Florida Emergency Room Error Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Helping People Harmed by Emergency Room Errors in Florida

Emergency rooms are very different healthcare environments than inpatient or primary care settings. The doctors, nurses and staff who work there must handle frequent interruptions while quickly admitting and caring for multiple patients who are in potentially critical condition. Often, they are hampered by incomplete or unreliable information about their patients but still must diagnose their conditions and treat them appropriately.

Under these demanding conditions, emergency room doctors, nurses and staff still have a duty to provide experienced, competent and professional medical care and attention. However, many emergency rooms are understaffed, and overworked health care providers make mistakes at critical moments or fail to provide appropriate treatment. Errors such as failing to admit a patient in a timely manner, failing to diagnose a condition, failing to call in a specialist, and discharging a patient prematurely are all too common.

Unfortunately, these emergency room errors and negligence have very serious consequences. Patients can suffer serious, life-threatening infections, permanent disabilities, damage to vital organs and even death.

Legal Action for Victims of Emergency Room Errors

If you or a member of your family has suffered because of an emergency room error, you may be able to hold the negligent emergency room doctor, nurse and/or hospital accountable for negligence and the harm they caused. With a Florida medical malpractice claim, you could potentially obtain substantial compensation for your medical expenses, lost income, pain, suffering, and other damages resulting from the error.

The Florida medical malpractice attorneys of Paul Knopf Bigger are committed to holding negligent healthcare providers accountable for the harm they cause patients and their families. Throughout our years as trial attorneys, we have successfully litigated numerous medical malpractice cases, winning multi-million-dollar settlements and awards for the families whom we have had the privilege of representing.

We look forward to discussing your potential Florida medical malpractice claim and answering any questions you have about the claims process. At Paul Knopf Bigger, we are committed to excellence in the pursuit of justice and welcome the opportunity to put our commitment and legal expertise to work for you.

Common Florida Emergency Room Errors

The urgency of emergency care often means that patients are diagnosed quickly and treated without anyone having access to a complete medical history. Hurried diagnoses, as well as rushed treatment and monitoring, can lead to unfortunate mistakes.  As in other healthcare settings, poor communication between patients and healthcare providers and information processing errors can hamper doctors’ ability to accurately diagnose a patient’s condition. As a result, many harmful errors can occur in emergency rooms, including:

  • Failure to properly triage and treat in a timely manner
  • Failure to order the correct diagnostic tests
  • Misinterpretation of test results or misjudging the significance of a finding
  • Misdiagnosing or failing to diagnose medical conditions (e.g., misdiagnosis of heart attack, stroke, appendicitis, spinal epidural abscess)
  • Failure to call in a specialist
  • Improper management of treatment
  • Improper performance of a procedure
  • Failure to prescribe medication or prescribing or administering the wrong medication
  • Premature discharge of patients (e.g., Discharge without any diagnostic testing, before test results are available, before being examined by a physician, before receiving a diagnosis or after-care instructions, or while still suffering from severe symptoms)

All of these errors can have serious consequences for patients who seek emergency room care, especially those that involve misdiagnoses of conditions such as acute myocardial infarctions, strokes, appendicitis, spinal epidural abscesses, sepsis, ruptured spleen, compound fractures, brain injuries, spinal injuries and internal bleeding.

Florida Medical Malpractice Claims for Damages from Emergency Room Errors

If you have been injured by an emergency room error, you may be able to take legal action to hold the negligent healthcare provider(s) accountable for their negligence and collect the substantial compensation you deserve for damages. To initiate a claim, you need to be able to show that the emergency room error meets the criteria for medical malpractice established by Florida law.

In Florida, medical malpractice is defined as the failure of a healthcare provider to act in accordance with the accepted professional standard of care owed to their patients. When emergency room healthcare providers are negligent and do not act as reasonably prudent ER providers would act and thereby cause a patient to suffer serious injury or wrongful death, they may be held liable for the harm they inflicted with a medical malpractice lawsuit. Hospitals can also be held liable, if the negligent healthcare providers are hospital employees.

Victims of emergency room errors may be able to obtain substantial compensation for the economic and non-economic damages they suffered.  These damages may include:

  • Past and future medical expenses
  • Lost income
  • Diminished earning capacity
  • Pain and suffering
  • Mental anguish
  • Inconvenience
  • Diminished capacity for enjoying life
  • Other damages recoverable under Florida law

Medical malpractice lawsuits to recover damages due to emergency room errors can be very complicated and demanding. Proving that a doctor, nurse and/or other emergency room staff member breached the accepted professional standard of ER care and that the breach seriously injured a patient requires a thorough investigation into all the details of the case, a comprehensive understanding of all the facts, high quality expert testimony and skill as a trial lawyer.

The medical malpractice attorneys of Paul Knopf Bigger have the expertise and skill necessary to successfully represent clients across the country who have been seriously injured by emergency room errors in Florida. We work together as a team to give our clients the benefit of our combined knowledge, skills and substantial resources. Together, we passionately pursue and achieve justice and full compensation for victims of emergency room errors.

Statute of Limitations for Florida Medical Malpractice Cases

The statute of limitations for medical malpractice lawsuits in Florida is two years from the date the malpractice occurred, was discovered or should have been discovered. The latest date allowed for the discovery of malpractice is four years from the date the negligent incident occurred.

Patients who have been injured by emergency room errors should not postpone getting advice from an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney. Initiating a lawsuit can in itself be labor intensive, since Florida law requires that a thorough investigation, including a review of the claim and a verified written medical expert opinion, be completed as part of the mandatory notice of intent to initiate litigation.

Proven, Trusted Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Medical malpractice cases can be very complex and intense, with defendants and their insurers fighting hard to protect their reputations and assets. To win your case and obtain the substantial compensation you deserve, you need experienced Florida medical malpractice attorneys with a track record of success. The Paul Knopf Bigger attorneys have achieved many multi-million-dollar settlements and awards and have the expertise, skill and resources you can trust to win.

Paul Knopf Bigger is the Florida medical malpractice law firm lawyers throughout Florida and the U.S. trust to successfully handle their clients’ complex medical malpractice claims. If you or a family member has been injured by an emergency room error, we are the law firm you can trust to provide superior representation, excellent personal attention and rewarding results.

Please call us at 800-673-9585 or submit the Free Case Evaluation form on our website to discuss your case with an experienced Florida medical malpractice attorney you can trust for excellence in the pursuit of justice.