We have been helping people find the best Illinois medical malpractice lawyer for their case since 2001. We’ve helped thousands of people with these very tough cases. Having the right law firm is the difference between winning and losing. The right attorney can also make your case worth more money.
While there are hundreds of things that could lead to an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, here are some of the most common we’ve seen:
- Failure to diagnose cancer. Typically when you can show that your doctor delayed discovery of your cancer by six months or more, you have the chance to bring a lawsuit, especially if your outcome got much worse.
- Failure to diagnose a blood clot. This can happen when you come to the hospital with certain complaints or after a surgery. If they don’t catch it in time it could have catastrophic results.
- Not recognizing nerve compression on your spine. Sometimes when they don’t discover this in time it could result in you being paralyzed.
- Not recognizing the signs of a stroke or stopping it in time. These are tough cases for sure, but if you can prove that had they treated you earlier the outcome wouldn’t be as bad, you have the makings of a big lawsuit.
- Giving the wrong medication. There are supposed to be protections in place, but at least once a month we get a call from someone who was given the wrong meds, often medication meant for another patient. If it causes a harm, it’s a lawsuit.
- Giving the wrong dose of medicine. Again, there are supposed to be protections in place, but sometimes a much higher dosage is given with terrible results.
- Not checking for medication interactions. Some drugs together can be deadly.
- Foot drop after knee replacement surgery. While foot drop is a risk of some back surgeries, it shouldn’t happen from a knee replacement and if it does it’s usually due to surgeon error.
- Not performing a C-section in a timely manner. If the baby is in distress and this doesn’t happen right away, the results can be awful. This falls under the general category of birth injuries and can be things like causing a brachial plexus (shoulder) injury for improper delivery and many other problems.
- Anesthesia errors. While going under is always a risk, if you aren’t monitored properly and are injured it’s likely a lawsuit, especially if there is brain damage.
- Not ordering proper tests. Some simple tests can prevent big harms.
- Surgical errors. There are too many to list as to what can happen. Some are risks of a procedure, but many are just negligence. For example, cutting a nerve during a spinal fusion. Another one is improperly placing a patient during a surgery. In one case the patient’s head dropped and resulted in a major, life altering neck injury.
- Not catching an infection in time. Getting an infection is usually not malpractice. But if they don’t realize you have one it can lead to sepsis which can cause amputations or even death.
- Improper interpretation of diagnostic tests. Misreading a MRI, X-ray, CT scan etc can have catastrophic results.
- Not notifying patients of a result. In one case were involved with, the doctor knew the patient had colon cancer, but due to office miscommunication, nobody ever told them.
- Using the wrong sperm at a fertility clinic. This isn’t common, but there have been times when sperm has been used to fertilize the wrong egg.
- Not diagnosing chicken pox. Although we remember chicken pox as a kid as no big deal, if an adult gets it and it isn’t treated, it can be deadly.
- An air bubble during a procedure which causes an embolism. This can be from a hole in a catheter, a defective tube, a straight injection of air or many other reasons. The results are usually deadly.
- Improper follow up instructions and/or failure to refer patient to a specialist. This happens a lot with emergency room visits and is often a result of staffing issues or bad communication protocols. A lot of ER doctors are now just contractors and don’t work well with the corporations that own the actual hospital. This can have terrible results for patients.
- Failure to monitor. This can be so many things as well. In one case we helped with, a dialysis patient wasn’t monitored during their procedure and literally had most of their blood removed from their body, resulting in death.
As you can see, a lot of malpractice cases fall under similar descriptions. We know the best lawyers in Illinois for suing a doctor, hospital or other medical provider. If you would like a FREE, confidential consultation to see if you have a case, call us any time at 312-346-5320. We help everywhere in Illinois.