Contact WKW
Our Address
2859 N. Meridian St.
Indianapolis, IN 46208
Office
317.920.6400
Free Case Evaluation
317.920.6400
Medical Malpractice Lawyers Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog Urgent Care Malpractice: Can You Sue Urgent Care for Misdiagnosis or Mistakes?
Request a Free ConsultationUpdated August 14, 2024 | By Wilson Kehoe Winingham staff
Urgent care centers are more popular than ever. Their rapid growth has been attributed to their convenience, the high cost of emergency room visits, and gaps in primary care. For many people, urgent care is the first place they consider when they have an urgent medical need, especially if they can’t get into their primary care doctor.
However, urgent care centers are not perfect. They are subject to many of the same pitfalls and errors as other doctors or facilities. And an urgent care center’s busy, crowded atmosphere can lend itself to a unique set of problems, leading to urgent care malpractice.
Call us at (317) 689-0654 for your free consultation.
Many cities have urgent care centers open because there is a need for quick and affordable access to treatment that is going unmet by the local emergency room. Because of their ability to treat acute problems relatively quickly, emergency rooms and urgent cares treat many of the same conditions: respiratory illness, sprains and strains, and infections.
Urgent care centers may face the same pitfalls as emergency rooms due to their similar environment, such as rushed treatment, failure to triage patients appropriately, failure to communicate, and inaccurate diagnosis.
Urgent care centers often do not have the same equipment and resources as emergency rooms. Emergency rooms can treat life-threatening conditions because they have access to a full laboratory, a wide range of medications, surgical interventions, and medical staff trained to treat various problems. They can treat everything from heart attacks and strokes to gunshot wounds and severe burns.
On the other hand, urgent care centers can perform limited lab tests, limited imaging, and limited treatment. Typically, they are best suited for people with minor illnesses or injuries needing treatment within the next 24 hours.
This unique environment can lend itself to different types of malpractice claims. When an urgent care patient has a medical issue requiring emergency treatment, it’s often best to transport the patient there via ambulance. If the patient’s symptoms are not accurately recognized, assessed, and/or addressed by the medical staff, the patient might have a basis for a medical malpractice claim.
There are many reasons that people choose to visit urgent care instead of the ER.
The leading cause of urgent care malpractice cases is the provider’s failure to properly assess and diagnose the patient’s condition. This can include misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and failure to diagnose.
If your doctor diagnosed you correctly but gave you the wrong or ineffective treatment, you may have a malpractice claim. To sue the provider, the patient must prove that the treatment was inadequate and outside the typical standard of care for the diagnosis, and that it contributed to cause your damages or injuries complained of.
Although urgent care centers don’t have as much diagnostic equipment as the ER, urgent cares still use equipment and lab tests to diagnose conditions. A patient may have a potential malpractice, or product liability, claim if the tests malfunctioned or if the provider misinterpreted the results.
If the urgent care staff failed to improve your condition and actively made your condition worse, their actions may constitute malpractice.
Yes. Like all medical providers, urgent care centers in Indiana can be sued for medical malpractice. They must have caused harm to the patient by failing to provide adequate treatment or providing treatment that falls outside the established standard of care.
Usually, in a medical malpractice case, the doctor or nurse practitioner is responsible for the injury, especially if they are the ones who failed to misdiagnose your condition. However, there are some circumstances in which the urgent care facility or another medical entity is held responsible. For example, an urgent care center may be susceptible to a medical malpractice claim if the in-house laboratory staff mishandled your blood sample or the intake staff failed to refer you to the emergency room for something like stroke symptoms.
Most healthcare facilities are required to carry malpractice insurance, and they factor the urgent care malpractice insurance costs into their business expenses. If the urgent care is found responsible, the urgent care malpractice insurance likely pays the damages.
If you believe you’ve been a victim of medical malpractice, do not hesitate to contact a lawyer to review your case. The experienced malpractice attorneys at WKW can help you in reviewing your claim, building your case, and filing your claim against your provider. If your claim is successful, you may receive compensation for medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering. Contact WKW today at 317.920.6400 or fill out an online contact form for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
Transcript Malpractice is another name for negligence, and negligence means the failure to exercise reasonable care. When we look at a doctor or a nurse,…
You may have come across the term “standard of care” while researching medical malpractice lawsuits. But what does it mean? In any industry, professionals have…
Life care plans are dynamic and well-researched documents used to plan for the current and future needs of people who have chronic health issues or…
Let WKW put our experience to work for you. Contact us for your free case evaluation.
Or, call us today at (317) 920-6400