Pennsauken Township Emergency Room Errors Lawyer

People generally only enter the emergency room when they are critically ill or seriously injured. When they go to the emergency room, they expect to have their illnesses and injuries cared for by skilled medical professionals.

Despite the standard of care medical professionals in emergency rooms are held to, mistakes still happen. These mistakes have the potential to lead to a patient becoming sicker or dying.

If you or your family member was injured by an emergency room error, you should let an attorney from our firm help you obtain compensation to offset significant costs relating to your now-needed medical treatments. Contact a Pennsauken Township emergency room errors lawyer to see if you might be entitled to recover compensation to address your injury.

Common Types of Intensive Care Mistakes

Many of the errors that occur in emergency departments occur because the hospitals attempt to treat too many patients too quickly. Dangerous mistakes could happen when the doctors, nurses, and other staff are overworked and tired. Additionally, when a patient is forced to wait for too long due to emergency room overcrowding, many of the same mistakes could transpire. Some of the most common errors that occur include:

• Misdiagnosis
• Failure to look into a patient’s medical history
• Mistreatment
• Lab mistakes
• Failure to timely diagnose and care for a patient
• Medication errors
• Infections due to contamination
• Surgical errors
• Communication errors between hospital staff

In the worst of circumstances, these mistakes lead to dire health consequences or even death, such as when the emergency room staff fails to diagnose a heart attack.

Emergency room staffers could be found guilty of malpractice if they fail to act according to the medically accepted standard of care. If a reasonable emergency room doctor had looked at the patient’s medical history and been able to diagnose a heart attack, then that initial, irresponsible doctor could be found negligent for failing to do so.

Similarly, if a patient contracts an infection from an unsanitary environment caused by a nurse failing to wash his or her hands between patients, then that nurse and the hospital could be found negligent. This is because a reasonable nurse would have washed his or her hands.

Timing Issues and Possible Recoverable Losses

A victim of emergency room error malpractice must file a claim within two years, according to New Jersey Revised Statutes §2A:14-2. The victims of an emergency room error may be entitled to recover several different forms of compensation in a malpractice lawsuit. First, they may be entitled to recover compensatory damages for their actual costs, such as current and future medical bills, lost present and future wages, rehabilitation, and legal costs.

Fortunately for victims seeking to recover, there is also no statutory limit on non-economic damages, such as for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional trauma. According to NJ Rev Stat §2A:15-5.12, punitive damages may also be awarded up to the amount of five times the amount of compensatory damages or $350,000 in rare instances where a court determines that an emergency room staff member acted with “actual malice” or with “wanton or willful disregard.”

Contact a Pennsauken Township Emergency Room Errors Attorney

If you or a family member has been injured by a mistake in an emergency room, you have likely already suffered a great deal. It may be time to turn to a professional to ease that suffering. An experienced local emergency room errors legal representative could compassionately work through all of the complex legal and medical concerns involved in a malpractice case in New Jersey to determine if you may be entitled to compensation for your damages. Please contact a Pennsauken Township emergency room errors lawyer as soon as possible to see if he or she could help you.