When Your Emergency Room Hurts Instead of Heals

May 10, 2019

Hospital emergency rooms in Pennsylvania are typically busy and chaotic places. Doctors, nurses and other staff members must often hurry as they try to save lives or to relieve a patient’s immediate suffering. As you might expect, mistakes on the part of the treatment team is a huge factor in malpractice-related personal injury cases.

We understand how the chaos of such a setting can result in errors. However, feeling pressure or a need to hurry does not absolve hospital staff members of their responsibility when a mistake results in personal injury. Those who choose to work in the health care industry have a legal duty to provide patients with the right care. This legal duty also extends to the hospital itself.

There are several ways in which the hospital–in addition to or instead of a single individual–is responsible for injuries suffered in its emergency room.

  • The hiring staff failed to properly investigate the credentials of new health care workers (doctors, nurses, technicians, etc.)
  • The hospital failed to provide a sufficient number of emergency room workers
  • One or more members of the emergency room team failed to follow orders from the patient’s personal physician

Another way to hold the hospital responsible for your personal injury involves vicarious liability. This doctrine means that you may hold the hospital legally liable for injuries suffered through the negligence of a staff member. When viable, this approach can increase your chances of acquiring financial compensation for your harm.

Industry Accolades