Emergency Room Triage Errors: How Time-Sensitive Conditions Get Missed

Going to the emergency room is often a test of patience. Long lines for care create a crowded, fast-paced environment for the doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel serving patients. Many medical conditions are time-sensitive and require prompt attention. Unfortunately, immediate care is not always available in the emergency rooms of South Florida.

Waiting for a prolonged period of time in an emergency room can worsen a patient’s condition. What happens when the delays associated with receiving care are due to the negligence of the hospital or its staff?

When you have suffered preventable harm due to an emergency room delay, there is good reason to contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys with Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman. Understanding how these errors and delays in an emergency room can contribute to poor health outcomes is critical to making good decisions after suffering an injury.

Why are mistakes made in emergency rooms?

In an emergency room, time is of the essence. As a result, decisions must be made quickly and correctly. Whenever a patient’s condition worsens after going to the emergency room, an analysis must be performed to determine why the error or delay occurred and what impact it had on the patient’s health.

Errors in diagnosing and treating critical conditions occur due to the sheer volume of patients that an emergency room may treat at a given time. Every emergency room has a limit to the resources that can be applied to its patients. When those resources are pushed to their limit due to high patient volume, conditions may go undiagnosed. Emergency rooms tend to experience higher-than-normal patient volume during cold and flu season and the holidays.

Emergency room staff may also make errors in assigning time-sensitive conditions and patients to a lower urgency level of care. When a patient with a time-sensitive condition presents to an emergency room, the provider of care should assess the severity of the condition and properly attend to it. Sometimes, an emergency room care provider can misdiagnose a condition initially, leading to significant delays in treatment.

What is the standard that an emergency room must meet regarding patient care?

Physicians and nurses working in emergency rooms are held to a very high standard of care when it comes to their job performance. These medical professionals must be able to balance the twin objectives of quick decisions and a high degree of accuracy when diagnosing and treating patients. The failure of a physician or nurse to act reasonably in performing their duties may constitute medical malpractice.

The question that a judge or jury would ultimately have to answer is: did the medical professional act in a way that a similarly experienced and trained provider would have? Part of this question is determined by the protocols and systems that the emergency room has in place. Different hospitals handle emergency care in different ways.

If you have suffered an injury or if a condition worsened after an error occurred at an emergency room, contact an experienced Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney.

Understanding when an emergency room error is legally actionable

There is a fine line between an emergency room delay or error that is unavoidable and one that falls below the standard of care that all medical professionals must meet. Depending on the type of error, there may be a relatively quick recovery. That these questions usually involve fact-specific scenarios and split-second decisions underscores the importance of receiving trustworthy legal advice.

In some situations, a patient may not even know that their situation deserves legal consideration. Determining if the hospital, physician, or nurse is a proximate cause of your injuries or worsening of your condition is a complicated issue to sort through. Examining the available evidence and deciding on an appropriate course of action is greatly assisted by consulting with an attorney with Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman.

How can you prove that medical care fell below the necessary standard for emergency rooms?

Not only must you be able to prove that medical care fell below a certain standard, but you need to show that the delay or error was the cause of an injury or other harm. The link between the error or delay suffered at the emergency room and your worsened medical condition is where your focus as a patient and potential claimant must be.

Your timeline of events and how the emergency room episode unfolded is critical, but a thorough understanding of the medical treatment and record is of the utmost importance. To understand a medical record, you need to first obtain copies of all the medical treatment you received. Performing an analysis and determining the connection between the emergency room’s fault and your injuries is necessary as well.

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

The team of attorneys and staff at Liberman Cabrera Thompson & Reitman understands the challenges associated with suffering injuries in an emergency room. With so many questions about whether and how to move forward with a potential claim, it is best to look into answers sooner rather than later.

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 and do so with a great deal of pride. A free consultation with a Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney is available by reaching out to us today.