Emergency rooms are busy, and emergency physicians often make fast decisions with limited information. Not every missed condition is a mistake, and many patients are correctly sent home with symptoms that later change. An emergency room error is different. It is a failure to evaluate, test, treat, or follow up in a way a careful emergency team would have done.
The patterns are familiar. A patient with chest pain is told it is muscle strain and suffers a heart attack hours later. Sudden numbness, slurred speech, or a severe headache is not evaluated as a possible stroke in time for treatment. Fever, rapid heart rate, and confusion are not recognized as sepsis. Belly pain is sent home as a stomach virus and turns out to be appendicitis, a bowel obstruction, or an ectopic pregnancy. A blood clot in the lung or a tear in the aorta is missed. An X-ray or CT scan is read one way at night and differently the next morning, and no one calls the patient. Sometimes the problem is time: a patient waits for hours after triage while their condition worsens.
1. Get care now if symptoms continue or worsen
If symptoms return or worsen after discharge, go back to an emergency room or call 911. You may choose a different hospital. Tell the new team about the earlier visit and bring the discharge papers.
2. Keep the discharge papers and instructions
The discharge papers list the diagnosis you were given, the instructions, any prescriptions, and often the names of the treating providers. Keep the originals, and photograph every page. If you were told to follow up with a physician, keep proof of when you called and when the appointment was.
3. Write down the times
Times matter in emergency cases. Write down, as closely as you can, when you arrived, when you were triaged, when you were first seen by a physician or other provider, when tests were done, when results came back, and when you left. Phone call logs, texts, parking receipts, and ambulance records can help confirm times.
4. Request the complete emergency department records
Ask in writing for the full emergency department chart, not just the discharge summary. That includes the triage note and acuity level, vital signs over time, nursing notes, physician and advanced practice provider notes, orders, lab results, ECG tracings, imaging reports, and the images themselves. Ask for both preliminary and final radiology reads. Licensed hospitals must furnish copies after discharge on written request "in a timely manner, without delays for legal review," with copying charges capped (§ 395.3025(1), Fla. Stat.). If an ambulance brought the patient, request the EMS run report as well.
“in a timely manner, without delays for legal review,”
§ 395.3025(1), Florida Statutes
5. Keep bills and insurance statements
Itemized hospital bills and insurance statements list the tests and services actually performed, and sometimes their times. They can confirm what was and was not done.
6. Note whether the hospital is public
Some Florida hospitals are owned or operated by a county, a hospital district, or another public body. Claims against the state and its agencies or subdivisions carry added written notice requirements, including written notice to the agency and, unless the claim is against a municipality, a county, or the Florida Space Authority, to the Department of Financial Services, before suit (§ 768.28(6)(a)). Write down the hospital's full name so a lawyer can check its ownership.
Florida duties and deadlines
Florida requires a hospital with an emergency department to provide "emergency services and care for any emergency medical condition" when requested, and that care may not be based on or affected by a patient's "insurance status, economic status, or ability to pay for medical services" (§ 395.1041(3)(a), (f)).
“insurance status, economic status, or ability to pay for medical services”
§ 395.1041(3)(a), Florida Statutes
Emergency care claims are judged against the standard of care: "that level of care, skill, and treatment which, in light of all relevant surrounding circumstances, is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers" (§ 766.102(1)). Under § 95.11(5)(c), a claim generally must be brought within 2 years from the incident or from when it was discovered or should have been discovered with due diligence, and no later than 4 years from the incident, with an extension of up to 7 years where fraud or concealment prevented discovery. The 4-year limit does not bar a claim brought for a minor on or before the child's eighth birthday.
“that level of care, skill, and treatment which, in light of all relevant surrounding circumstances, is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers”
§ 766.102(1), Florida Statutes
Before suit, the claimant must obtain a verified written medical opinion from a qualified physician supporting the claim (§ 766.203(2)) and serve a notice of intent on each prospective defendant, starting a 90-day presuit period that tolls the limitations period (§ 766.106). An automatic 90-day extension is available by petition to the clerk (§ 766.104(2)). The reviewing physician generally must practice in the same field as the defendant physician (§ 766.102(5)). The rule barring recovery by a plaintiff more than 50 percent at fault does not apply in medical negligence cases (§ 768.81(6)), and § 768.21(8) limits certain wrongful death damages for adult children and the parents of an adult child.
For more detail, see our guide, How Florida Medical Malpractice Claims Work.
Your checklist
- Return to an emergency room or call 911 if symptoms continue or worsen.
- Keep and photograph the discharge papers and instructions.
- Write down arrival, triage, test, and discharge times.
- Request the full emergency department chart, images, and EMS report.
- Keep itemized bills and insurance statements.
- Write down the hospital's full name so its ownership can be checked.
- Speak with a lawyer well before 2 years from the visit.
How we review these cases
Emergency room cases are about timing. We build a minute-by-minute timeline from the triage note, vital signs, orders, and results, then compare it with what happened after discharge. Where the facts support it, we arrange a review by a qualified physician who practices emergency medicine or the relevant field, and we explain what the review shows in plain terms. Meetings are by appointment only. Call 305-748-3789 to schedule a time to talk.
This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.