Medical Malpractice

Lately, healthcare has been all over the news. The number of Americans without insurance is a significant issue and should be given the seriousness that it deserves. However, on the other side of the coin, events demonstrate that just because one has medical coverage does not mean they will receive the care they need. Many times, healthcare professionals do not meet the standards they represent and patients are harmed as a result. The next few sections highlight how these victims are injured and what type of relief they can seek in Illinois courts.

Illinois Patients’ Injuries

Unfortunately, medical malpractice can result in countless types of injuries. The following list highlights some of the more usual forms that patients across the Chicagoland area experience everyday:

• Misdiagnosis or Delay in Diagnosis: Medical providers have a duty to inspect and diagnose you with relevant care and competence. If they fail to catch your condition or misdiagnose it, then the doctor might be subject to liability if you are consequently injured or miss your chance to recover. Generally, doctors, radiologists, and similar parties are subject to this liability.
• Surgical Error: If, in the performance of care, doctors negligently injure you, then you might have a cause of action for medical malpractice. Often, patients are injured in surgery when surgeons upset areas neighboring the focus site. This issue is especially important as healthcare providers use new and modern techniques (such as robotics) that, while novel, require more training and care because they subject the patient to different risks.
• Prescribed Wrong Medication: Often, patients visit doctors for prescriptions. Physicians owe a duty to patients to recommend the right medications as well as instructions while providing them care.
• Inadequate Discharge Instructions: Medical providers can only discharge patients with complete and clear instructions. This relates to any medications prescribed, devices used, conditions watched, etc. If doctors fail in regard to any of these obligations, they can be responsible for the injury that results.
• Physician Referral Mistakes: One constant source of patient injury and subsequent litigation is referrals. Many doctors fail to correctly or timely refer their patients to another healthcare provider. This can eliminate any chance the patient has to get well and is something that needs to be closely monitored.
• Lack of Informed Consent: Before any medical procedure, physicians must obtain informed consent from the patient. This is a recurring source of controversy because the twin issues of medical complexity and patient understanding normally butt heads. However, the onus is on the healthcare party to secure proper authority before initiating the operation.

Illinois Patients’ Compensation

If you are a victim of medical malpractice, you can suffer a wide range of injuries. These harms might lead you to consider a lawsuit. Within any Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, there are several dimensions of compensation that you might obtain in a suit. Here are some of them that might be applicable to you:

• Expenses: Medical misconduct can cause you a great deal of expenses. From follow-up procedures to correct the mistake to lost income due to absences from work, malpractice takes a significant financial toll on victims and a lot of it is recoverable in court.
• Pain and Suffering: Medical malpractice can alter your life well beyond the date of the incident. It can take a toll on your self-esteem, reduce your ability to work, and even hamper your quality of life. For these reasons, you should explore the possibility of seeking recovery in court. Importantly, for non-economic damages, Illinois courts have lifted the cap that the legislature put on the amount of recovery that you can seek for these injuries.
• Wrongful Death: If one of your loved ones dies due to deficient medical care, then, besides grief, you might be left with several costs and a harder time getting by without him or her. Damages from a wrongful death are a common complaint in medical malpractice actions and should be considered if you experience such a loss.

Illinois Patients’ Claims

Medical malpractice lawsuits are a specific variety of negligence actions. The foundation of the case is that the medical provider failed to treat the patient reasonably. While this can come about in a million and more ways, here are the crucial points that every medical malpractice case must make in Illinois and in other states:

• The doctor, nurse, healthcare facility or other relevant entity owed a duty to the plaintiff;
• There was a breach of that duty;
• The breach proximately caused injury and damage to the plaintiff.

Proximate cause means that the defendant’s breach was “a cause” in your injuries. Additionally, this term means that the injuries would not have come about on their own. Medical malpractice can happen at any point on the cycle of care including during admittance, discharge, prescription, and follow-up appointments.

With a subject as dense and serious as medical malpractice, you cannot include everything in a few pages. That is why it is incredibly important that you meet with one of the attorneys from our team. We can walk you through all the particulars of this field of litigation so that you know exactly what you need to in order to be successful.

For a free consultation about your medical malpractice case, contact Joel Gould Law Offices today or call 773-281-8744. The Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Joel Gould Law Offices handle cases in Chicago and throughout Illinois. They also work closely with some of the best personal injury attorneys across the country on cases in other states and jurisdictions.