ER Mistakes Cause Deaths

Hospitals, Wrongful Death

New York statutes, rules, and regulations instruct emergency room facilities on what that are required to do and provide to the patient, in general terms, so that these facilities are legally obligated to provide adequate care to patients.

10 NYCRR 405.19 is one of those regulations.  According to this, hospitals must have policies that address the following requirements:

  • Staffing must be in accordance with New York statutes and regulations
  • X-Ray equipment must be standard equipment in every emergency room
  • A licensed doctor board certified in emergency medicine must direct the emergency room
  • Training in advanced cardiac life support must be provided to emergency room staff
  • Patients must not be transferred out of the emergency room without being examined first and those examinations must be promptly administered
  • Transfer policies must be in place
  • Emergency room personnel must report suspected cases of child abuse and child neglect
  • There must also be a board certified, licensed psychiatry doctor in every emergency room as well
  • Patient data and health provider information must also be maintained in admission and discharge databases

The law even goes as far as stating what a medical professional’s standard of care should be.  Note 10 NYCRR 405.4 which states, “medical staff shall establish objective standards of care and conduct to be followed by all practitioners . . . [that is] consistent with prevailing standards of medical and other licensed health care practitioner standards of practice. . .”.  This regulation gives the New York State Department of Health the power as a “watch dog” in order to improve the quality of emergency room care.

Note that while these regulations protect patients as a category of persons, if a patient seeks recovery, he or she must have been injured by a medical professional.  In fact, every successful medical malpractice claim requires that the injured patient had a doctor patient relationship with the offending medical professional.

Once that relationship exists, the medical professional is under a duty to treat the patient in accordance with the standards set forth by the community and medical profession.  If the patient’s care was not of this level, then the patient can commence litigation in order to receive compensation for injuries and damages proximately caused by the doctor’s breach of duty.

Experienced medical malpractice attorneys are knowledgeable about the different standards that which apply to different specialties and to different geographic regions.

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.