Columbia Medical Malpractice Attorney

Emergency Room Errors

Have you or someone you love suffered undue harm or preventable injuries after visiting an emergency room? If so, The Sumner Law Group, LLC can help. Our founder, Attorney Brent Sumner is a passionate, yet aggressive Columbia personal injury lawyer who has obtained millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts on behalf of our clients. His zealous representation and tenacious attitude towards his clients' cases has earned him membership into the prestigious Million Dollar Advocates Forum® and the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum®, a group of trial lawyers that represents less than 1% of U.S. attorneys.

An emergency room (ER) is a medical treatment facility usually on the bottom floor of a hospital specializing in the immediate care of patients who present themselves without an appointment. Due to the unplanned nature of patient attendance, the ER provides treatment for a broad spectrum of injuries and illnesses ranging from panic attacks to broken arms and life threatening conditions that demand immediate attention.

Excessive Wait Times & Overcrowding in ERs

While the emergency rooms in most hospitals operate 24 hours a day, it's not uncommon for most U.S. emergency departments to be extremely busy and chaotic environments. One survey of New York doctors in 2007 found that injuries and deaths were caused by excessive waiting periods for hospital beds by ER patients.

Unfortunately emergency room overcrowding is a major problem nationwide which hinders the staff's ability to treat all patients efficiently and effectively. Overcrowding and understaffing leads to poor patient care and even poorer patient outcomes.

To illustrate, a patient can come in to the ER complaining of nausea and chest pain and be misdiagnosed with Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) when they are actually suffering from severely blocked coronary arteries with a massive heart attack imminent. A busy ER doctor can be too quick to diagnose such symptoms as GERD, yet GERD isn't usually diagnosed until only after excluding cardiac ischemia or aortic dissection. In essence, cardiovascular problems are fixable if they are caught early enough, but they can be deadly if they are missed on an ER visit.

Contact The Sumner Law Group, LLC today!

In the hectic emergency room setting, emergency room doctors can adhere to a lower standard of care which can in effect cause undue harm, injuries or even death to patients; this is a form of medical malpractice. Whether such errors were caused by a misdiagnosis, a failure to order adequate tests, or an excessive waiting period, emergency room physicians can be held liable for any harm done to a patient as a direct result of the substandard level of care.

Were you injured as a result of an emergency room error? If so, don't hesitate to contact a Columbia medical malpractice lawyer from The Sumner Law Group, LLC!