Emergency room mistakes can cause serious injuries to patients

When experiencing a medical emergency, a San Diego resident may find themselves in the back of an ambulance and on the way to a hospital's emergency room. Emergency rooms are departments set up to handle the rapid diagnosis and treatment of critical patients who come in with traumatic injuries and sudden illnesses. Though many ER doctors are skilled at recognizing the signs and symptoms of serious complications in their patients, there are several reasons that dangerous and sometimes deadly emergency room mistakes happen in American hospitals.

One reason is that ER doctors simply do not have much time with each of their medical charges. Although they may be trained to go through a differential diagnosis for each patient, their inclination may push them to make likely diagnoses without completing comprehensive evaluations of all possible problems. Misdiagnoses at the emergency room level can deprive patients of valuable time to recover from their serious ailments.

Additionally, emergency rooms can be understaffed, particularly during times of year when many emergencies happen, such as the winter holidays and during the summer months. With understaffing comes the chance of too few medical practitioners caring for too many patients. Mistakes can easily occur when doctors have too many lives to keep track of in their department.

There are a host of other issues that can arise when patients receive inadequate care while in hospital emergency rooms. Though ER doctors are held to the same standards as their non-ER counterparts, the nature of their work may expose them to additional situations where medical mistakes can be made. While this post is offered as information only and not as legal advice, readers are reminded that they may speak with their medical malpractice attorneys to receive more information if their ER experiences have included medical mistakes.