St. Louis Emergency Room Error Lawyer

In a medical crisis, patients turn to the emergency room for time-sensitive care. Emergency room providers have a duty to triage patients appropriately so they can diagnose and treat patients in an emergency. If improper ER treatment injures you further, or if emergency room providers fail to make a diagnosis, and you suffer harm as a result, it can lead to devastating medical, emotional, and financial consequences. If you or someone you care about has been harmed from receiving inappropriate or inadequate treatment in the emergency room, and you are seeking answers and compensation, our medical malpractice attorneys can help. Contact us today to speak to an experienced St. Louis emergency room error lawyer.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Not every error made in an emergency room meets the definition of medical malpractice. The threshold for medical malpractice is met when your treatment falls below the standard of care that other medical professionals with the same level of expertise would have provided under similar circumstances.

Attorneys experienced in handling emergency room mistakes in St. Louis can help you establish whether medical malpractice has occurred and support you in pursuing a claim for compensation.

Causes of Emergency Room Errors

Emergency rooms must provide urgent care in stressful situations and have protocols in place to ensure that providers meet the standard of care. When ER workers do not follow these protocols, errors can occur. These may be the result of various factors, such as:

• Errors in triage, or the preliminary assessment of patients
• Communication errors
• Failure to refer patients to specialists as needed
• Administration of the wrong medication, or failure to recognize an overdose
• Inadequate training, experience, or implementation of well-informed judgment
• Failure to treat patients with adequate urgency or carry out proper patient monitoring
• Issues related to understaffing, which can cause excessive wait times or inadequate care in general
• Poorly equipped or maintained facilities

The lawyers at Zevan Murphy can help injured St. Louis patients seek compensation for preventable ER errors.

Injuries and Illnesses Often Missed in Emergency Rooms

Some injuries or illnesses, when misdiagnosed or not recognized in the emergency room, can lead to you suffering further harm. Common examples include:

• Stroke, which requires focused and speedy medical attention
• Dangerous infections, including abscesses, which can become life-threatening if not treated
• Spinal cord injuries, which can be slow to present with recognizable symptoms
• Heart attacks
• Vascular emergencies, such as aortic dissection
• Appendicitis, which is generally very treatable, but becomes far more dangerous if it is misdiagnosed or if treatment is delayed
• Rarer conditions and diseases, which, though less common, must be timely diagnosed or can lead to devastating consequences, such as Kawasaki disease, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, and vitamin deficiencies
• Internal bleeding, which can prove deadly if not caught early

If you suffered injuries due to an emergency room error – whether minor or severe – work with our lawyers in St. Louis to hold your provider accountable.

Establishing Resulting Losses

To bring a successful emergency room error claim, St. Louis attorneys need to demonstrate that a medical professional in the emergency ward or the facility itself failed to meet their responsibilities regarding your treatment. You are owed a duty of care, and when an emergency room fails to meet the standard, it can result in an injury for which you are entitled to make a legal claim.

Economic Damages

An important element of your claim is identifying the losses you experience as a result of an injury. These losses include medical bills, lost wages, and future medical care needs. Failure to investigate all economic damages can limit your compensation, and our attorneys take into consideration that medical expenses incurred as a result of an emergency room error can extend far into the future.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic losses include the physical and emotional pain and suffering you endure as a result of the emergency room error. These can far exceed your economic losses, but they can be difficult to assess. We have a team of skilled lawyers who will use their experience to advocate for fair compensation for all non-economic damages.

Our attorneys will pursue all available compensation – both economic and non-economic damages – to ensure that you are fully compensated for your losses.

Discuss Your ER Injury With an Experienced Attorney in St. Louis Today

If you went to the ER seeking treatment and instead sustained a further injury, a reputable St. Louis emergency room error lawyer at Zevan Murphy, LLC, can help. We will work hard to build a strong claim on your behalf and skillfully pursue an outcome that supports your health and well-being. Call us today for more information.