Medical malpractice refers to a healthcare professional’s failure to provide the standard of care, resulting in harm to a patient. It takes many forms, from something as drastic as wrong-site surgery to something as common (yet no less harmful) as misfiling a prescription. Let’s explore a few examples of medical malpractice to help you determine whether medical malpractice played a role in your injuries and what you can do to seek justice and accountability.
Common Examples of Medical Malpractice in Chicago
Medical malpractice can take numerous forms for patients in Chicago. Some of the most common examples of medical malpractice include:
- Failure to diagnose/misdiagnosis
- Failure to consult or refer to specialists
- Failure to treat
- Misinterpretation of test results/diagnostic scans
- Failure to examine or take a patient’s history
- Premature discharge
- Failure to follow up
- Medication errors, such as prescribing contraindicated medication, miscalculating the dosage, or administering medication to the wrong patient
- Anesthesia errors, including administering too much or too little anesthesia or failing to monitor patient vitals during a procedure
- Surgical errors, such as wrong patient/site errors or leaving equipment inside a patient
- Hospital-acquired infections
- Failure to obtain informed consent
- Birth injuries
How to Know if You Have a Medical Malpractice Case
Just because a patient suffers an adverse outcome from treatment does not necessarily mean they have suffered medical malpractice. Instead, medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider’s substandard care causes a patient to suffer injuries or experience an adverse outcome to their treatment. Here are some common signs of potentially viable medical malpractice cases:
- Your treatment doesn’t work: Your doctor may have negligently misdiagnosed you if the treatment they prescribe does not alleviate your symptoms and they do not attempt to diagnose you with another condition or try an alternative treatment.
- You experience new or worsening symptoms: You may have experienced negligent medical care if you develop new or worsening symptoms or have new injuries after receiving treatment.
- Your provider doesn’t follow up with you: A medical provider’s failure to follow up with you to ensure that your symptoms have improved may signal a failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, or failure to treat.
- The hospital discharges you before resolving your symptoms: A hospital may provide negligent treatment when it discharges a patient without alleviating the patient’s symptoms that brought them into the hospital or providing a treatment plan the patient can complete at home.
- A provider begins treating you without explaining their methods: Informed consent requires a healthcare provider to ensure that a patient understands what a proposed treatment entails, how the treatment will benefit the patient, the potential risks and complications of the treatment, and alternative treatment options (if any). Failing to inform the patient of these details means the patient cannot provide informed consent.
Hire a Local Medical Malpractice Attorney
Don’t face the aftermath of medical malpractice alone. Instead, contact Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. today for a free, no-obligation consultation with a medical malpractice attorney. We have recovered over $2.5 billion on behalf of our clients, including a $75.8 million medical malpractice jury verdict, a $50.3 million medical malpractice jury verdict, and a $32.7 million medical malpractice jury verdict. We’re ready to discuss the details of your case and learn whether you may have a viable claim against a healthcare provider.
