Emergency Room Malpractice
North Carolina Medical Negligence Lawyers
A typical emergency room is not the chaotic scene depicted on television — doctors who must make life-or-death decisions within precious minutes. In reality, emergency room errors leading to injury or death most often stem from failure to recognize telltale warning signs, failure to order additional tests, leaving patients unattended or discharging them prematurely.
The Law Offices of Wade E. Byrd has an established record of holding physicians, nurses and hospitals accountable for negligence in diagnosis or treatment that could have saved lives or prevented serious harm.
Did E.R. Personnel Fail to Make the Right Call?
Based in Fayetteville, our medical malpractice attorneys represent victims of emergency room errors statewide in North Carolina, as well as clients in Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and beyond. We can assess your possible lawsuit in a free initial consultation.
Uncovering Emergency Room Errors
It is true that emergency room physicians and intake nurses must make quick initial assessments in deciding who will be treated first. But in most cases, they have ample opportunity to read patient histories, run tests, ask the right questions, make the proper diagnosis or consult a specialist. Too often, mistakes occur when medical staff downplay patient complaints or fail to recognize important clues of a serious condition:
- A 20-year-old woman entered the E.R. complaining of severe headaches. After she was discharged from the emergency room — her third such visit — she died from undiagnosed blood clots. We proved that E.R. doctors failed to order tests that would have identified her problem.
- In another wrongful death involving emergency room error, the physician on duty missed heart attack symptoms, including chest pains. The man was treated for symptoms of his bronchitis, but he was never hooked up to a heart monitor and died in the E.R.
- We represented the family of a man who went to the E.R. with severe pain and a growing bulge in his midsection. He literally bled to death from an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which could have been surgically repaired.
Attorney Wade Byrd and his team consults with experts in emergency medicine and triage assessment who can review the medical records and attest that doctors or staff failed to follow protocols, missed key signs or erred in emergency surgery or other treatment.
If you believe emergency room error caused injury or allowed a family member to die, contact our Fayetteville office at (910) 401-3590 for a free case evaluation.
