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Mistakes in the emergency room can have serious consequences

On Behalf of | Jul 1, 2021 | Medical Malpractice

Part of life in Maryland is that people will suffer injuries and have illnesses from time to time. Some of these injuries and illnesses are mild and do not have a great effect on people’s lives though. In these situations, people will likely not seek medical treatment. This is not true for all injuries and illnesses though and some will requirement significant medical treatment. Many times when people suffer these types of serious injuries or illnesses they will need to go to the emergency room to receive immediate medical care.

When people arrive at emergency rooms, doctors and other medical professionals work quickly to try and determine the problem and how to best treat it. They may be trying to do the best they can to stabilize people before trying to diagnose the root of the medical complication. Unfortunately, sometimes needing to work quickly may result in medical errors being made that can have a major effect on people’s future health.

Common medical errors made in the ER

There are many errors that can occur, but a study found that some are more common than others.

  1. The most common error had to do with diagnosing the medical problem. This could be a misdiagnosis, a delayed diagnosis or a failure to diagnose the actual issue causing the problem. They may fail to order certain tests, not properly analyze an abnormal finding or prematurely ruling out a certain diagnosis.
  2. Another common error was failing to use available clinical information or failing to establish an alternate diagnosis. This sometimes occurred because certain steps in the exam were skipped by the medical professionals.
  3. Poor communication is also a common reason for medical errors. This could be poor communication between the various medical providers; failing to properly review previous medical records; poor communication between the patient and doctor and other forms of poor communication.

When people in Maryland go to the emergency room or any other medical professional, there is an expectation that they will be able to diagnose the problem and address it in the best way possible. This does not mean that doctors will be able to fix every problem, but preventable errors should not be made making the situation worse. If this occurs, the patients may be entitled to compensation for the damages they suffer as a result of the errors made by doctors. Medical malpractice cases are very complicated though and consulting with experienced attorneys could be beneficial.