Boynton Beach Emergency Room Error Lawyer
When you are in an accident or face a sudden medical crisis, your life is in the hands of first responders and emergency room medical personnel. You trust these trained professionals to provide you with first-rate care. Unfortunately, even the most experienced provider sometimes fails to meet the appropriate standard of care–and you end up suffering additional injuries and damages as a result.
The skilled Boynton Beach emergency room error lawyers at Leifer & Ramirez can investigate your case and advise you of your legal rights. If an emergency room error was the result of negligence or recklessness, you are entitled to seek compensation for your injuries–not just your medical bills, but also lost wages and pain and suffering, among other items.
What Are the Most Common Emergency Room Mistakes?
Medical malpractice happens in all parts of the healthcare industry. But within an emergency department, such errors are especially critical, as they may result in delayed or improper care for individuals requiring immediate medical attention. Some of the more common types of emergency room errors we deal with at Leifer & Ramirez include ignoring patients who are waiting for treatment, failure to diagnose, delayed diagnosis, administering incorrect types and doses of medication or anesthesia, giving the patient a contaminated blood transfusion, ignoring obvious signs of distress in a patient, and cases where a patient develops an infection due to neglect.
Hospitals often try to rationalize these types of serious medical errors on the grounds they are understaffed and overworked in the emergency department. But that is not an excuse, legally or ethically. The truth is that even a “simple” emergency room error can lead to life-threatening complications for patients.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Emergency Room Malpractice?
There’s an important legal distinction between first responders such as paramedics or firefighters and emergency room medical personnel. Florida law provides special protections for first responders. This doesn’t mean they are immune from personal injury claims, but it is more difficult to pursue such cases, since the victim must prove the first responder acted negligently or recklessly. For example, if a paramedic arrives at an accident scene drunk and makes a critical mistake in patient care, that would constitute recklessness.
As far as emergency room personnel–doctors, nurses, aides, and even the hospital itself–there are no such special rules. However, you still need to prove there was a deviation from the accepted standard of care. And because of the way Florida malpractice law works, you only have a limited period of time to bring a claim–otherwise, you permanently lose your right to seek compensation.
Contact Leifer & Ramirez in Boynton Beach Today
Leifer & Ramirez has experience in pursuing complex medical malpractice claims involving emergency room personnel. We can assist you at every stage of the legal process, from conducting a preliminary investigation to negotiating a possible settlement and–if necessary–presenting a case to a judge or jury. If you live in the Boynton Beach area and have been injured due to an emergency room error, call us today to schedule a free consultation so we can learn more about your case.
