Most doctors would agree that emergency rooms are chaotic, and the emergency room physician has one of the most challenging jobs in medicine.

Because the emergency doctor does not know the patient well or have a comprehensive understanding of their medical history, the emergency room physician may be afforded more leeway than if he or she had been treating the patient for years.

Still, an ER doctor's leeway is limited, and the ER doctor or hospital can still be held liable if a patient is harmed due to substandard medical care.

Was there a doctor-patient relationship?

For you to have a valid medical malpractice case, you will need to prove that 1) there was a doctor-patient relationship, 2) the treatment you received in the emergency room involved a substandard level of care (negligence), and 3) you were harmed as a result of that negligence.

It is not usually difficult to establish the existence of a doctor-patient relationship. If the ER doctor examined or treated you, it is presumed that a doctor-patient relationship existed.

Given that it was a visit to the ER, you need not prove that you continued a patient-doctor relationship since that is not the nature of a relationship with an ER doctor.

Some examples of medical malpractice in the emergency room include:

• Surgical errors
• Failing to treat a medical emergency in a timely fashion
• Giving a patient the wrong medication or a medication overdose
• Misdiagnosing a serious medical condition
• Failing to perform the correct procedure
• Not obtaining the patient's consent to perform a procedure when consent was possible

Who is liable for medical malpractice? Generally, it is the doctors themselves, and the hospital is held liable for any mistakes made on behalf of their nurses or staff. In the ER situation however, hospitals are often on the hook for an ER doctor's mistakes because the patient visits the ER, not any one doctor specifically.

If you were injured in an emergency room, contact a medical malpractice attorney to file a claim!