June 30, 2021
Illinois patients rely on their doctors to provide them with the best care. However, doctors are human just like the rest of us, and they are capable of also making mistakes.
Some doctors make innocent mistakes, and other doctors are negligent and cause huge errors that put the patient’s life in danger. Here are some of the most common reasons that patients have filed medical malpractice claims against their doctor.
Surgical errors
Surgical errors are one of the most common reasons people file medical malpractice claims. An error during surgery isn’t always life-threatening, but that does not mean that they aren’t dangerous or that they won’t inconvenience the patient. Common surgical errors include things such as doing the wrong operation on a patient, operating on the wrong side of a patient’s body, or leaving instruments inside of a patient’s body.
Incorrect diagnosis
Another very common reason to file a medical malpractice claim is because the doctor incorrectly diagnosed the patient. Patients getting misdiagnosed still happens all the time in the medical field, even with all the medical advances that have been made in the past few years. Misdiagnosing a patient can potentially put their lives in danger, especially if it takes weeks or months for the doctor to realize, or if the doctor only realized after the patient’s condition got worse.
Lack of informed consent
A patient might file a medical malpractice claim if the doctor does a certain operation on them without having the consent to do so. A doctor needs the patient’s permission to perform procedures on their body, and to get that permission, they need to tell the patient about the procedure, the potential risks, the benefits and everything else involved in the operation.
Medical malpractice can be very serious and can be life-threatening. If you or a loved one has been harmed in such a fashion, consider discussing your situation with an experienced attorney.
