The number of doctors working with physician assistants increased by 26 percent between 2004 and 2009.  Additionally, the number of emergency room doctors supervising a PA increased by 19 percent.

Furthermore, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants, from 1996 to 2009, the number of PAs working in doctors’ offices and family medicine decreased from 39.8 percent to 25.9 percent.  The decrease can be attributed to a growing number of PAs working in emergency rooms.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that PAs treat about 10 percent of people admitted to emergency rooms every year.  A study of PAs and medical malpractice found that between 1991 and 2007, 1,535 medical malpractice payments were made by PAs.

The average medical malpractice payment made by a PA was $80,003.  The types of medical malpractice that PAs were most likely to commit were misdiagnosis, improper treatment, medication error, and surgical error.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of an emergency room error, contact the Philadelphia emergency room error attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 to discuss your case.

The Wall Street Journal recently examined emergency room errors and other mistakes made in different hospital departments.  According to the news source, emergency rooms are among the top departments in hospitals found responsible in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Furthermore, diagnostic errors and misdiagnoses account for between 37 to 55 percent of closed emergency room error medical malpractice cases.  The most common reasons for faulty diagnoses are that a certain piece of information was not available at the time a doctor made a decision or a physician misjudged a patient’s symptoms.

Common reasons for gaps in information in emergency rooms include poor communication between nurses and doctors, delayed access to lab reports, tests, or radiology, shift changes, lack of record of important and abnormal vital signs, and missing medical histories.

To discuss the steps to take to file an emergency room error lawsuit with an experienced medical malpractice attorney, contact the Philadelphia emergency room error lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 215-238-1130 today.