Emergency Room Error

Tens of thousands of people die each year due to medical malpractice.  This has become the third leading cause of death in the United States.  Especially in emergency rooms, malpractice occurs frequently, and many patients are treated inadequately.  In emergency rooms, patients sometimes wait for several hours, and frequently there are not enough doctors and nurses to treat them all.  

Millions of patients seek treatment in American emergency rooms each year.  Medical malpractice in hospital emergency rooms is not uncommon, but it is seldom talked about and is almost never reported to the newspapers or other media.  Understaffed hospitals and emergency rooms can cause deadly mistakes.

Types of Emergency Room Errors

There are many ways that medical mistakes or medical malpractice may occur in an emergency room.  For example, prescription and medication errors are more common than many people would expect.  Delayed or incorrect diagnoses are also problems in a stressful emergency room.  Emergency room malpractice may subject patients to infections.  Frequently there are problems that arise out of "patient dumping" or confusion over who is actually responsible for treating the patient.