There are more than 40 urgent care centers throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Urgent care centers are meant to fill a critical medical need. Urgent care clinics provide necessary medical care that can’t wait until you can get an appointment with your doctor. Often, people go to urgent care clinics for medical conditions that are less critical than conditions that would send them to emergency rooms, but the line between urgent care clinics and emergency rooms is often blurred.
Urgent Care Delay-in-Treatment Injuries
Unlike emergency rooms, urgent care centers may not triage patients as they arrive. Instead, patients may be seen on a first-come, first-served basis. While this practice may work in many cases, urgent care clinics still have a duty to recognize a real medical emergency, such as a heart attack or stroke, and provide medical treatment or an emergency room transfer within a reasonable amount of time. Urgent care clinics may fail to provide medical care within a reasonable amount of time and allow medical conditions to worsen if they:- Are understaffed
- Require staff to work long shifts without appropriate time off or rest periods
- Do not have reasonable policies and procedures in place
- Fail to train staff on appropriate policies and procedures
- Have distracted staff members who don’t do their jobs within a reasonable amount of time
- Unnecessary or more extended hospital stays
- Permanent injuries
- Brain injuries
- Death
Should You Pursue an Urgent Care Injury Lawsuit?
Before you decide whether to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against an urgent care clinic, you need to know two things:- Do you have a potential claim?
- What is your possible recovery if your case is successful?
- Medical expenses such as hospitalizations, surgeries, medications, and follow-up doctors’ appointments
- Lost income including the wages and benefits from your employer or income from self-employment
- Out-of-pocket expenses for costs you did not have before the urgent care caused your injury. These expenses could include, for example, modifications to your home, child care, or transportation costs.
- Your physical pain and emotional suffering may be among your most significant injuries and the hardest to quantify. However, our legal team knows what evidence to present and what arguments to make so that you are fairly compensated for all of your pain and suffering.