Can You Sue for Negligent Emergency Room Treatment?
Emergency departments bear a substantial share of America’s healthcare burden. According to the CDC, there are around 155 million visits each year, many of which go smoothly. However, a landmark AHRQ-commissioned review of emergency room visits found that roughly 7.4 million of those visits involve diagnostic errors alone, leading to an estimated 2.6 million preventable injuries and 371,000 cases of permanent disability or death each year. And this is just one example of emergency room negligence. Diagnostic errors are far from the only type of malpractice that can occur in the ER.
The financial and emotional cost of an avoidable emergency room mistake can follow a family for decades, but without legal assistance, it can be very difficult to obtain fair and full compensation. The Rhode Island emergency room negligence lawyers at Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell understand. We are here to protect your interests, fight for your rights, and help you secure the compensation you are due.
Call an Emergency Room Negligence Attorney for FREE
To schedule a FREE and confidential consultation with one of our emergency department negligence lawyers, call us at 401-273-8330 today. Located in Providence, we welcome clients from Wakefield, Woonsocket, Warwick, Newport, Westerly, and throughout Rhode Island.
What Is Emergency Room Negligence?
Even though emergency room negligence and medical malpractice claims are circumstance-specific, certain types of claims are common. For example, some of the most common lawsuits against emergency rooms in Rhode Island involve claims for:
- Missed or Delayed Diagnosis. This includes stroke, heart attack, sepsis, meningitis, and spinal cord compression, all of which can have lasting or even fatal complications.
- Triage Errors. This may include ignoring critically ill patients, leaving patients in the waiting room for extended periods, and mixing up records.
- Medication Mistakes. This may include wrong drug, dose, route, or patient, along with failure to check for allergies and drug interaction oversights.
- Failure to Order or Interpret Tests. This can involve overlooking abnormal imaging or lab results, or failing to order them in the first place.
- Communication Breakdowns. This might include incomplete hand-offs, unread consultation notes, failure to relay information to labs, and administrative errors.
- Premature Discharge. This can involve sending unstable patients home, failing to provide adequate follow-up instructions, and failing to admit.
- Inadequate Infection Control. This involves poor sterility practices that make sepsis or surgical site infections more likely.
- EMTALA Violations. This includes refusing to stabilize or transfer patients, and patient dumping due to insurance status or an inability to pay.
Emergency room negligence is not always easy to spot. At Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell, we carefully review medical records and supporting documentation to identify lapses in care and hold negligent healthcare providers accountable for all of the damage they cause.
A Closer Look at Emergency Room Wait Times
The CDC reports that, nationally, around 41% of patients who visit the ER are seen within 15 minutes. That may not be the case in Rhode Island. A study reported by the Rhode Island Current found that Rhode Island has the fourth-longest emergency room visit times in the United States. According to the article, it can take nearly one hour for patients in emergency departments in Rhode Island to see a specialist, potentially placing people suffering medical emergencies like stroke, aortic dissection, or sepsis at heightened risk for serious complications.
When every second is critical, even the slightest delay can result in lasting harm. Our Rhode Island emergency room negligence lawyers are here to meet with you free of charge to help you understand your options and your rights.
Who Can Be Held Accountable for ER Department Negligence?
Many emergency room errors and instances of oversight or negligence are the result of multiple missteps. This means that, even in seemingly straightforward claims, several parties may share liability. This can include:
- Hospital security officers
- Intake nurses and triage staff
- Emergency physicians
- Specialists and consulting physicians
- Radiologists and lab professionals
- Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians
- Hospitals and health systems
In the AHRQ data linked above, it was shown that nearly nine out of ten diagnostic error malpractice claims involve failures of clinical judgment or decision making. Not simply limited to diagnostic errors, these failures are common in all types of medical malpractice claims and can happen at several points during emergency care.
The experienced attorneys at Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell have nearly five decades of experience investigating emergency room negligence. We have the resources needed to fully investigate these claims, identify all liable parties, and hold each accountable for the suffering they have caused.
When to Call an Emergency Room Negligence Lawyer
If you suspect you were injured due to care you received in an emergency department, you should talk to an emergency room negligence lawyer as soon as possible. Certain time limits might come into play, which can make it more difficult to pursue justice. Similarly, the longer you wait, the harder it may be to collect evidence and rely on witness memories.
The best medical malpractice lawyers will:
- Secure and review records, including EMS logs and treatment records
- Consult with medical experts to identify breaches in protocol
- Carefully calculate your damages
- Build a case that clearly illustrates your claim
- Negotiate for a fair settlement
- Take your case to trial if a settlement can’t be reached
When selecting an emergency room error lawyer, be sure to choose one with courtroom experience. Litigating in front of a judge and/or jury requires a different skillset from settlement negotiations. Not all attorneys have the same experience.
Why Choose Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell?
For nearly 50 years, our Providence-based firm has focused on catastrophic injury and medical negligence cases. We deliberately keep our caseload small, so every client gets:
- Direct access to seasoned trial lawyers who know Rhode Island hospitals in and out.
- In-house medical malpractice expertise and external specialists to assist with investigations.
- Meticulous damage analysis that captures the true cost of lifetime care, home modifications, and lost independence.
- Compassionate, straightforward guidance from a legal team that truly cares about your health and happiness.
Our award-winning firm has a long history of taking difficult medical malpractice cases involving misdiagnosis, anesthesia and medication errors, administrative oversight, and other forms of emergency room negligence. We have secured a number of significant settlements and verdicts for victims of careless doctors, nurses, and hospital staff. We are here to take your case, stand by your side, and help you secure the full compensation you are due.
Contact Our Rhode Island Emergency Room Negligence Lawyers for FREE
If you believe an ER error changed your life or ended the life of a loved one, use our confidential online contact form to schedule a no-cost, no-obligation case review. Our emergency room negligence lawyers serve victims of medical malpractice in Rhode Island and nearby areas of Massachusetts from our offices in Providence.
