New York Emergency Room Malpractice Attorney

Emergency Room Malpractice Attorneys

Emergency room errors may cause serious and life-threatening injuries. If you or a loved one has suffered because of an emergency room error, you need to speak with an experienced New York emergency room malpractice attorney right away.

At the Jacob D. Fuchsbserg Law Firm, our medical malpractice lawyers understand the difficulty arising from the aftermath of an emergency room error and negligent medical care. We will make sure you get the justice you and your family deserve.

Our practice areas also include wrongful death cases arising from emergency room malpractice. Any death leaves you in confusion and grief, but these feelings intensify when you know your loved one’s death was avoidable. 

Our compassionate and dedicated lawyers can help you hold responsible parties responsible for their deadly mistakes. 

With generations of experience handling medical malpractice lawsuits throughout New York, we understand what you are going through, and we will fight for you every step of the way. If you or a loved one have been injured due to an emergency room error, we can help. 

Call 212-869-3500 or contact us online for a free consultation with one of our experienced emergency room malpractice lawyers.

Meet Our Attorneys

Who Can File an Emergency Room Error Lawsuit in New York?

Anyone who feels they suffered a serious injury due to emergency room negligence can file an ER error lawsuit in New York City. If you lost a loved one due to a possible error, you might have a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital and any emergency room doctors who treated your loved one. 

You pursue the claim on behalf of your loved one’s estate for wrongful death cases. Any settlement proceeds deposit into the estate, which they distribute to beneficiaries. 

If the injured party is a minor, a parent or guardian must file the lawsuit on their behalf. Any settlement proceeds will likely deposit into a trust until the minor reaches adulthood. 

Who Can Help to File an Emergency Room Claim in New York?

Medical malpractice claims are complicated, and emergency room claims are no exception. An attorney is critical in these claims, as you will face difficulty gathering evidence and dealing with ER malpractice carriers by yourself. 

This scenario becomes incredibly challenging if you are recovering from an injury or grieving a loved one’s death. 

An emergency room malpractice attorney takes this pressure off of you. While you focus on physical or emotional recovery, we can investigate and manage your claim. Our efforts include:

• Accelerating the process: Doctors, hospitals, and malpractice insurance carriers will attempt to delay your claim. It is a planned strategy; evidence can become stale, or you may miss the statute of limitations for your claim.
  We will discuss legal strategies to push back against this trend and prove your case against the emergency room or treatment provider. 
• Identifying responsible parties: Our attorneys can find the medical personnel responsible for medical errors and hold them accountable.
  We may also discover habitual patterns where doctors and nurses violate procedures or continually misdiagnose a medical condition. 
• Maximizing your compensation: Your personal injury compensation amount depends on medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages you incurred due to the medical error.
  We make every effort possible to secure maximum compensation for your injury or wrongful death claim. Our evidence-gathering and knowledgeable approaches increase your chances of receiving an award and receiving enough to cover your damages. 
• Negotiate on your behalf: Our attorneys are skilled negotiators and are not intimidated by lowballing insurance adjusters. We offer generations of experience battling hospitals and corporate lawyers in medical malpractice claims.
  While we seek a fair resolution in settlement negotiations, we are not hesitant to take your case to trial if insurance adjusters and corporate attorneys do not take your claim seriously. 
• Peace of mind: We guide you and inform you of developments at every step. You will never decide on a settlement or other issue without being fully informed, and if you have questions, we are available to answer them. 

Types of Emergency Room Malpractice Cases We Handle

The Fuchsberg Law Firm sees many types of emergency room malpractice cases and knows how to approach them. Specifically, our caseload involves:

• Emergency room surgical errors
• Untimely diagnosis and treatment
• Early discharge or failure to give complete discharge instructions
• Medication errors
• Misreading x-rays, medical history, or lab results
• Providing the wrong medical service or treatment

This list does not necessarily include all the emergency room medical practice cases we handle. As stated above, the fast pace of hospital emergency rooms often leads to malpractice and mistakes. 

You should consider contacting an attorney if you suspect any emergency room malpractice.

Common Causes of Emergency Room Errors in New York

Emergency departments are frequently chaotic. Doctors and triage workers must make quick decisions regarding the seriousness of a condition and how quickly it requires treatment. 

Add in fatigue and stress, especially on busy nights, and the likelihood of emergency room mistakes and errors increases. 

Emergency room medical errors account for approximately 7,000 deaths per year in the United States. Common examples of where emergency rooms fail a reasonable standard of care include:

• Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnosis: The most frequently misdiagnosed conditions include heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, and meningitis. These conditions are potentially deadly, and failure to diagnose and timely treat them often leads to brain injury, disability, and death. This error may start at triage when a medical professional fails to comprehend a condition’s urgency. Patients may end up at the back of the line, which allows time for their condition to worsen. Other mistakes may happen later in treatment, like confusing a heart attack as indigestion. 
• Training gaps: There are many ways training gaps can manifest in the emergency room. Physicians may have clinical experience other than emergency medicine and are not accustomed to the ER environment. They may miss procedures or fail to refer to a specialist when necessary. 
• Understaffing: Health care provider shortages are a reality. Emergency rooms suffer from this phenomenon too. When not enough emergency room staff attend to patients, something will get overlooked. Tired workers may take shortcuts that keep patients from receiving treatment, or another emergency may distract them. This situation makes emergency room errors more likely. 
• Failing to review medical records: Many mistakes arise from failing to review a patient’s medical history. ER doctors may prescribe a drug the patient is allergic to, or they are more likely to misdiagnosis. Patients who present a history of heart attacks may be sent home too early or have their symptoms dismissed as indigestion or pulled muscles. These mistakes are often deadly. 
• Skipping necessary diagnostic tests or failing to interpret their results: This error is often the result of other circumstances, including poor training or understaffing. Doctors should know which conditions warrant tests and perform them to confirm your illness, health issue, or injury. But fatigue or crowding may lead medical staff to make hasty decisions based on hunches rather than objective results. In egregious cases, healthcare workers may run tests but either misread test results or never review them. 
• Delayed treatment: Many conditions, like appendix issues, internal injuries, stroke, or heart problems, depend on timely diagnosis to respond to treatment. If doctors fail to diagnose and treat an issue timely, the patient may face a substantial disability or die. 
• Communication failures: ER staff should communicate. They should be aware of a patient’s condition and how to proceed. But if communication breaks down or never happens, patients face malpractice risks. 
• Failing to consult a specialist: A doctor may fail to recognize a condition requiring a specialist or never consult them. This error is often a training, knowledge, or communication mishap. A treatment provider may decide they can address the condition without specialist input. In other cases, a doctor may rely on a nurse to contact the specialist but never directly communicate that to the nurse. 
• Medication errors: Doctors may give medication patients are allergic to or fail to dose the right amount. Sometimes, patients receive the wrong medication due to communication issues and mix-ups. 
• Inadequate discharge instructions: Discharge instructions should identify worrisome symptoms and tell patients when they need to follow up. But if those instructions are incomplete or missing, patients do not know what to expect. In many cases, patients face worse symptoms and end up in the emergency room again within 72 hours. 

Like other medical malpractice cases, emergency room errors can be extremely dangerous. If you suspect you or a loved one suffered needlessly due to these mistakes, you must immediately follow up with another doctor and contact an emergency room medical malpractice attorney.