Top Emergency Room Lawyers in Pennsylvania

Ross Feller Casey has distinguished itself as a leader in emergency room malpractice lawsuits in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, winning numerous seven- and eight-figure recoveries for victims of medical negligence.

Emergency rooms are often the first place people turn when facing a serious illness, injury, or medical emergency. Patients trust emergency room physicians, nurses, and hospital staff to quickly recognize serious conditions and provide appropriate treatment. When that trust is broken because of medical negligence, the consequences can be devastating.

Philadelphia residents do not need national statistics to understand the challenges facing modern emergency departments. Recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data analyzed by local media found that major regional hospitals, including Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), and Jefferson Einstein Montgomery Hospital, have some of the longest emergency room wait times in the region, with average visits often approaching four hours before patients are admitted, transferred, or discharged.

Long wait times do not automatically indicate malpractice. However, overcrowded emergency departments, staffing shortages, and pressure to move patients through the system can create conditions in which serious medical errors are more likely.

When doctors and hospital staff are under pressure to clear beds and reduce wait times, patients may receive rushed evaluations, incomplete testing, delayed diagnoses, or premature discharge decisions. These failures can allow life-threatening conditions to go undetected until it is too late.

The Philadelphia emergency room malpractice lawyers at Ross Feller Casey have successfully litigated numerous emergency room negligence cases, including some of the largest of their kind in the region. Among the firm's many successful medical malpractice recoveries are:

• $26.3 million recovery for a man who suffered brain and spinal cord injuries after he was discharged from an emergency room too soon.
• $20 million recovery for a man who suffered a brain injury due to a delay in diagnosing a stroke in an emergency room.
• $6.4 million verdict for the family of a Philadelphia man who died after emergency room doctors misdiagnosed his heart condition as pneumonia.

What Are The Most Common Emergency Room Errors?

Like other medical settings, emergency rooms are subject to mistakes by healthcare professionals. When these preventable errors occur, patients may have grounds to pursue a medical malpractice claim.

Medical negligence can occur in emergency departments for numerous reasons, including:

• Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
• Failure to order appropriate diagnostic testing
• Understaffing
• Inadequate training of staff, including admitting personnel
• Substandard triage procedures or patient tracking
• Medication errors
• Unsanitary conditions
• Patient dumping
• Failure to properly monitor patients
• Premature discharge

Emergency room errors can lead to permanent disability, catastrophic injury, or wrongful death. Conditions commonly missed in emergency rooms include strokes, heart attacks, sepsis, internal bleeding, blood clots, spinal cord injuries, and serious infections.

Ross Feller Casey is uniquely qualified to handle complex emergency room malpractice claims because of its team of Ivy League-trained physicians and doctor-lawyers. Combined, they bring more than a century of medical experience to the investigation and litigation of medical negligence cases.

The Dangers Of Premature ER Discharge In Philadelphia

One of the most dangerous emergency room errors occurs when a patient is sent home before doctors have gathered enough information to safely rule out a serious medical condition. Premature discharge can happen for many reasons. In some cases, emergency departments are overcrowded, and physicians feel pressure to move patients through the system. In others, providers simply fail to appreciate the seriousness of a patient's symptoms. A hospital may be negligent when it:

• Discharges a patient before abnormal vital signs such as elevated blood pressure, rapid heart rate, low oxygen levels, or persistent fever have stabilized.
• Fails to wait for critical laboratory results before sending a patient home.
• Releases a patient before CT scans, MRIs, or other imaging studies have been properly reviewed.
• Ignores worsening symptoms, neurological complaints, severe pain, or other warning signs.
• Dismisses symptoms as anxiety, stress, or minor ailments without performing an adequate evaluation.
• Fails to provide proper discharge instructions or follow-up recommendations.

Premature discharge often results in delayed recognition of serious medical conditions once the patient is isolated at home without medical monitoring. Strokes, heart attacks, sepsis, internal bleeding, spinal cord injuries, and other life-threatening conditions can rapidly worsen when treatment is delayed.

Why Emergency Room Malpractice Cases Are Different

Emergency room malpractice cases are often more complicated than other medical malpractice claims because providers frequently argue that they had limited information available when making treatment decisions.

However, emergency physicians are still required to meet accepted standards of medical care. They must take appropriate patient histories, order necessary testing, recognize warning signs, consult specialists when appropriate, and ensure patients are stable before discharge.

A busy emergency department is not an excuse for negligence.

Our emergency room malpractice attorneys work closely with medical experts to determine whether physicians, nurses, hospitals, or healthcare systems failed to provide appropriate care and whether those failures caused serious injury.

How Pennsylvania's Venue Rules May Affect Your ER Malpractice Case

Pennsylvania medical malpractice law has undergone an important change that may benefit injured patients and their families.

For many years, medical malpractice lawsuits generally had to be filed only in the county where the alleged negligence occurred. A Pennsylvania Supreme Court rule change has expanded venue options and now allows many medical malpractice cases to be filed in counties where healthcare systems regularly conduct business.

This development is particularly important for Philadelphia-area residents because major healthcare systems, including Penn Medicine, Jefferson Health, Temple Health, and other regional networks, operate facilities throughout Pennsylvania.

As a result, patients who were injured at a suburban hospital, satellite clinic, or healthcare facility outside Philadelphia may have additional options regarding where their lawsuit can be filed. Venue selection can affect everything from litigation strategy to convenience for witnesses and parties.

An experienced emergency room malpractice attorney can evaluate whether multiple venues may be available and determine the most effective approach to pursuing compensation.

How Do I Find A Philadelphia Emergency Room Malpractice Lawyer?

Going to the emergency room often means placing your life in the hands of doctors and nurses during one of the most stressful moments imaginable. While some emergencies have poor outcomes despite excellent care, many injuries and deaths are entirely preventable.

Emergency rooms are busy environments, but patients are entitled to competent medical care regardless of how crowded the department may be. Emergency physicians, nurses, and hospitals are held to the same professional standards as those in other healthcare settings.

At Ross Feller Casey, our emergency room malpractice law firm combines accomplished trial attorneys with on-staff physicians who help evaluate complex medical issues. We have recovered many record-setting verdicts and settlements for victims of medical malpractice, including cases involving emergency room negligence throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

If you or a loved one suffered serious injuries because of a delayed diagnosis, premature discharge, medication error, failure to order testing, or another emergency room mistake, contact Ross Feller Casey for a free consultation.

Ross Feller Casey handles emergency room malpractice lawsuits on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing unless a financial recovery is made on your behalf.