for damages.

Contact our firm when you need perspective and information when you have been harmed as a result of a medical error or delay in care. We serve clients throughout South Florida. A free consultation with a Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney is available by reaching out to us today.