Medical malpractice comes in many forms, as all it takes is negligence for a doctor to breach the duty of care that is owed to you as a patient. That said, there are trends with this issue, and many cases fall into a few broad categories. Below are five of the main types of medical malpractice in Illinois. If you believe you were a victim of medical malpractice, contact our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at Seidman, Margulis & Fairman, LLP today.
- Failure to diagnose or a misdiagnosis. These cases are especially dire when the mistake means that treatment on a progressive illness — like cancer — is not started as quickly as it should be.
- Mistakes with lab results. This could include a doctor who looks at the lab results for a different patient with the same last name, a doctor who reads the results incorrectly or a doctor who disregards those results entirely.
- Surgery that is not necessary or that is done incorrectly. This could include wrong-site surgery, which is when a doctor operates on the wrong part of your body, or surgery that is done correctly, but that is carried out on the wrong patient.
- Mistakes made with medicine. A doctor may give you a dose that is too large or too small, or you could be given the wrong medication for your condition. You could also be given medication to which you are allergic.
- Not looking at the patient’s medical history or not carrying out the right tests. Both of these things can be very detrimental to making a proper diagnosis and starting the right treatment.
Again, remember that these are not the only ways that medical malpractice can happen, but they give you a good place to start. If you have been harmed, you may have a right to seek compensation.