Do Not Get Sick on the Weekend

An alarming number of the medical malpractice cases handled by Pajcic & Pajcic throughout Florida and other southern states have involved negligent medical care on the weekend and holidays. Many cases involve patients sent home from the emergency room after a failure to appreciate and diagnose a serious illness. Several other cases have involved on-call physicians who have either failed to respond promptly or elected to defer urgent surgery until after the weekend. Still other cases have involved hospital staff that have been inattentive to a patient's deteriorating condition during a weekend or holiday stay in the hospital. Perhaps the most egregious cases have involved attending surgeons who have abandoned their patients on Friday afternoon. Some rules we have learned: first, try not to get sick on the weekend. If you must, second, call your personal physician instead of relying on an on-call physician. Third, stay with your loved ones if they must be in the hospital over the weekend or a holiday and be assertive with medical personnel if you suspect anything is going wrong.