Emergency Room Errors

What Are Some Common Triage Mistakes?

Emergency staff members determine who gets immediate attention and who must wait through triage – sorting and allocating aid based on urgent need. The medical training and education they receive should ensure proper procedure, even in high-pressure emergency departments, but errors like these occur regardless.

• Diagnostic errors: Misdiagnosing or failing to diagnose conditions
• Triage delays: Making urgent patients wait behind less critical cases
• Medication mistakes: Administering wrong drugs or dosages
• Testing errors: Failing to order tests or incorrectly interpreting diagnostic results

Our Indiana medical malpractice lawyers can help you learn more and determine if you have grounds for a claim.

Labor Shortages: A Stressful Recipe For Error

Emergency rooms are already hectic, but staffing shortages add a dangerous layer of stress. When there are not enough employees to handle the load, it can result in medical errors.

The Valparaiso medical malpractice lawyers with our firm have seen mistakes happen due to these health care labor shortage effects.

• Unmanageably heavy workloads
• Decreased morale and teamwork
• Burnout, exhaustion and mental fatigue

Our Indiana medical malpractice lawyers have seen firsthand how physical and mental exhaustion makes health care workers prone to medical errors.

5 Commonly Misdiagnosed Medical Conditions

You cannot always know if you are at risk of diagnostic mistakes as they can strike anyone with any condition. However, these are the most common misdiagnoses seen in U.S. emergency rooms:

• Stroke
• Myocardial infarction (heart attack)
• Aortic aneurysm/dissection
• Spinal cord compression/injury
• Venous thromboembolism (blood clot)

An incorrect or absent diagnosis for these conditions could lead to severely worsened health and may even be life-threatening.