When a person needs emergency medical care, he or she may turn to the services of a local emergency room. If you have ever visited a Georgia ER for care, you likely expected to receive quality medical support and an accurate diagnosis. However, emergency rooms do not always provide quality care, and misdiagnosis can happen.
If you are a victim of a misdiagnosis in an emergency room visit, you have the right to hold liable parties accountable for medical malpractice. Through a civil claim, you can hold the responsible parties accountable and seek appropriate compensation for your pain and suffering related to a misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis or improper care received in an emergency room.
Common types of ER errors
Emergency rooms are busy, stressful places to work, and they may be serving many patients at once. Due to the fast-paced, high-pressure nature of working in an emergency center, errors can happen, and as a result, innocent patients can suffer. Some of the most common types of emergency room errors include:
- One of the most commonly misdiagnosed medical conditions in emergency rooms is heart attacks in women. Symptoms of heart attacks in women are different from those in men, and doctors can fail to recognize them.
- Unfortunately, doctors often misdiagnose the reason for chest pain in emergency room patients. This pain can indicate serious health problems and conditions.
- One of the most common mistakes made in emergency rooms is the misreading of x-ray images. This can lead to serious problems and detrimental health consequences.
Medical mistakes in emergency rooms often happen because doctors are trying to treat many patients at once. When there is pressure to see patients, diagnose and treat patients as quickly as possible, it is not difficult to understand how problems can happen.
What can you do as a victim?
One of the things you can do, as a victim of medical malpractice, is take immediate action to protect your rights and interests. You can do this by reaching out for legal help and an explanation of your options as soon as a problem happens.
Patients who suffered as a result of a misdiagnosis or medical mistake made during an emergency room visit have the right to seek recompense for their pain and suffering. If this happened to you, you do not have to suffer alone, but you can take immediate action to start working on your case and learning about the legal options available to you.
