When you’re in the emergency room, being told you’re ready to go home is usually a positive thing. Unfortunately, for some patients, getting discharged only leaves them feeling confused, ignored, frustrated, and, in the worst cases, even more sick or hurt than they were before they checked in. When emergency room triage errors lead to injury, illness, or wrongful death, affected patients and families can take legal action under Michigan’s medical malpractice laws.
If you are faced with the sudden need to hire an emergency room lawyer, highly qualified legal assistance with your ER error case is available right here in Michigan. Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, has a reputation for great results in medical malpractice cases, including those involving complex ER error laws. If you left an ER or urgent care facility more injured than when you arrived, hire an emergency room error lawyer to press your case.
When to Hire an Emergency Room Error Lawyer
When you leave a Michigan ER still feeling sick or injured, it is a frustrating and draining experience. It can also be very difficult to determine whether:
- A diagnosis error or some other form of malpractice may have actually occurred.
- You are simply feeling worse due to the escalation of a difficult-to-treat medical issue.
Most malpractice victims are not trained doctors or lawyers, after all.
A Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, emergency room error attorney can take your ER negligence or misdiagnosis case from online research to courtroom reality by:
- Explaining Michigan’s medical malpractice laws, the relevant personal injury legislation, emergency room treatment regulations, and how they apply to your own unique case
- Gathering the necessary evidence and testimony to prove your claim
- Negotiating assertively and intelligently when dealing with corporate health system lawyers and pushy insurance adjusters, all of whom want to minimize or deny your claim
- Using the hospital’s desire to settle cases quickly and quietly to your advantage to increase your benefits and support
- Answering all your important legal questions in a timely, straightforward way, along with offering key legal support when you need us most
- Handling all the tedious details of filing a Michigan medical malpractice claim while you focus on healing and moving forward from this traumatic experience
How Emergency Room Triage Errors Occur
Emergency rooms, especially those in busy urban centers or economically strained communities, can become extremely busy and crowded, with long wait times, limited supplies, and staff spread extremely thin. In such a high-stress situation, it is natural for doctors, nurses, and receptionists to want to get patients processed, helped, and out of the way as efficiently as possible. This need for speed is no excuse for negligence and mistreatment, however.
Emergency room triage is often needed in such scenarios. ER triage refers to the policies, logic trees, and fast-paced decisions that determine how a hospital will use the limited space and resources in an overcrowded or underequipped ER. In short, this involves deciding which patients need to remain in the ER for immediate attention, which can be moved to other facilities, and which can be discharged and sent home to free up space for incoming patients.
A vast array of potential ER misdiagnosis scenarios can misinform triage decisions, from false positive tests for common viruses to missing a life-saving cancer diagnosis. Our local University of Michigan health system has examined the reasons why appendicitis alone is so often mishandled in ERs, with different data suggesting that diagnoses for appendicitis are botched in emergency settings 5% to 20% of the time, or up to 1 in 5 cases.
Such errors persist, despite appendicitis being the most common surgical emergency. This leads to questions about whether this is an appendicitis issue or a systemic ER problem. In the specific case of appendicitis, doctors suggested that simple symptom-based misdiagnosis as constipation or other, more routine, abdominal issues was a common problem, but this obviously doesn’t apply to the near-endless list of ER misdiagnosis cases involving other illnesses and injuries.
The Real Cost of Emergency Room Misdiagnosis
The Journal of the American Medical Association recently called for a systemic solution to the issue of emergency room diagnosis errors, highlighting the issue in an unsettling 2024 paper. This report noted that the United States sees 130 million emergency department visits annually, with an error rate of nearly 6%. In other words, each year, some 7 million Americans who go to the emergency room for medical help are provided with misinformation instead.
While appendicitis and cancer often get the highlight in these discussions due to their prevalence and severity, respectively, misdiagnoses for more uncommon issues are also all too common. Stressed hospital staff or ER doctors, jaded by high rates of non-emergency visitors, may be more invested in finding the simplest and fastest solution for a patient’s ailments than in taking the necessary steps to verify that a solution is actually correct, letting rare diseases go unchecked.
In Michigan, those affected by such medical malpractice can take powerful legal action through a personal injury or wrongful death claim.
FAQs About Michigan Emergency Room Triage Errors
What Is an Unsafe Discharge From the Emergency Room?
Many situations could qualify as unsafe discharge from an emergency room. You may have a case if:
- You have an emergency medical issue putting you at risk of serious illness or death.
- The ER fails to diagnose it correctly.
- The ER either begins improper treatment, transfers you to an inappropriate facility for further care, or sends you home.
How Do I Challenge an Unsafe Discharge?
Challenging an unsafe discharge from the ER can be frustrating and difficult. As a sick patient on hospital property, you may feel completely powerless when told to leave. While many providers do have procedures to appeal a discharge decision for review, these redeterminations are still ultimately up to the healthcare system, not the patient. If you are being pushed out of the ER without receiving the help you need, reach out to an attorney.
Can You File a Claim Against a Hospital for Early Discharge?
Yes, you can file a claim against a hospital for early discharge, but the early discharge and its results must meet the threshold for legally actionable medical malpractice in Michigan. To be successful in such a claim, you must use evidence and testimony to prove that the early discharge caused you legally actionable damages, such as additional medical bills, physical injuries, and emotional trauma.
What Qualifies as Hospital Negligence?
A wide range of situations can qualify as hospital negligence, so long as they directly resulted in actual, provable damages to the patient. Potential types of hospital negligence include:
- Mixed-up medication orders
- Long-term care patients being ignored for hours at a time
- A surgical tool getting left inside a patient’s incision
Many cases are also rooted in incorrect or missed diagnoses.
Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC – Seasoned Michigan Emergency Room Misdiagnosis Attorneys
Perhaps you have been harmed by the aftermath of a bad diagnosis in a Michigan emergency room. Maybe a family member tragically passed after being given an erroneous diagnosis. In either situation, you could take legal action. The medical malpractice team at Goethel Engelhardt, PLLC, can seek justice and hold those who harmed you accountable for their negligence. Contact us today to set up your confidential consultation session.
