Belle Glade Emergency Room Errors Lawyer

When you go to the emergency room for a health concern, you might expect that you will be attended to with the highest degree of care and skill. Unfortunately, mistakes are made daily in emergency rooms, and some of these errors would be preventable if not for a healthcare professional’s dereliction of their duty. If you or a loved one were injured in a recent emergency room visit, an experienced attorney could help your case. A Belle Glade emergency room errors lawyer can review the facts of your case and discuss your options to recover compensation.Victims of emergency room faults could suffer long-lasting and even fatal injuries. The personal injury attorneys at Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa can pursue justice against the person or parties who may be legally responsible for your losses and fight for the compensation you may deserve.

Examples of Emergency Room Errors and Injuries

Typical instances of medical errors in emergency rooms include misdiagnosing a patient, failing to diagnose a patient’s medical condition, or prescribing the wrong medication. Failure to take the appropriate precautionary measures to ensure patient sanitation or ordering the wrong medical tests may also constitute emergency room negligence if a patient is injured as a result.

Injuries suffered by victims of emergency room errors may range from moderate to life-threatening and can include:

• Infections
• Internal hemorrhaging
• Embolism
• Stroke
• Heart damage
• Loss of limbs
• Organ damage

These injuries may result from failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis of certain medical conditions.

Proving Emergency Room Negligence in Belle Glade

Emergency room error claimants may be entitled to compensation for their injuries, but first, they must prove that the medical provider was negligent to win civil damages. The components of negligence which must be determined are as follows:

• There was a duty of care owed by the healthcare professional to the plaintiff (a provider-patient relationship was already established)
• The healthcare professional failed to comply with the duty of care
• The plaintiff endured actual harm as a result of the healthcare professional’s breach
• The plaintiff’s harm caused financial or physical damages (i.e. medical bills, wage loss, pain, suffering, etc.)

A diligent emergency room errors attorney in Belle Glade can assist the plaintiff in proving each component of negligence to establish a viable claim. An attorney could work hard to recover the monetary compensation the plaintiff may be owed for their damages.

Laws Impacting Belle Glade Emergency Rooms Error Cases

Florida Statutes § 95.11 states that injured patients have two years from the date they become aware (or should have become aware) of their injury, but no more than four years from when the medical error happened to file a lawsuit. This means that if the plaintiff does not file their case by the relevant statutory deadline, they could be precluded from compensation unless a rare caveat applies.

One potential exception is when the plaintiff does not immediately discover their injury because the healthcare professional uses fraudulent means to hide the injury. In this type of situation, the plaintiff may have up to seven years from the date they are injured to pursue a lawsuit.

The overarching four and seven-year filing deadlines would not apply to emergency room error cases involving a minor child, provided a lawsuit is filed on the child’s behalf by the time they turn eight years of age. A dedicated Belle Glade emergency room errors attorney can make sure the plaintiff’s case was filed by or before the statutory deadline.

Speak with a Belle Glade Emergency Room Errors Attorney

When you are injured due to improper emergency room medical care, you may have a viable case for financial damages. A Belle Glade emergency room errors lawyer can evaluate your situation and the circumstances of your injury to determine whether legal action may be warranted.

To learn more about what options may be available to pursue compensation, schedule your case consultation with the attorneys at Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa today.