Tuesday, December 8, 2015

How Medical Treatment Errors can Injure You

People in general place considerable trust in the proficiency of doctors as well as hospitals, and would like to feel that they are in safe hands.

Diagnosis and Treatment

For the most part, doctors and healthcare providers pursue some steps to make a correct diagnosis of an ailment, injury, or condition. With this information the healthcare professional plans and puts into practice a specific course of treatment. Even if the professional’s diagnosis happens to be correct, errors can occur at the time of the treatment phase.

To decide on the most favorable kind of treatment, a doctor ought to depend on his/her training, experience, the latest in medical literature as well as protocol, and at times consult with other doctors. If the doctor fails to do so, it can lead to a treatment error. Chicago, IL medical malpractice lawyers have confronted this issue many times.

Errors and poor outcomes

Such treatments are in the nature of real errors, and not merely the failure of a patient to respond to a given procedure or treatment. However, in case the most skilled doctors would have pursued the same medical treatment, with the same unsatisfactory outcomes, then it cannot be considered medical malpractice or hospital neglect.

On the contrary, should the doctor administer treatment to his/her patient in a manner that varies significantly from the treatment modes of other skilled doctors, with the same poor outcomes, the patient has indeed a claim, according to Illinois medical malpractice attorneys. Besides, the flawed treatment should have caused actual damage or injury to his/her patient.

It can also be deemed medical malpractice or hospital neglect if a doctor chooses the appropriate treatment, and makes an error in administering that treatment. Such an event can occur at the time of surgery or procedures.

Doctors are not the ones who make serious mistakes that leads to terrible medical errors. Chicago medical malpractice lawyers have had to target nurses and other staff members many times. If you want more information about this, go right here: http://nursing-home-abuse.usattorneys.com/illinois/.
Surgical errors

Surgical procedures include some measure of complication or risk, but mistakes can aggravate these risks. Mistakes at the time of surgical procedures include factors such as anesthesiology errors, wrong-patient errors, wrong-site errors, nerve damage, faulty incisions, and leaving objects like surgical sponges within a patient while sewing an incision. Complications of a post-surgical treatment nature can include infected incisions, blood clots, as well as pneumonia.

Errors can occur during surgery by the following factors:
  • Insufficient preoperative planning
  • Lack of communication before, during as well as after surgery
  • A surgeon/assistant under fatigue, or influenced by alcohol or drugs
  • Ignoring basic tasks like sterilizing equipment properly
  •  Plain incompetence

Failure to warn is malpractice

It is the duty of all doctors to warn their patients about the risks underlying a specific course of procedure or treatment. This is termed the “duty of informed consent” and Chicago, IL medical malpractice lawyers have filed lawsuits many times based on this aspect as well. If any patient happens to be injured by a procedure or treatment, and the attending doctor failed to warn the patient of this potential outcome, then the doctor can be held liable for medical malpractice.


The issues related to errors in procedure or treatment by healthcare professionals tend to be very complicated. Besides, the facts concerning every case, as well as the prevailing laws in every state, can vary. Under the circumstances, your only recourse is to hire a resolute and committed Chicago medical malpractice lawyer immediately.

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