Florida Emergency Room Malpractice
When a patient enters an emergency room they give their complete trust to doctors and medical care providers, relying on them to properly diagnose and care for them. Unfortunately, there are times when this is not the case and members of the emergency room staff may act negligently, resulting in serious patient injuries or even death. These situations are referred to as emergency room errors, which fall under the umbrella of medical malpractice.
If you are a victim of this type of medical malpractice and are in unnecessarily increased pain and suffering as a result, you have options to seek the justice you deserve. An experienced emergency room malpractice attorney can help protect your rights, investigate what occurred, and pursue compensation when the evidence supports a medical malpractice claim. A skilled lawyer can help you investigate your healthcare provider’s actions and lay the groundwork for a solid case based on the information uncovered and relevant laws.
Please note, there’s a limited amount of time to file a claim after the error occurs so it’s important to seek legal advice as soon as possible.
Emergency Room Malpractice: Key Takeaways
- Emergency room malpractice may occur when a doctor, nurse, hospital, or other healthcare provider fails to provide appropriate care and a patient is harmed as a result.
- Common emergency room errors can involve misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, misread diagnostic tests, inadequate patient monitoring, or failures to recognize and treat serious medical conditions.
- Emergency room malpractice claims can be subject to different legal standards depending on the circumstances, including certain provisions of Florida’s Good Samaritan Act.
- Florida medical malpractice claims are subject to specific presuit requirements and filing deadlines.
- Di Pietro Partners represents patients throughout Florida, as well as out-of-state patients whose medical injury occurred within the State of Florida.
Differential Diagnosis
Due to the time sensitive nature of emergency rooms, the procedures and techniques used can be considerably different from those used in traditional medical settings. In this environment, doctors frequently use what is called a differential diagnosis to pinpoint the conditions that may be causing the patient’s ailments.
This technique involves doctors creating a list of potential conditions that could be responsible for their patient’s symptoms, and then narrowing down the list beginning with the worst possible diagnosis. Doctors narrow this down by employing certain types of diagnostic tests and assessments to determine if a patient has any conditions on the differential diagnosis list.
Types of Emergency Room Errors
Medical malpractice in emergency rooms generally happens in a couple ways. One of the most common is the misreading of a patient’s diagnostic studies, which can result in the patient not receiving the correct treatment for the illness they actually have. Another common type of medical malpractice in emergency rooms is the doctor not taking a patient’s situation seriously enough and moving the patient to an area of the hospital that is not properly equipped to care for them. Situations like this can cause a patient’s health to decline and worsen their symptoms. In extreme cases, it can result in a patient’s death.
This process involves developing a list of possible diagnoses based on the patient’s symptoms, medical history, examination, and available test results. Physicians then use additional testing and clinical judgment to rule conditions in or out, often giving particular attention to serious or time-sensitive conditions that could cause significant harm if missed.
Other examples of emergency room errors may include:
- Failure to diagnose or timely treat serious conditions such as heart attacks, strokes, infections, or internal bleeding
- Failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests or imaging
- Misreading laboratory results, X-rays, CT scans, or other diagnostic studies
- Medication errors involving the wrong drug, dosage, or route of administration
- Prematurely discharging a patient whose condition requires additional evaluation or treatment
- Failure to adequately monitor a patient whose condition is unstable or deteriorating
- Communication failures between emergency physicians, nurses, specialists, or other hospital staff
Whether an emergency room error amounts to medical malpractice depends on the circumstances of the case, including the patient’s symptoms, the testing performed, the treatment provided, and whether the healthcare providers met the applicable standard of care.
Filing Emergency Room Medical Malpractice Claims
Emergency room physicians and other healthcare providers are not automatically immune from medical malpractice liability under Florida law. However, Florida’s Good Samaritan Act can provide special protections for certain types of emergency medical care, depending on the circumstances in which the treatment was provided.
In some situations involving emergency care in a hospital setting, a plaintiff may be required to prove that the healthcare provider acted with reckless disregard for the consequences affecting the life or health of another person. Other emergency room malpractice claims may still be evaluated under Florida’s ordinary medical malpractice standards.
Patients may also have malpractice claims involving nurses when negligent nursing care contributes to an injury. Depending on the circumstances, liability may rest with the individual nurse, the hospital, a staffing company, or another employer. When a nurse or other healthcare provider works for a government entity, Florida’s sovereign-immunity laws may affect who can be sued and the damages that may be recovered.
Determining who may be legally responsible for an emergency room error depends on the specific facts of the case, the relationship between the healthcare providers and the hospital, and the care that was provided.
Emergency Room Errors Statute of Limitations
Florida’s series of complex Medical Malpractice Laws can be difficult to navigate and understand. The Florida Malpractice Act places the burden of proof upon the plaintiff to prove a medical professional was in fact negligent. In order to do this, another medical professional from the same field will be needed to testify for you. Additionally, causation must be proved, meaning that there must be proof that the medical professional’s actions or failure to act was the cause for your injuries.
On top of this, the State of Florida has a statute of limitations on malpractice cases. According to the medical malpractice statute in The Florida Legislature: (2018).
“An action for medical malpractice shall be commenced within 2 years from the time the incident giving rise to the action occurred or within 2 years from the time the incident is discovered, or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence; however, in no event shall the action be commenced later than 4 years from the date of the incident or occurrence out of which the cause of action accrued, except that this 4-year period shall not bar an action brought on behalf of a minor on or before the child’s eighth birthday…”
In other words, in many cases, there is a 2-4 year statute of limitations on malpractice claims in Florida with several exceptions (i.e. a minor child was involved). Furthermore, cases involving fraud, intentional misrepresentation, or concealment carry a 7 year maximum limit on filing a claim. As a result, it’s imperative to have your case reviewed by our legal and medical professionals as soon as possible.
Because of this limited time window, it is absolutely critical that you hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney to investigate your case as soon as possible.
Why Hire Di Pietro Partners for an Emergency Room Malpractice Case?
Medical and Legal Insight
Di Pietro Partners works alongside a quadruple board-certified physician when evaluating medical malpractice matters. This combination of medical and legal insight can be especially valuable in emergency room cases involving diagnostic decisions, laboratory testing, imaging, patient monitoring, and rapidly changing medical conditions.
Extensive Healthcare Experience
Managing Partner David Di Pietro has extensive experience with healthcare-related legal matters and previously served as Chairman of Broward Health, one of Florida’s largest public healthcare systems.
Experienced Trial Attorneys
Emergency room malpractice cases can involve hospitals, emergency physicians, nurses, staffing companies, and medical experts. Our attorneys have substantial litigation and courtroom experience and are prepared to pursue a case through trial when necessary.
No Fee Unless We Recover Compensation
Di Pietro Partners handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis. Clients pay no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation on their behalf.
Speak With a Florida Medical Malpractice Attorney for Emergency Room Errors
Emergency room malpractice cases can be especially complex because medical providers often must make critical decisions under significant time pressure. Determining whether malpractice occurred may require a careful review of emergency room records, diagnostic testing, imaging, medications, patient monitoring, and the decisions made by the medical professionals involved.
The law firm of Di Pietro Partners represents clients who have been injured as a result of medical negligence anywhere in the State of Florida. Our medical malpractice lawyers have the knowledge and experience to represent your interests and pursue appropriate compensation through settlement negotiations or litigation when necessary. Our team also works alongside a quadruple board-certified physician when evaluating medical malpractice matters, helping us assess both the medical and legal issues involved in complex emergency room cases.
If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of emergency room malpractice or negligence on the behalf of a medical professional, contact our law firm for a free and confidential case evaluation. We represent patients throughout Florida, as well as out-of-state clients whose medical injury occurred within Florida. There are no attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation on your behalf.
