Help After A Serious Emergency Room Error
There’s no question that the emergency room (ER) presents a frantic and challenging environment, but it is also one in which standards of care are extremely important. Doctors are required to adequately perform triage – the process of quick determination of patient priority. In this critical setting, one mistake can result in catastrophe. If someone is not properly diagnosed, it can seriously injure or even kill someone.
At Colley Shroyer Abraham we are injury lawyers who are committed to helping victims of ER errors seek justice. For more than 40 years, we have fought for people across Ohio. We know how to build strong cases and take them all the way to trial.
When Serious Conditions Get Overlooked In The ER Or ICU
ER physicians and staff have a professional obligation to conduct thorough examinations so that they can provide the right care and treatments. So, too, do providers in intensive care units (ICUs). ER and ICU malpractice often involves failure to promptly diagnose and treat life-threatening conditions such as:
- Heart attacks
- Bleeding issues
- Blood clots
- Brain injuries
- Fractures
- Strokes
- Aneurysms
- Pulmonary embolisms
- Bacterial meningitis
- Bowel ischemia
Overlooking these or other serious medical conditions can result in significant injuries, long-term disabilities or even death.
Our Multimillion-Dollar Results In ER Cases
Having worked on medical malpractice cases for decades, we are prepared to do everything to build the strongest possible case to maximize your compensation. By partnering directly with clients and utilizing our network of medical professionals, we have obtained tens of millions of dollars in our pursuit of justice. We are prepared to bring our approach to your case.
Here are some examples of the financial recoveries that we have obtained in ER malpractice cases:
- $2 million: A pregnant woman with twins arrived in the ER with possible premature labor. She was 23 weeks pregnant. The physician did a vaginal exam and noted her cervix to be dilated at 2 cm. Because he did not check the chart, he did not know that two days prior, her cervix was closed. She was sent home. She continued to call in, but the nurses did not tell her to come in. Three days later she came to the hospital dilated to 8 cm and in labor. The physicians initially stopped the labor with drugs, but the large dilation exposed the fetal sac, and an infection occurred, causing new contractions. The babies were born at 23 weeks and six days and both survived. Both children have learning disabilities. The defense maintained that nothing could prevent premature contractions and that nothing the physician could have done would have altered the course of events.
- $2.1 million: A middle-aged man went to the ER complaining of neck pain. The ER doctors discharged him without the benefit of a cervical spine X-ray. The next morning, he awoke permanently paralyzed due to a spinal abscess.
- $250,000: A 35-year-old man arrived in the ER with signs and symptoms of a heart attack. He was worked up, and a heart attack was ruled out, but he still had pain in his chest. He was sent home, and the pain worsened. He went to a different hospital ER 12 hours later with a new symptom that included shortness of breath. A CT exam revealed a dissecting aortic aneurysm. He died during emergency surgery to repair the aneurysm. The defense argued that the only way to have made the diagnosis was to do a CT exam on the first ER visit, and that is not the standard of care, as it is not practical to give everyone with chest pain a CT exam. Our expert believed that D-dimer blood work would have shown the formation of a clot that would have resulted in a CT exam.
Read more about our many success stories.
Get The Legal Help You Deserve For ER Or ICU Malpractice
Talk to us, ER error attorneys in Columbus, about your situation. Call 614-678-5072 for a free initial consultation. You can also reach us online.