Emergency rooms are high pressure environments where providers must make immediate judgment calls that don’t always turn out to be correct. Some of those mistakes are ordinary medical risks that come with the treatment. Others fall below the standard of care a competent emergency physician should provide.
If you believe you were misdiagnosed in an emergency room, you should take certains steps to preserve your health and your ability to pursue a legal claim with a misdiagnosis attorney in Las Cruces.
Get a Second Opinion Immediately
After an ER misdiagnosis, you should seek evaluation from another physician as soon as possible, especially if your symptoms have worsened or don’t match the diagnosis you were given. A medical provider with experience in the area of your symptoms can reassess your condition and determine whether the original diagnosis was accurate.
A second opinion protects your health by ensuring you receive the correct diagnosis and treatment. It also creates a medical record showing that the original ER diagnosis was erroneous and that a different provider identified the actual condition.
Preserve Your Medical Records
You should request a complete copy of your ER records from the hospital operating the emergency room. This request should include the triage assessment, physician notes, lab results, imaging reports, discharge instructions, and any follow-up referrals. Do the same for any subsequent treatment you receive from the provider who corrected the diagnosis.
These records will be the backbone of any potential malpractice claim you file. They help document what the ER physician knew, what tests they ordered, and what conclusions they reached about your diagnosis.
Document How the Misdiagnosis Affected You
You should also keep a journal of how the missed or incorrect diagnosis impacted your health and your daily life. Be careful to note any worsening symptoms between the ER visit and the correct diagnosis.
You should also record:
- Additional medical treatment you needed as a result of the delay
- Time missed from work
- Expenses you incurred because the condition wasn’t identified and treated when it should have been.
This type of documentation can support your claim for economic damages (financial losses) due to the misdiagnosis. It can also strengthen your claim for non-economic damages (personal losses) related to your pain and suffering due to the misdiagnosis.
Understand What Makes an ER Misdiagnosis Actionable
Incorrect diagnoses happen in the course of medicine; not all of them are medical malpractice. A misdiagnosis only becomes actionable when the physician failed to order tests or imaging that a competent ER doctor would have ordered given the symptoms presented.
You may also have a cause of action if the provider ignored or dismissed clinical findings that pointed toward the correct diagnosis, discharged you without adequate follow-up instructions, or failed to consult a specialist.
The focus of a malpractice claim is whether the doctor’s process for reaching a diagnosis met the standard expected of a reasonably competent emergency physician under similar circumstances.
Consult an Attorney As Soon as Possible
If you believe an ER misdiagnosis caused you harm, a malpractice attorney can help you understand what to do next. They can take over the legal aspects of your claim and secure the evidence your claim needs to succeed. They can also consult with experts and coordinate specialists testimony showing that your misdiagnosis was the result of substandard care.
Contact Coates & Johnson today to schedule a free consultation to learn more about your legal options.