A Cook County Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help if a Doctor Caused Your Injury
If you or your loved one suffered injury because of a medical practitioner’s negligence or unreasonable actions, you may have a viable medical malpractice case worth pursuing. Your first step in determining eligibility and taking legal action is to speak to a lawyer in your area. For a Cook County medical malpractice lawyer, contact Buttafuoco & Associates and request a free consultation.
What constitutes a medical malpractice case?
Not all mistakes that doctors make or side effects that you experience from a treatment are considered malpractice. For there to be a valid medical malpractice lawsuit, you and your lawyer will need to prove the following four elements.
- Duty – The doctor owed you a legal duty of care. This element usually is established easily with a common physician-patient relationship.
- Breach of duty – The doctor somehow breached the duty of care, i.e., he/she acted or failed to act in such a way that was outside the normal standard of care. In other words, the doctor did something that other doctors in a similar situation would not have done.
- Causation – The doctor’s negligence was the cause of your injuries.
- Damages – You suffered actual injuries as a result of the doctor’s mistake.
Examples of Medical Malpractice Cases
Our firm has been handling all types of medical malpractice cases for more than 30 years. We have helped hurting victims and grieving families who had entrusted their care to professionals that wound up causing them undue harm. Unfortunately, medical mistakes happen far too frequently. Hospital mistakes are the third-leading cause of death in the United States, according to a Patient Safety America research report in the Journal of Patient Safety. Researchers also estimate that there are up 8 million cases of non-lethal medical mistake-relate injuries each year. The figures are staggering and unnerving.
Some of the most common types of medical malpractice cases filed each year involve the following.
- Birth injuries, e.g., failure to monitor the baby during delivery, failure to diagnose mother with a condition that could harm the baby, improper use of forceps or vacuum
- Surgical mistakes, e.g., wrong site, wrong patient, wrong limb, unneeded surgery, leaving instruments inside the patient
- Medication mistakes, e.g., wrong medicine, wrong dosage, prescribing contraindicated medication
- Diagnosis errors, e.g., delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose
- Failure to treat a condition in time
- Anesthesia mistakes
Damages You May Be Eligible for
If you have a valid medical malpractice suit and you win your case, you can receive a settlement award that covers a wide range of damages. The state of Illinois has no cap on medical malpractice damages, so it’s possible for you to be fully reimbursed for your losses. Some of the types of damages for which you can be reimbursed include the following.
- Economic damages – These types of damages are your actual expenses. They are easily quantifiable with bills, receipts, and statements. They include things such as medical bills, transportation costs, loss of income, the cost of hiring someone to help you around the house, future treatments, etc.
- Non-economic damages – These types of damages are more subjective, do not have an inherent dollar amount and are harder to quantify. However, they are viable damages, nonetheless. Non-economic damages include those such as pain and suffering, long-term emotional damages, mental anguish, anxiety, loss of companionship, and scarring/disfigurement.
- Punitive damages – While victims cannot seek punitive damages per se, the courts may award these damages as a punishment against the defendant. These damages usually only apply if the practitioner was causing willful and intentional harm.
Consulting a Medical Malpractice Lawyer
To determine if you have a valid case and for help with all the legal aspects of seeking compensation for the harm you’ve suffered, call a medical malpractice lawyer at Buttafuoco & Associates. Contact us today at 1-800-NOW-HURT for a free consultation.
