Anyone who goes to emergency rooms in the Wheeling area expects to receive immediate treatment for what ails them. They understand that there may be times when they must wait longer than expected due to priority being given to patients who have more serious conditions and life-threatening injuries. They might not realize there is a high-risk of things going wrong in emergency rooms. Many emergency rooms across the country are understaffed. The health care professionals who work in them are overworked and stressed. According to MSU Today, “mistakes and never events are more likely to occur” as the amount of stress physicians and health care workers experience increases.
Regardless of their work environment and stress levels, physicians, nurses and other health care workers must provide every patient with the proper standard of care. When they fall short of their obligation, it is the patients who suffer. Common types of never events that patients are at risk of experiencing involve the following:
Adverse medication reactions – Every year, more than 7,000 patients die after suffering lethal side effects and interactions from medical errors involving the use of wrong medications, doses and administration techniques, states NPR.org.
Misdiagnosis – Physicians must make diagnoses based on patients’ medical histories, symptoms and health conditions. Emergency room doctors see lots of patients and do not necessarily spend enough time investigating and diagnosing them. As a result, doctors recommend unnecessary medical procedures and misinterpret tests and give wrong diagnoses.
Delayed and lack of treatment – Because emergency rooms are often full of patients and understaffed, some individuals end up not receiving treatment in a timely manner or at all. The result often causes a serious decline in their health. Some patients die.
Mistakes can happen in any type of medical facility. Unfortunately, in emergency rooms, the chances of them happening are much higher. Patients who end up with serious health conditions because of mistakes and negligence might benefit from speaking with an attorney to learn if they have a medical malpractice claim.
