You go to the emergency room for treatment and medical care if you’re sick or injured. But sometimes, you may end up worse off because of medical errors. From a bad diagnosis to a wrong prescription, many medical errors can occur in the emergency room due to negligent behavior.
While some emergency room errors may be apparent immediately, others may take days or weeks to appear. But when this happens, you can seek compensation for damages you’ve suffered. Unfortunately, doctors and hospitals are shielded from liability, and you bear the burden of proof.
How to prove emergency room malpractice
For you to win an emergency room medical malpractice lawsuit, you have to prove some elements:
- Negligence: You have to prove that the medical staff member violated the standard of care when treating you. This can be in the form of misdiagnosis, medication errors, wrong prescriptions, or premature release.
- Existence of a doctor-patient relationship: This element is simple to prove because you obviously received some form of documentation that you had to sign when receiving treatment at the emergency room. This documentation can be used to prove a doctor-patient relationship existed.
- You sustained an injury: To receive financial compensation, you must prove that you were harmed or injured due to negligence in the ER by a medical staff member.
- You incurred damages due to the injury: You’ll also have to prove that your injury in the ER led to lost wages, additional treatment, medical care expenses, or pain and suffering.
Typically, proving an ER medical malpractice can be overwhelming, and you may have to dig deeper to identify the cause of your injuries. However, if you believe your injuries resulted from medical malpractice but have trouble finding proof, the best cause of action would be to obtain legal guidance as soon as possible.