You needed immediate medical treatment for your heart attack, stroke, brain aneurysm, or another medical emergency. That’s why you went to the emergency room rather than making an appointment with your doctor.
Kentucky Emergency Room Wait Times
On average, patients in Kentucky wait anywhere from just a few minutes to almost an hour to see a doctor after they get to the emergency room. One study found that patients at Frankfort Regional Medical Center waited just four minutes to see a doctor while patients at Baptist Health Louisville waited an average of 50 minutes.
Too often, patients wait significantly longer than the average times, which puts their health, and even their lives, at risk.
Why Emergency Room Delays Happen
Emergency room delays happen for a lot of different reasons. For example, you may suffer from a delay in emergency room treatment if:
- There is a mistake in assessing your injuries.
- The emergency room is understaffed or overcrowded.
- The hospital lacks necessary diagnostic equipment.
Just one of these reasons for a delay can cause your condition to worsen. Your prognosis may change, and you may suffer a permanent injury or even death because of the emergency room’s negligence.
When Emergency Room Delays in Treatment Could Be Medical Malpractice
To determine whether an emergency room delay can be considered medical malpractice, you must determine whether the delay was reasonable. This requires a skilled and exhaustive look at all of the circumstances that led to your delay in treatment. Our law firm nurse and experienced medical malpractice attorneys will find out:
- What your symptoms were when you got to the emergency room
- How reasonable emergency room staff would have acted if you presented with those symptoms
- Why you had to wait for treatment
- Whether other patients in the emergency room had more emergent conditions that required faster care
- How many doctors, nurses, and other staff members were working
- The emergency room’s policies and procedures and whether they were followed in your case
- How the delay in treatment impacted your health
Once we determine whether the emergency room acted reasonably and how the delay in care affected your health, we can advise you of your options.
Financial Compensation for ER Delay in Treatment Injuries
Sometimes, a delay in treatment will only inconvenience you and it will not impact your health. While these delays are frustrating and unfortunate, they do not give you the right to file a personal injury lawsuit. If, however, the emergency room violated the standard of care by making you wait and the wait hurt you, you may have a medical malpractice claim.
Your damages in an emergency room medical malpractice case are based on the injuries that were suffered because of the delay in medical treatment. You cannot recover damages for the illness that caused you to go to the emergency room in the first place.
For example, if you went to the emergency room with symptoms of a heart attack, you must prove that you are seeking legal compensation for how your health suffered because of the delay in treatment. It can be complicated to sort out which damages are caused by a delay in treatment rather than your heart attack, but our experienced medical malpractice lawyers, our staff nurse, and the experts that we work with will thoroughly analyze all of the facts of your case and fight for your fair and just recovery of past and future:
- Medical costs
- Lost income
- Physical pain
- Emotional suffering
- Out of pocket costs – including funeral costs if your loved one died because of an emergency room delay
In some cases, punitive damages may also be awarded by the court to punish the emergency room for extreme neglect.
Call Gray and White Law today to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation about your case. We would be happy to give you an honest case review so that you understand your rights and potential recovery and so that you can decide what to do next.
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