You may have a medical malpractice case in Naperville, Illinois if the negligent actions or omissions of a doctor or another medical provider caused your injury, health complications, or death of a loved one. You must show that the doctor owed you a duty of care, breached that duty, that breach directly led to your injuries, and you incurred financial and non-financial losses because of your injury or your health condition.
Illinois had 861 reported cases of medical malpractice in 2022. Medical malpractice can take the form of delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, failure to treat, surgical errors, anesthesia mistakes, and prescription drug mistakes. It can be hard to determine if you have a medical malpractice case unless you have a medical background or sustained an obvious injury after a medical procedure. Fortunately, experienced medical malpractice attorneys can evaluate your case and determine if you have strong grounds to sue your medical provider for medical malpractice.
Do you want to know if you have a medical malpractice case in Naperville, Illinois? Call Chute, O’Malley, Knobloch, and Turcy, LLC at 630-412-4747 to schedule a free initial consultation with our experienced medical malpractice attorneys.
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Elements of a Medical Malpractice Case
Some patients do not even know if they are victims of medical malpractice. Knowing the legal elements of a medical malpractice case can help you determine when you have grounds to pursue compensation from a negligent medical provider. These elements include:
Duty of Care
This element involves demonstrating that your healthcare professional has a legal obligation to prioritize your health and safety. This duty exists when a medical professional or facility takes charge of your care or treatment.
The duty of care requires a healthcare provider to meet an established standard of care while conducting procedures. These procedures include diagnosing your illness, recommending tests, performing surgery, and prescribing medication.
This duty does not end when you are discharged from a hospital or medical facility. It applies to any situation where a medical provider-patient relationship exists.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty of care happens when a medical provider does not abide by the accepted standard of care when rendering treatment to you. Simply put, another provider with similar training and competence would have obtained a more favorable outcome for you under the same conditions.
Not every unfavorable outcome qualifies as a breach. The acts leading to the undesirable result must have departed from the recognized medical standard of care to be considered a breach of duty.
Causation
This element requires you to prove the existence of a direct relationship between the medical provider’s breach and your injury or illness. In other words, the provider’s negligent actions or omissions were a primary factor in causing your injury or illness.
Your medical records and expert witness testimony are crucial in proving causation. The expert witness will highlight aspects of negligence in your medical records and explain how the doctor’s actions or inaction contributed to your injuries or complications.
Damages
The fourth and final legal element of medical malpractice is damages. It involves showing you incurred losses due to the medical provider’s negligence. These losses constitute the cost of medical care or treatment for the new injury or illness and earnings you have lost or will lose due to limited working capacity. They also include pain and suffering arising from the medical negligence incident.
Medical bills for the additional treatment, wage/income statements, and other documentation outlining financial and non-financial losses are necessary in proving damages in a medical malpractice case.
Each element of medical malpractice offers a foundation for developing a compelling case and getting a desirable outcome. So, these four elements are some of the things you should know about your medical malpractice claim.
Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
Medical malpractice can take many forms, including:
Delayed Diagnosis
A delayed diagnosis happens when a doctor takes unnecessarily long to diagnose you with an illness. You may develop medical complications or lose the chances of a successful recovery because of a delayed diagnosis.
You must demonstrate that the doctor poorly evaluated you to have a medical malpractice case on the grounds of a delayed diagnosis. The doctor may have, for instance, failed to order medically necessary tests or ignored your complaints.
Misdiagnosis
A misdiagnosis happens when your treating physician does not detect the health conditions or problems troubling you. It stems from doing incorrect tests, using inaccurate results from defective diagnosis equipment, or misinterpreting test results. It may also result from failing to confirm the viability of a diagnostic test result with a medical specialist.
Timing is crucial for a successful treatment of a medical condition. The condition may cause life-threatening complications or even wrongful death if the treatment window passes due to a missed or incorrect diagnosis.
Failure to Treat
Failure to treat happens when your physician correctly diagnoses you, but fails to provide appropriate treatment. The physician may have released you from the hospital too soon, failed to offer adequate aftercare, or offered substandard treatment for your condition.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors may include performing wrong procedures, causing preventable damage to vital organs, and leaving medical tools inside your body. They may also include using unsterilized surgical instruments, performing unnecessary surgery, and providing insufficient follow-up care.
Anesthesia mistakes
Anesthesia is a fundamental component of surgery. It allows you to go through a surgical procedure without enduring too much pain and discomfort. An anesthesiologist can make mistakes that leave you with lifelong effects, including chronic pain and brain damage. You may even lose your life because of anesthesia errors.
You may have grounds for a medical malpractice claim if your anesthesiologist administered an incorrect anesthesia dosage. You may also have a legal basis to sue if the anesthesiologist used faulty equipment to administer the anesthesia or failed to keep track of your progress post-administration.
Medication Errors
Medication mistakes may arise because of misdiagnosis. They may also arise when a doctor prescribes the wrong drugs or fills the wrong prescription. You may suffer serious complications due to taking the wrong prescription drugs.
Steps to Take After Medical Malpractice
Taking the right steps after suspected medical malpractice can help you protect your case.
Collect all the Information and Documents Related to the Incident
This step involves assembling all evidence and information regarding the incident. You can obtain copies of medical records, diagnostic test reports, prescription medication records, and hospital discharge sheets.
This information gives your medical malpractice lawyer a head start when developing a legal strategy for your case. It also saves the lawyer time and resources that would have otherwise gone toward collecting that information.
See a Different Doctor
Seeking medical help after a malpractice incident will not hurt your case. Instead, it will strengthen your case by having complications or injuries arising from medical negligence documented by another doctor. It will also prevent further deterioration of your health condition.
Keep a Journal
Medical malpractice cases usually take long to resolve. So, you may forget important details about the medical negligence you went through in the long run. Keeping a journal is an effective way to preserve crucial information about your incident that you may forget.
Your journal may contain a brief account of the incident, the date and time it occurred, and names, phone numbers, and other relevant identifying details of healthcare providers who were involved in your treatment.
Seek Legal Assistance From a Seasoned Medical Malpractice Attorney
Demonstrating that a medical provider’s actions were negligent is not an easy task. You will require sufficient irrefutable evidence and convincing arguments to support your claim. Conducting investigations and assembling the required evidence will take time.
You have just two years to pursue a medical malpractice claim. So, ensure you hire an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible after a malpractice incident.
Your attorney will assess the details of the incident to determine if you have a valid legal basis to claim damages from your medical provider or the provider’s insurer. If so, the attorney will help you build a strong case by conducting additional investigations, identifying credible witnesses, and consulting with medical expert witnesses.
Your attorney will take charge of all dealings with insurance companies, including negotiating for the highest possible settlement. The attorney can also effectively represent your interests in court if necessary.
Medical malpractice lawyer fees should not keep you from seeking legal help. Most medical malpractice attorneys in Naperville and throughout Illinois deduct their fees from settlements or court awards received by their clients. In other words, they handle cases on a contingency fee basis.
Chute, O’Malley, Knobloch, and Turcy, LLC has a proven track record of helping medical malpractice victims recover maximum compensation for their injuries and losses. Contact us to set up a free consultation with one of our skilled medical malpractice attorneys.