When someone enters an emergency room, it is needless to say that they want effective, fast medical care. In many situations, the care must be life-saving. Patients put their faith and trust in emergency room physicians, nurses, and other medical professionals to provide this high level of care when they need it most. 

It is when that trust in a high level of medical care is not returned by the medical professionals that problems arise. Emergency room errors can create a host of problems, both now and in the future, for patients. If an emergency room error occurs, it is critical to determine how best to proceed. The decision a person makes is crucial to their recovery- physical and financial. 

Risks Associated with Emergency Room Care

With so much happening in a short period, emergency rooms present a unique set of challenges for medical professionals. Caring for patients in a time-sensitive environment is central to emergency medicine. When patients are made to wait for extended periods to receive that care, additional pressures are placed upon physicians and nurses to make the right decision as quickly as possible. 

One factor in emergency room care is that doctors often have limited data to make decisions. For example, a patient may only disclose part of their background. With that, decisions that are made in the best interest of patients come with a large amount of stress attached to them. Unfortunately, in this type of care, mistakes tend to happen. 

When an already ill or injured patient arrives at an emergency room, there is little margin for error. When a mistake occurs during treatment, a person’s condition can go from bad to worse in no time. An incorrect diagnosis or decision during a surgical procedure can cause a person to suffer a lifelong injury. 

The Most Frequent Emergency Room Errors

Missed diagnoses occur in emergency room environments, in part because decisions must be made quickly with relatively little information. The inability for a doctor to correctly identify and diagnose a patient’s life-threatening illness presents itself as an all-too-common reality for patients. A condition that worsens or one that presents lifelong impairments occurs as a result.

Consider a patient who arrives in an emergency room complaining of a headache. Other symptoms include blurred vision, slurred speech, and cognitive issues. The emergency room physician, with little time to spare before heading to see another patient, quickly diagnosed the issue as a nonintractable migraine. Unfortunately, the doctor identified only half of these symptoms. A missed diagnosis allowed the effects of a stroke to go untreated until the patient suffered injuries that became chronic medical problems. 

Medications taken in the emergency room are geared towards helping patients reduce pain quickly. Over-prescribing a medication can result in a serious health issue that is not easy to treat. Or, a patient taking a medication may have symptoms that are easy to miss. Pain is the body’s response to something being wrong. Fast-acting and very strong medication may mask those symptoms and lead to a terrible patient outcome. 

Patient Issues Do Not Stop at Discharge

Suppose a patient seeks emergency room care and is examined, treated, and discharged without being admitted to the hospital. At first glance, this may seem like a good thing. All else being equal, this is what a person would want when receiving emergency room care. 

An emergency room doctor who does not consider the full circumstances surrounding a patient’s condition could miss a critical finding. Severe conditions require further observation. Even when a patient appears to be stabilizing and ready for discharge, it is the doctor’s responsibility to ensure their observations and the patient’s test results align. If a patient looks healthier than he really is, blood test results should clarify this. 

Even when discharging a patient is otherwise appropriate, problems may arise in sending a patient home with instructions. These instructions may include how to properly apply a new bandage or wrap to an injured body part. Additional discharge mistakes could involve prescribing a medication the patient does not need. 

Problems That Result from Emergency Room Negligence

Errors made in the emergency room have a host of potential consequences. The missed diagnosis of a stroke that was mentioned earlier may result in paralysis, problems with speech, or a lifetime’s worth of cognitive challenges. These problems can affect a person in almost every area of day-to-day life. The person can no longer work a physical job involving lifting, carrying, or strenuous activity. It’s entirely possible that a person will not be able to work at all. 

Emotional and psychological problems are not uncommon when physical harm is suffered. There are conditions like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress that may occur after an emergency room error. A patient’s relationship with their spouse may deteriorate due to stress associated with the emergency room error. It would not be the first time that a patient who suffers an emergency room injury becomes hesitant to seek necessary medical care in the future. 

Financial problems due to an inability to work consistently begin to take their toll on family life. Physical issues stemming from emergency room errors need time to heal. When a parent is rushed back to work because their child is running low on clothes for the Winter or an injury victim returns to work early to help pay for their spouse’s necessary medication, all of these problems collide. The result is a bad outcome for the patient and their family. 

Don’t Allow Your Rights to be Ignored After an Emergency Room Error

Once an injury results from poor emergency room care, there is no substitute for a West Virginia emergency room negligence lawyer. An injury victim must consider their rights. Contact Crim Law, PLLC for a free case review.