Accident and Emergency Negligence Claims

An accident and emergency department is the first point of contact that a patient will have with the Health Service Executive (HSE) where the patient should be given the opportunity to be treated with due skill, care and diligence in order to avoid long-term effects or sustained injuries.

However because our Accident and Emergency departments can be busy, sometimes patients are not treated with professional care and medical negligence can occur where there has been a failure to correctly diagnose a patient. A failure to correctly diagnose a patient of an acute or chronic disease can have far reaching consequences for the quality of life of the patient when they have been discharged from hospital.

Examples of Clinical Areas where Medical Negligence may occur in the Accident and Emergency Department:

  • Failure to diagnose and treat a bone injury
  • Inappropriate treatment of fractures
  • Failure to read or provide an accurate reading of a blood test
  • Failure to identify the correct diagnosis
  • Unreasonable delay in treatment resulting in loss of a chance of a better outcome, or causing damage

Many of these errors which occur are due to substandard care and are actionable in compensation claims. At Healy O’Connor, we will review your case and look at your hospital records in order to assess whether the hospital has breached its duty of care and advise you if your injuries are the result of negligence or incompetence.

Limitation Period By law, a claim for compensation must commence within two years from the date when the incident occurred or when the person first realised that they had suffered the injury. However due to the complexity of the issues involved it is advisable to contact a Solicitor as soon as possible after the incident.

We will provide you with practical legal advice as to whether you are likely to be successful in bringing a personal injuries claim. Please feel free to contact us at info@hoc.ie or freephone 1800 54 54 54 to arrange an initial consultation in order to allow us examine your claim for compensation.