Emergency Room Errors

Emergency Rooms, or ER's, at hospitals all over the country are the most stressful worksites in the healthcare profession. According to a 2007 press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 115.3 million persons are treated in American emergency rooms annually. The standard of care in United States hospitals is high quality. Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and all other healthcare professionals take pride in this. But the fact remains that malpractice occurs in the medical profession. And today's hospitals may need improvement to meet the demands of tomorrow.

There are many ways that errors or malpractice may occur in Emergency Rooms. Following are several kinds of errors:

• Medication Errors
• Prescription Errors
• Bacterial Infections
• Birth Injury
• Omissions Error
• Diagnosis Error
• Negligence
• Patient "Dumping"

Misdiagnosis by the Hospital Doctor

If the doctor misdiagnoses an illness, or fails to dignose it early enough, he or she may be held liable for any resulting injury. In these cases, the patient may recover money to compensate for all medical expenses, lost income, future lost earning ability and pain and suffering. In many cases, this compensation can be substantial.

Errors in hospital Emergency Rooms are a common occurrence infrequently talked about and rarely reported to the media. That is why you don't hear about these types of cases on the news. Understaffed hospitals or ill-equipped emergency rooms may lead to fatal errors while dealing with patients requiring emergency treatment. When the necessary steps of treating an emergency room patient are sidestepped, then an emergency error may result.

Over 225,000 people die from medical malpractice related injuries in a single year. Nearly half of these are from emergency room errors.