Effingham Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Common Causes of Medical Malpractice

Any situation where a healthcare provider is negligent can prompt the filing of a medical malpractice claim in Effingham County. Patients tend to work with an attorney to file these cases after the following situations occur:

• Diagnostic errors: This is a catchall category that includes misdiagnoses, missed diagnoses, and delayed diagnoses. There are steps doctors can take, including asking patients additional questions, ordering imaging and blood tests, etc., to rule out certain medical conditions and others. The time that passes in which a patient doesn’t receive a correct diagnosis puts their health at risk of deteriorating past the point of causing irreversible damage or preventable death.
• Birth injuries: These can affect either a mother or baby, leading to them suffering anywhere from temporary injuries to life-long impairments or death. Failing to closely monitor a patient’s vital signs and respond accordingly to induce labor or perform a C-section and the use of assistive devices during childbirth are two examples of actions that can cause adverse health outcomes like birth injuries.
• Surgical errors: Whether a surgeon fails to perform a time-out procedure to confirm they’re about to operate on the correct patient and body part, they inadvertently perforate a nearby organ while performing an operation, or they leave a surgical instrument inside, these are all examples of preventable errors that happen in the operating room. Unexpected outcomes can also occur if an anesthesiologist fails to administer the correct dosage of a sedative to a patient, which can lead to them not being completely put under or having difficulty waking up.
• Pharmaceutical errors: Issues like these typically involve a patient receiving an incorrect medication altogether or the right one; however, more or less of it than they were prescribed. Medication errors like these can also happen if a medical assistant, nurse, or doctor fails to take down or review a patient’s health history, including a listing of current prescription drugs they take to ensure there’s no chance of them poorly interacting with a newly prescribed one or a list of their allergies to make sure they won’t have an adverse reaction to it.

While you should certainly reach out to us at Prince Law Firm if any negligence such as the examples above has happened to you, consider getting in touch with us even if you experienced something different that has caused an injury or illness. We’ll take down a few details regarding what happened to you and connect you with an Effingham medical malpractice lawyer who can help you understand your right to take legal action to hold those parties who wronged you accountable for their actions.

Why Medical Negligence Occurs

Healthcare provider negligence like this can occur for a wide range of reasons, some of which may include:

• Inadequate training or inexperience
• Understaffing and being overworked
• The existence of poor protocols (i.e., cleaning, pre-surgery time-out procedures, etc.)
• Being fatigued or burnt out
• Communication issues (between doctors and their patients, nursing staff, etc.)

The list above is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of issues that may lead to medical malpractice occurring. While anyone can make mistakes, doing so in a healthcare setting can result in irreversible consequences.

This is why it’s imperative that you hold the party that harmed you or your close family member accountable for doing so. This is the only way to ensure you get justice for what you went through and to effectuate change so no one has to deal with the same ever again.

How To Prove a Healthcare Provider Was Negligent

When a medical professional causes you harm, you may assume that such an outcome always indicates some type of negligence on their part. That’s not necessarily the case, though. One of the reasons doctors must perform an informed consent with their patients to explain a procedure, why they’re recommending it, the risks associated with it, and the alternatives available is because, while it can be beneficial to them, there are also some potential downsides.

That being said, doctors have a set protocol they should generally follow when treating patients in particular situations. They must follow a standard of care. If they fail to do so and something out-of-the-norm happens to their patient as a result, that physician or other healthcare worker may be held liable for deviating from that standard.

Ultimately, the onus falls on your shoulders as the injured victim, also known as the plaintiff in legal action, to establish the following:

• A doctor-patient or some other relationship existed that meant that the healthcare practitioner owed you a duty of care
• That medical provider who owed you that duty violated the obligation they owed you to act responsibly
• The actions of the healthcare worker treating you caused you harm
• You suffered losses (damages) because of the choices that medical professionals made

Establishing these elements of negligence may seem relatively easy to do on your own. However, our Effingham, IL medical malpractice lawyers would suggest that you not view building such a case’s foundation so simplistically.

If you believe a doctor or some other healthcare provider’s actions resulted in your present medical concerns, let a seasoned medical malpractice attorney in our law office determine if your suspicions are rightfully placed and advise you of your legal options if so.

Defendants You Can Hold Liable for Medical Malpractice

There’s no hard and fast rule that dictates who and who you cannot sue for medical malpractice. However, our attorneys have experience holding the following accountable for their role in causing adverse patient outcomes:

• Physicians, including emergency room doctors, obstetricians, orthopedists, neurologists, and pediatricians
• Surgeons and anesthesiologists
• Pharmacists
• Dentists, orthodontists, periodontists, and oral surgeons
• Nurses
• Urgent care clinics, hospitals, and other medical centers
• Chiropractors
• Mental health practitioners, including therapists and psychiatrists
• Optometrists and ophthalmologists

No matter if one of the medical professionals described above or some other one harmed you, know that Illinois law likely affords you the right to take legal action if you can show that another party’s actions unnecessarily harmed you. An Effingham medical malpractice lawyer in our office can help you do that. Reach out to us to discuss how to do this during a free initial consultation.

Compensation for Medical Negligence

Victims of medical malpractice in Illinois are generally entitled to the following types of damages to compensate them for their losses:

• Economic damages: This is a category that includes any documentable incident-related costs, which often include current and future medical bills as well as lost wages and diminished earning capacity.
• Noneconomic damages: These losses are generally the ones that affect a patient or their family members on a deeper, perhaps more emotional basis, and often include pain and suffering, mental anguish, a loss of companionship, etc.

It’s additionally possible for a family to recover compensation for funeral and burial costs, losses of benefits, and other damages by filing a wrongful death lawsuit in Effingham County.

How Does an Effingham Medical Malpractice Lawyer Help?

As suggested above, there’s a lot that goes into building a legal case like this against a healthcare provider that demands a settlement in your favor. What’s more, there are certain filing requirements that must be met, including adhering to a 4-year statute of limitations (in most cases), that, if ignored, could prevent you from ever making the financial recovery that you need and deserve.

When you work with our legal team at Prince Law Firm, you’re making a wise choice to have a skilled legal representative shepherd you through our often-complex civil legal system in Southern Illinois. This can make or break your medical malpractice case.

You’ve already dealt with or are dealing with a lot after what your healthcare provider did to you or your relative. Let our Effingham medical malpractice lawyer handle the heavy work of holding your physician, a hospital, or some other provider or facility involved in you or your loved one receiving inferior care accountable.

An initial consultation with an attorney in our office is free. Also, we want to emphasize that we do not charge for our services unless we collect a settlement on your behalf. So, if you have been harmed, reach out to us now.