An emergency room (ER) can be a mad house in certain instances, with doctors and nurses scrambling to balance a continuous stream of patients suffering a wide variety of injuries, from cuts and bruises to the flu, to a catastrophic injury, such as a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or paralysis. As such, incidents of medical misdiagnosis in ERs are quite common.
What Causes Emergency Room Medical Misdiagnosis?
ER patients can be the victims of medical malpractice for a variety reasons, including:
- Patient overcrowding
- Hospital bed shortages
- Inexperience or poorly trained doctors and/or staff
- Lack of adequate staffing
- Fatigued doctors and nurses
- Shortage of proper equipment and/or resources
Emergency Room Errors That Can Lead to Medical Misdiagnosis
The types of errors that generally are the result of medical misdiagnosis in the ER include:
- Failing to order diagnostic tests
- Not ordering the correct diagnostic tests
- Failing to properly interpret medical test results
- Not properly diagnosing a medical condition following an examination
- Patient dumping (this involves releasing patients because they do not have insurance or for other financial reasons)
- Delaying treatment
- Prescribing the wrong type or wrong dosage of medication
Are All Prescription Drug Errors the Same as Medical Malpractice?
In the following video, personal injury attorney Daniel Jeck explains how cases involving dangerous drugs and pharmaceuticals work, including who is generally at fault when patients suffer prescription drug injuries.
