St. Louis Emergency Room Error Lawyer
A visit to the emergency room is often a chaotic time, with seriously injured or ill patients needing urgent care. The stressful atmosphere places an extreme level of pressure on ER doctors and nurses, who may have a limited amount of time to consider the right course of treatment. However, even in those stressful moments, patients deserve responsible care. If an emergency room physician or another medical professional fails to provide you with an acceptable level of care, you may be able to hold that professional liable for any harm you suffer as a result.
The St. Louis emergency room error lawyers of Sumner Law Group, LLC, can help you demand answers and justice under these difficult circumstances. Our attorneys have the knowledge and the resources to handle complex ER malpractice claims. We also have a long track record of recovering maximum compensation for our deserving clients.
For a free case review, contact us online or call us today. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by discussing your case with one of our skilled emergency room error attorneys.
Types of ER Errors
Examples of some of the common types of emergency room errors include:
- Misdiagnosis, including diagnosing the wrong condition, delayed diagnosis of the correct condition, or failing to diagnose a condition. In the ER setting, this often results in patients being improperly or prematurely discharged from the hospital.
- Medication errors, including giving medications that trigger allergic reactions or adverse reactions with other medication, giving medication contraindicated by the patient’s history, calculating the wrong dose of medication, failing to confirm medication orders when filling out a prescription, and administering medication to the wrong patient.
- Contaminated blood transfusions, which can result in patients becoming infected with diseases.
- EMT and paramedic errors, including failing to properly assess or triage a patient who should be transported to the hospital, or causing injuries by improperly moving or securing patients for transport.
- Anesthesia malpractice, including giving a patient too little anesthesia (allowing them to wake up and feel pain), too much anesthesia (which can cause distress), or failing to properly monitor a patient for complications during a procedure.
- Surgical errors, including causing unnecessary damage to tissues during a procedure, or leaving equipment or materials inside a patient.
What Do You Have to Prove in an ER Malpractice Claim?
Not every adverse outcome from emergency room treatment means that medical malpractice has occurred. Sometimes, a patient can simply have a bad outcome despite a doctor’s or another medical professional’s best efforts.
Successfully pursuing an ER malpractice claim will require you to prove that your medical provider’s actions and treatment decisions failed to comply with the applicable standard of care in your case. The standard of care is often defined as the actions and decisions that other reasonable medical professionals of similar training and experience would undertake in identical circumstances. If your provider made decisions and took actions that other members of the medical profession would have made, the law will not hold your provider liable for malpractice.
Even if your provider’s treatment fell below the accepted standard of care, you must also prove that the provider’s actions caused you to suffer harm that you would not have otherwise endured.
The best way to know whether your ER experience is considered medical malpractice is to consult with a qualified lawyer.
Compensation for Losses After an Emergency Room Error
If an emergency room error has left you with injuries and financial losses, you may be entitled to pursue compensation for:
- Costs of medical treatment for injuries, illnesses, or other conditions caused by the emergency room error
- Long-term care costs, such as physical and occupational therapy, or home health care services
- Lost wages and income if you miss time from work while recovering from harm suffered due to an emergency room error
- Lost earning capacity due to disabilities that prevent you from returning to your pre-injury work
Pain and suffering - Lost quality of life due to scars or physical disfigurement, disabilities, or reduced life expectancy from medical conditions caused by an emergency room error
Time Limit for Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim
Missouri’s statute of limitations on medical malpractice claims requires you to file your emergency room error lawsuit within two years of the date you received treatment or, if applicable, within two years of the date that you discovered (or should have discovered through reasonable diligence) that you were injured.
Missouri also has a statute of repose, which requires you to file your medical malpractice lawsuit no later than 10 years after the alleged negligent treatment, regardless of when you may have discovered your injury.
Minor children who are injured by an emergency room error have until their 20th birthday to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, regardless of how long ago their emergency room treatment happened.
If you fail to file your lawsuit before the statute of limitations and statute of repose (if applicable) expires on your claim, you run the risk of the court permanently dismissing your case. When that happens, you lose the right to pursue financial compensation in court.
How an Emergency Room Error Attorney Can Help You
If you have been harmed by an emergency room error, let an attorney from Sumner Law Group, LLC, help you pursue financial compensation for your injuries and losses by:
- Obtaining your full medical record and other evidence related to your emergency room treatment
- Collaborating with medical experts to help develop a strong argument to show how your treating providers’ actions failed to comply with the applicable standard of care and how that caused you to suffer injuries and losses for which you deserve compensation
- Filing claims on your behalf with the hospital and insurers, and aggressively pursuing a settlement that pays you fairly and full compensation
- Building your case to go to trial if necessary, and vigorously advocating for a verdict and judgment in your favor
You can rest assured that when you have our firm in your corner, you will not owe any fees unless and until we win compensation for you. Our attorneys at Sumner Law Group, LLC, will always be available to speak with you. We will answer your questions and keep you updated on the progress of your case.
Contact us today for a free consultation with a knowledgeable emergency room errors lawyer.
