| Emergency Rooms, or ER's, at hospitals all | | | | complication which occurs when the pressure |
| over the country are the most stressful | | | | in a closed fascial compartment rises |
| worksites in the healthcare profession. The | | | | sufficiently high to cause nerve and tissue |
| standard of care in United States hospitals | | | | injuries. Without timely diagnosis and |
| is high quality. Doctors, nurses, surgeons, | | | | treatment, compartment syndrome can cause |
| and all other healthcare professionals take | | | | permanent loss of use or function in the |
| pride in this. However, the fact remains that | | | | involved extremity (legs or arms). The |
| malpractice occurs in the medical profession | | | | clinical signs of compartment syndrome |
| and today's hospitals need to improve the | | | | include pain out of proportion to the injury, |
| care provided in their Emergency Departments. | | | | pain on passive range of motion, and loss of |
| | | | distal pulses. Immediate consultation with a |
| Errors in hospital Emergency Rooms are a | | | | surgeon is the preferred course of treatment. |
| common occurrence infrequently talked about | | | | |
| and rarely reported to the media. That is why | | | | Failing to treat a perirectal abscess in a |
| you don't hear about these types of cases on | | | | diabetic patient as an emergency. Patients |
| the news. Understaffed hospitals, | | | | who are diabetic present many unique |
| ill-equipped emergency rooms, and poorly | | | | challenges to their health care providers. A |
| trained staff may lead to fatal errors when | | | | perirectal or perianal abscess is a pool of |
| dealing with patients requiring emergency | | | | pus that forms next to the anus, often |
| treatment. Let's face it - when you arrive at | | | | causing considerable tenderness and swelling |
| your local hospital ER you know absolutely | | | | in that area and pain on sitting down and on |
| nothing about who will be taking care of you | | | | defecating. These abscesses or infections |
| and there is no time to research the | | | | have a tendency to rapidly progress to |
| competency and track record of the ER staff. | | | | deeper, more serious infections in diabetic |
| | | | patients. The abscess can develop into |
| There are many ways that errors or | | | | Fournier's gangrene, a life-threatening |
| malpractice may occur in Emergency Rooms. The | | | | infections with a reported mortality rate of |
| following is a partial list of some of the | | | | 9% - 43%. Again, prompt consultation with a |
| Emergency Room medical negligence cases we | | | | surgeon is the preferred course of action. |
| have handled: | | | | |
| | | | Failing to provide the proper airway for |
| - Medication Errors | | | | patients with facial or skull fractures. |
| | | | Establishing and securing an airway is one of |
| - Prescription Errors | | | | the first steps addressed by all Emergency |
| | | | Departments. There are several ways to |
| - Failing to diagnose impending heart attacks | | | | accomplish this goal but the main techniques |
| and strokes | | | | are tracheal intubation (either oral or |
| | | | nasal), bag and mask, or a surgical procedure |
| - Diagnosis Errors | | | | known as a cricothyroidotomy. Emergency |
| | | | physicians should almost never attempt a |
| - Errors in interpreting x-rays, CT scans, | | | | nasal tracheal intubation in patients with |
| and MRI studies | | | | facial or skull fractures due to the |
| | | | possibility of passing the tube into the |
| - Discharging patients who are critically ill | | | | cranial vault and thereby cause even more |
| | | | serious injuries. |
| Over 225,000 people die from medical | | | | |
| malpractice related injuries in a single year | | | | Failing to admit unstable patients or |
| and nearly half of these deaths are from | | | | patients with unclear diagnoses to the |
| emergency room errors. | | | | hospital. Remember, the Emergency Room |
| | | | doctor's first responsibility is to stabilize |
| The following is a partial list of the more | | | | the patient and then make appropriate |
| common medical errors which arise in the | | | | decisions about the patient's continuing care |
| Emergency Department: | | | | needs. Most ER doctors do not have admitting |
| | | | privileges at the hospital - they must |
| Failing to administer prophylactic | | | | contact the patient's regular doctor or the |
| antibiotics in patients with open fractures. | | | | hospital admitting doctor for permission to |
| An open fracture is one in which the bone has | | | | admit the patient directly from the ER into |
| broken through the skin, and as such, these | | | | the hospital. Almost everyone has a story |
| fractures present an increased likelihood of | | | | about a friend or family member who was |
| infection. The best outcome for these | | | | discharged from the Emergency Room returned |
| patients is dependent upon prevention of | | | | to their home and within hours or a couple of |
| infection and obtaining a quick union of the | | | | days suffered a disastrous outcome. Make sure |
| fracture. Prophylactic antibiotics reduce the | | | | your friend or family member is stable, and |
| risk of infection and should be given as soon | | | | with a plan of treatment, before discharge |
| as possible. | | | | from the ER. |
| | | | |
| Failing to diagnose compartment syndrome in | | | | If you or anyone you know has experienced an |
| patients with tibial fractures. The tibia is | | | | emergency room error, or any other kind of |
| the larger of the two bones of the lower leg | | | | medical malpractice, please contact us. We |
| and is the weight-bearing bone of the shin. A | | | | are here to help. |
| compartment syndrome is a serious | | | | |