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Emergency Room Malpractice Attorney

Emergency Room Negligence

emergency room malpractice attorney

In a life-threatening emergency, you would expect the highest standard of medical care in an emergency room. If your attending medical staff is overworked and understaffed, however, your well-being could be jeopardized. In the event that you suffer further or additional injury due to emergency room malpractice, you need the Southfield medical malpractice lawyers at Lipton Law.

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious personal injury because of negligence in a Michigan emergency room, you deserve full compensation. At Lipton Law, our medical malpractice lawyers are dedicated to helping you and your family in your time of need. We will provide you with passionate advocacy, using over 100 years of combined experience to get results.

Can You File a Lawsuit for Emergency Room Negligence?

Yes, but it depends on the facts of your case. Many patients and doctors mistakenly believe that ER doctors are immune from liability, in contrast to doctors in non-emergency hospitals. This mistaken belief comes from the fact that ER doctors often work in a very fast-paced environment.

However, it’s important to remember that they do not have complete immunity to any kind of liability. It is still very possible to sue ER doctors for medical errors if those errors cause serious injury or damage. It can be difficult to figure out how to sue a hospital on your own, which is why we recommend working with an attorney.

As with all medical malpractice cases, you’ll still need to prove that negligence occurred. First, you and your emergency room malpractice lawyer must prove that the negligent doctor was actually responsible for you and your care. This is also called establishing a doctor-patient relationship.

Then, you must show that the emergency room doctor engaged in careless, preventable actions. Lastly, you must prove that you actually suffered damages or injury from those negligent actions. If you can prove those three crucial elements, you likely have a strong medical malpractice case.

What Is the Difference Between Emergency Room Malpractice and Negligence?

Many people use the terms interchangeably, which isn’t completely incorrect. The main difference between medical malpractice and negligence mainly lies in the intent. Medical negligence happens when a doctor makes a mistake that causes unintended harm to their patient. Medical malpractice, however, involves an emergency room physician knowingly failing to apply the proper standard of care.

It’s important to remember that malpractice does not automatically mean medical professionals have negative or malicious intentions. It just means that they know the harm they caused could have been avoided with the use of alternative measures.

How Do Emergency Room Errors Occur?

emergency room malpractice

Unlike inpatient wards, emergency rooms offer a much different environment for both doctor and patient. Even for emergency room doctors with years of experience, the stress and pace of their environment could lead to unintended consequences and mistakes. Many emergency room physicians experience frequent interruptions. They also often have unreliable or very little information to go on for patient treatment.

Despite this, emergency room doctors have a standard of care to uphold for each and every patient. Getting too lenient with this standard or completely ignoring it could have devastating consequences for patients. There are certain types of mistakes that contribute more to emergency room medical malpractice than others. We list these below.

  • Information processing errors
  • Inadequate information
  • Unreliable information
  • Problems with ensuring that enough information was gathered
  • Misjudging the significance of information
  • Premature and incorrect diagnoses

Legal Options After Emergency Room Negligence in Michigan

So, can you sue for surgery complications in Michigan? Before you commit to trying to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, it’s important to understand who you could have a case against. If a hospital fails to uphold a certain standard of care for patients, it can be directly or vicariously liable.

Direct liability means that the hospital is liable for its own negligence in an emergency room setting. Vicarious liability means that the hospital is also responsible for the actions of its employees.

For example, maybe the hospital failed to perform an adequate background check during the hiring process. If they hire an employee who then injures a patient, the hospital could be held liable due to negligent supervision.

Common Michigan Emergency Room Malpractice Injuries

Emergency rooms are often chaotic. Doctors and nurses have various emergencies to handle all at once, but that does not excuse medical negligence. Common emergency room errors include:

While emergency rooms can be hectic, physicians still owe a standard of care to patients. Our Michigan stroke lawyers fight for those who have sustained lifelong injuries as a result of emergency room negligence. While many forms of negligence exist, this seems to be the most common in the Detroit area.

Many factors are involved in these kinds of medical malpractice claims. At Lipton Law, we believe you should not have to worry about your lawsuit while recovering. While we handle your case, you can focus on healing and moving forward. We have a commitment to success for our clients, proven by our long track record of favorable results.

How Long Do You Have to Sue a Hospital for Negligence in Michigan?

After you suffer any kind of personal injury, it’s important to be aware of how much time you have to file a lawsuit for financial compensation. If you can prove the necessary elements for a medical malpractice lawsuit, you have two years to sue hospital emergency rooms for negligence. This two-year clock starts counting down on the day of the ER malpractice mistake. Hospital malpractice is an unfortunate reality that must be rectified by a qualified attorney.

The two-year deadline applies to surgical malpractice, surgical errors, diagnosis, judgment, treatment, and care errors. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule, which we list below.

  • Cases involving minors
  • Cases involving a patient’s death (wrongful death)
  • The discovery of an emergency department mistake more than 2 years after the mistake actually happened

It’s important to contact an attorney as soon as possible if you fear you or someone you love has been a victim of ER malpractice. If you did not receive the appropriate standard of care during your ER visit, speak with a medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. Failing to get advice from an attorney could result in significant pushback from the emergency departments or missing your filing deadline.

What Are the Four Elements That Prove Negligence for a Malpractice Case?

In order to uphold the integrity of the United States legal system, an extensive discovery process has always been and always will be a priority. In order to show that your doctor acted negligently in treating you, you and your medical malpractice attorney must show the following.

  • A doctor-patient relationship existed between you and the practicing physician.
  • The doctor owed you a standard of care but breached that standard.
  • There was harm caused to you by that breach.
  • The harm caused by the doctor resulted in losses for the patient.

If you and your legal help can prove those elements, you may be eligible for both economic losses and non-economic losses.

Contact the Emergency Room Malpractice Lawyers at Lipton Law

Negligence and mistakes in the emergency room could lead to prolonged medical treatment and time out of work. The attorneys at Lipton Law can help you get the compensation you deserve to pay for medical bills and reimburse you for lost wages. We handle the entire process ourselves so that you can focus on recovery.

It’s time to take legal action for two reasons: so you can receive the compensation you deserve and so that other doctors will be deterred from negligence in the future. Find out how we can help you today. Email us or call our Southfield law firm at 248-557-1688 to schedule a free case evaluation.