Emergency Room Malpractice

Millions of Americans place their lives in the hands• Inadequate record keeping procedures
of strangers every year, when they require• Inadequate medication administration
emergency care, but few know that nearly halfprocedures
of all medical malpractice injuries are caused in• Unethical policies (such as patient dumping
emergency rooms. A trip to the emergencyand discrimination)
room is not a choice, and patients do not haveEmergency room errors
the opportunity to research and evaluate theThese and other poor practices lead to common
quality of care that they will receive.emergency room errors including:
Emergency room malpractice causes• Failure to fully evaluate a patient
Emergency rooms are often over crowded and• Misdiagnosis
understaffed. They are high stress environments,• Delayed diagnosis
where doctors and staff have to respond quickly• Failure to diagnose
to a wide variety of unpredictable life and death• Laboratory errors
situations, and often care for patients who they• Failure to monitor a patient
have never treated before.• Patient dumping
Hospitals have a duty to make emergency rooms• Failure to fully treat a patient
as safe and efficient as possible, minimizing the• Delayed treatment
risk of error by implementing and enforcing strict• Inappropriate medications or improper doses
policies, and properly screening and training• Contaminated blood transfusions
doctors and staff. Emergency room errors are• Surgical errors
often the result of hospital negligence or• Negligence
wrongdoing including:Injuries caused by emergency room malpractice
• Failure to maintain an adequate number ofEmergency room errors inevitably lead to injury,
doctors and support staff per shiftoften permanent injury, and sometimes death.
• Failure to screen doctors and support staffWhat may start out as a minor medical
• Inadequate trainingemergency can end in tragedy. Injuries caused in
• Inadequate facilitiesthe emergency room may or may not be related
• Unsanitary conditionsto the underlying condition which prompted the
• Inadequate patient tracking proceduresemergency room visit.