New York Medical Malpractice Lawyer: Injuries Or Death While At Hospital Emergency Room

 

We all see the headlines: California child loses limbs after five hours wait in hospital's emergency room; New York woman dies in New York hospital's waiting room; California woman dies in emergency room lobby as 911 refuses to help, and so on. If you are one of those unfortunate individuals who have gone to a hospital's ER, then you have experienced the feeling that your condition will get worse before you see a doctor. Lawyer office in Illinois. According to a New York medical malpractice attorney, "the fact is, most city hospitals are not equipped or staffed to promptly attend to every patient who goes to the emergency room." The below incidents are heartbreaking examples of what may occur when hospitals and doctors fail to promptly respond to patients in the emergency room.

Sacramento Child Loses Limbs After A Five Hour Wait In Hospital Waiting Room

A California couple recently filed a lawsuit alleging that a Sacramento hospital and doctors failed to timely diagnose their infant daughter suffering from Streptococcus A. According to the complaint, the couple took the infant who was suffering from a persistent fever, skin discoloration and weakness to the hospital. While at the hospital, the sick child had to wait in the emergency room for five hours as her condition worsened. The infection and subsequent delay in treating the child caused widespread infection resulting in the amputation of her feet, left hand and part of her right hand. The child has since undergone extensive rehabilitative therapy and will most likely require future therapy and possibly more surgery.

New York Woman Dies In A New York Hospital Waiting Room

Perhaps the most memorable example of a hospital's failure to attend to a patient took place in New York. On June 19, 2008, a woman collapsed and died on the floor of the waiting room at a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital and lay there for more than an hour as employees ignored her. The patient had been waiting for almost twenty-four hours for a bed at this busy hospital and was in line with thirty two other patients who too were waiting for a bed. This disturbing event was captured by a security camera and broadcasted across the nation.

California Woman Dies In An Emergency Room Lobby As 911 Refuses To Help

On May 9th, 2007, Edith Isabel Rodriguez was taken to Martin Luther King Jr. Harbor Hospital. As expected, the emergency room at this inner city hospital was crowded so Ms. Rodriquez waited to be seen by a doctor. While there her condition deteriorated yet none of the doctors or medical staff approached her. Concerned family members and strangers then tried unsuccessfully to alert doctors and medical professionals of Ms. Rodriquez's deteriorating conditions. After some time, family members called 911 for assistance but the 911 operator refused to provide paramedics or an ambulance to take her to another hospital. Sadly, Ms. Rodriguez died of a perforated bowel on the emergency room floor at Martin Luther King Jr. Harbor Hospital.

While the above stories are shocking, such events occur though out the United States daily. According to a New York injury attorney, "yearly, thousands of patients die or suffer needlessly as a result of the failure of hospitals and health care professionals to promptly treat them while in the ER." There are numerous reasons for the unnecessary suffering and sometimes death. But, the main reason seems to be overcrowding and not enough doctors or support staff at hospitals located in poor inner city neighborhoods. Due to severe budget cuts, many inner city hospitals have closed, thereby significantly increasing the case load on the ones that remain open. With the ongoing recession and states' severe budget deficit, it is unlikely that this problem will be resolved any time soon.