Emergency Room Negligence Attorneys Serving Cincinnati and Ohio
Millions of people require emergency medical treatment annually. Hundreds of thousands of those in Ohio. Of all the states in the U.S., Ohio sees the fifth most visits to the emergency room (ER). By and large, these visits serve the purpose of helping patients in crisis. But not every visit to the ER ends in proper care. This is where the help of an Ohio emergency room error lawyer becomes useful.
Preventable mistakes are made in emergency departments across Ohio every day. Some of these are due to miscommunication, staff fatigue, and hospital overcrowding. Some are due entirely to negligence. All can lead to serious injury or even death.
When you or someone you love is the victim of this type of medical malpractice, you may be entitled to seek compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and more. The experienced lawyers at Burg Simpson are here to help.
Contact an Ohio Emergency Room Error Lawyer for FREE
To schedule your FREE and confidential consultation with a qualified ER malpractice attorney, call Burg Simpson at 513-852-5600 today. Located in Cincinnati, the emergency room error lawyers at our firm welcome injured patients from all areas of Ohio.
What Qualifies as Emergency Room Negligence?
Emergency room negligence occurs when doctors, nurses, or other ER personnel fail to uphold the accepted standard of care, and a patient is harmed as a result. These mistakes are often preventable. In an emergency environment where every patient is in a state of crisis, preventable mistakes can have tragic or even fatal consequences.
Most Common Emergency Room Errors
The most frequent medical errors that take place in the ER include:
- Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis. Failing to properly identify life-threatening conditions such as stroke, heart attack, or internal bleeding.
- Improper Intake. Ignoring or neglecting to collect basic medical history information.
- Failure to Triage. Not recognizing or prioritizing patients who are in critical condition.
- Inappropriate Testing. Ordering the wrong test or not ordering a test at all.
- Medication Errors. Administering the wrong drug or dose, or ignoring potential drug interactions.
- Anesthesia Errors. Improper, careless, or inadequate administration of anesthesia.
- Delayed Treatment. Long wait times or overlooked test results that allow a condition to worsen.
- Failure to Monitor Vital Signs. Missing signs of distress or deteriorating health while a patient is waiting or being observed.
- Inadequate Communication. Failing to relay lab or imaging results to treating physicians.
- Poor documentation. Errors in patient records that lead to treatment delays or medical mistakes.
- Early Discharge. Sending a patient home before their condition is fully understood or treated.
- Botched Follow-Up. A lack of proper follow-up instructions or care provided to the patient.
When you suffer harm in an emergency room through medical error or negligence, it can be very difficult to determine exactly where the error occurred. The Ohio emergency room error lawyers at our firm work with in-house and external specialists from various medical fields to analyze medical records and identify deviations from the standard of care.
If your injury was caused by medical negligence in the emergency room, we will do everything possible to locate the cause, identify all liable parties, and pursue the maximum compensation you are due.
Life-Altering Injury and ER Negligence
Emergency room negligence can result in permanent harm. Many of the injuries caused by this type of medical malpractice will require additional medical treatments, time away from work, and the risk of forever losing the ability to do the things you love. All of these things are taken into account when you file an emergency room negligence claim with our firm.
Our Ohio emergency room error lawyers have significant experience handling injuries and complications, including:
- Brain Damage
- Neurological Disorders
- Paralysis
- Organ Failure
- Sepsis
- Heart Damage
- Internal Bleeding
- Amputations
- Wrongful Death
Even a minor mistake in an emergency situation can have tragic consequences. When you are forced to deal with these consequences due to medical negligence, you have every right to hold those responsible to account for the damage they have caused. The attorneys at Burg Simpson are here to help. Effective, experienced, and engaged, we are here to listen to how your injury has impacted your life and help you determine the best way to seek justice.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Emergency Room Errors in Ohio?
Emergency room malpractice can be committed by anyone working in the ER. Depending on the circumstances, this may include:
- Doctors, including ER physicians, surgeons, and specialists involved in diagnoses or treatment.
- Nurses and support staff who may be responsible for intake, triage, monitoring, and medication administration.
- Radiologists or lab technicians who fail to interpret or communicate results.
- Hospitals for hiring unqualified staff, failing to follow safety protocols, or creating unsafe working conditions.
- Third-party staffing companies that provide emergency room doctors and nurses under contract.
Determining who is responsible for your emergency room injury is a key component of your case. This task is often, however, incredibly complex. To make matters even more difficult,
Ohio law requires an Affidavit of Merit from a qualified medical expert confirming that your case has merit before your lawsuit can proceed. This is an incredible burden to place on someone trying to recover from an injury sustained in a medical setting.
The Ohio emergency room error lawyers at our firm work tirelessly to uncover all instances of negligence, enabling the proper establishment of fault and allowing us to include all liable parties in your claim. Working with skilled medical experts to pore over records and identify errors, we take every step necessary to make sure each person who played a role in your injury is held responsible for their actions.
What Compensation Can You Recover in an ER Malpractice Lawsuit?
There are two types of compensatory damages an Ohio emergency room error lawyer can help you seek:
- Economic Damages
- Past and future medical expenses
- Lost wages and diminished earning capacity
- Home modifications and assistive devices
- Non-Economic Damages
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment in life
- Pain and suffering
Economic damages can be shown or calculated to reflect your out-of-pocket expenses. In some cases, outside experts like life planners and economic specialists are brought in to ensure everything is accounted for.
There is no limit (cap) placed on economic damages in Ohio.
Non-economic damages are intangible and without intrinsic financial value. However, they often make up a substantial portion of a medical malpractice claim. The state of Ohio limits non-economic damage recovery to $250,000 or three times the economic damages, whichever is greater. Under certain circumstances, such as those involving catastrophic injury, the Ohio non-economic damage cap may be increased to $500,000 per plaintiff and $1 million per occurrence.
In addition to compensatory damages, some emergency room negligence claims may include punitive damages. Unlike compensatory damages, these are intended as punishment for the defendant and are only awarded in cases where extreme negligence or intentional malice was the cause of injury.
Punitive damages are capped at two times the amount of compensatory damages in Ohio. If the defendant is a small business, like a private practice, or an individual, punitive damages are capped at 10% of the business’s or individual’s net worth at the time of the incident and cannot exceed $350,000.
Our Ohio Emergency Room Lawyers Work to Maximize Your Recovery
Recovering damages after ER negligence requires establishing your current and future expenses and losses, as well as showing how your injury has and will continue to impact you physically and emotionally. This is not a simple task.
At Burg Simpson, we apply our decades of experience in medical malpractice to both establish and fight for the total compensation you are due. We have a long history of standing up to powerful medical insurance companies and malpractice defence attorneys. We know their tactics and strategies, and are here to protect your best interests as we pursue every penny your injury demands.
How Much Time Do I Have to File an ER Negligence Lawsuit in Ohio?
In Ohio, you only have one year to file an emergency room malpractice claim. There are some exceptions to this rule, but no actions can be taken more than four years after the date of injury unless it has been tolled due to the patient being a minor or of unsound mind. But even in these cases, there are limitations on how much time you have to file a claim.
The sooner you contact an Ohio emergency room error lawyer, the sooner they can get to work on your case. This has several advantages, including the preservation of evidence, increased accuracy of witness memories, and addressing the immediate needs your injury has caused.
If you have been injured, do not delay. Reach out to Burg Simpson for a cost- and obligation-free case review and learn how we can help you seek justice.
Why Choose Burg Simpson for Your Emergency Room Malpractice Case?
Emergency room error claims are among the most complex and aggressively defended in medical law. You may be up against hospital systems, insurance carriers, and legal teams who know how to protect the interests of negligent healthcare workers. The lawyers at Burg Simpson have been in these fights many times before. We know how to win them.
Our Ohio emergency room error lawyers bring:
Decades of Trial-Tested Experience
We have been holding hospitals and healthcare providers accountable for nearly 50 years. We understand what it takes to win high-stakes medical malpractice cases, and we do not back down, no matter how powerful the opponent.
Nationwide Recognition, Local Knowledge
Burg Simpson is a nationally acclaimed law firm with deep roots in Ohio. We know the State’s medical malpractice laws, including statutes of limitations, damage caps, and special filing requirements. We work within these frameworks to help you get the most substantial compensation.
Thorough Investigations
We do not rely on guesswork. We conduct comprehensive investigations, working with board-certified physicians, ER nurses, and other experts to uncover exactly what went wrong. Our cases are built to withstand scrutiny and to hold each responsible party to account.
Client-Focused Communication
From your first call to the conclusion of your case, we will never leave you in the dark. With us, you will always know where your case stands, what is coming next, and what we are aiming to achieve. Our attorneys and staff are responsive, compassionate, and always ready to answer your questions.
Proven Results in Medical Malpractice Litigation
We have recovered significant verdicts and settlements in ER negligence cases and other forms of hospital and medical malpractice. We take time to calculate your damages, build cases to prove them, and fight tirelessly to secure the total compensation you will need to make the fullest recovery possible.
Schedule a FREE Case Review With an Ohio Emergency Room Error Lawyer
To schedule your FREE consultation with an experienced Ohio emergency room error lawyer, contact Burg Simpson online or call our Cincinnati office at 513-852-5600 today. We fight for victims of medical malpractice throughout Ohio, including Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, and Youngstown.
