When you or a loved one suffers an injury or has a medical condition that requires immediate attention, you go to your local hospital’s emergency room for help. Most hospitals and emergency rooms provide excellent care. However, ERs may be overcrowded and understaffed, creating a recipe for disaster. Situations like this lead to hospital negligence and emergency room errors.
Hospital negligence can lead to serious injury or death and may include hospital malpractice by doctors, nurses, nurse’s aides, physician’s assistants, and technicians. If you or a loved one suffered harm due to emergency room malpractice, you should consult the Cleveland hospital errors lawyers at Tittle & Perlmuter to learn about your options for recovery. Our medical malpractice attorneys could help you obtain compensation that covers additional medical expenses, provides for future needs, and offsets some of the other effects you have endured.
Some common examples of emergency room malpractice and hospital negligence may include:
Regardless of the type of malpractice or error, the results can be devastating. Worse yet, it is often the case that the damages someone suffers could have been avoided if the doctor or nurse took one extra step. They may have been able to call for a specialist consult, order an additional test, or check the past medical history of the patient. Depending on the type of hospital error, a lawyer in Cleveland could build a claim for damages.
Civil law provides compensation to offset a variety of effects stemming from medical malpractice. Individuals may receive an award of damages to cover both economic and non-economic losses, assuming they file the claim before the deadline. An emergency room malpractice attorney could help keep track of the deadline.
Economic losses refer to quantifiable damages, such as medical bills and wages lost due to time off work. Anticipated reduced income and future medical needs also could be economic losses for which someone could receive compensation.
In Cleveland, a hospital errors lawyer also could work to recover compensation for non-economic losses such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment. However, Ohio Revised Code §2323.43 limits the amount of compensation for non-economic losses, depending on the circumstances. If physical injuries do not result in serious permanent disability or disfigurement, the amount available for intangible losses could be limited to $250,000-$350,000.
Emergency rooms are high-pressure settings where healthcare providers sometimes must make split-second decisions. The standard of care may be substantially different in an emergency room than in other medical settings. However, doctors and others in emergency rooms are still required to treat their patients with reasonable care. When they fail to do so, they should be held accountable for the harm that results in hospital negligence cases.
If you suffered harm caused by preventable mistakes in the emergency room, you may be entitled to compensation to make up for your losses. Learn how our Cleveland hospital errors lawyers at Tittle & Perlmuter could help you protect your rights and recover fair damages by calling today.
This guide is intended to help you understand the proper steps to take if you think you might be the victim of medical malpractice in Ohio. If you still have questions please contact our office today for a free case review.