What type of medical malpractice are you interested in learning about? Please click the links below to read more about the issues that may affect your situation. At Cirignani Heller & Harman, LLP, we value your every concern. One of our attorneys can speak with you today about taking the first steps in evaluating your malpractice claim and pursuing resolution in your best interests.

Birth Injuries

• What are the risks of a C-Section birth? - Caesarean Section procedures can be a life-saving measure for both mother and baby. An emergency or unplanned C-Section is used when the delivery is considerably slowed or stopped, the baby shows signs of distress, or… ...
• Infections in the Neonatal ICU a problem in the US - Over 2 million people in the United States acquire preventable infections while staying at a hospital, according to professionals with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Even more sobering, premature infants in the neonatal intensive care… ...
• Cerebral Palsy – Is it Biased? - I ask in this article whether political (or cultural) considerations influence scientific research at the scientist level; that is, is the person or group doing the research slanting their data or conclusions to fit a… ...

Brain Injuries

• Protecting High School Athletes With Concussions and Head Injuries - With several high school and collegiate athletes dying from head injuries sustained during football games this last year, concern over head injuries and concussions in athletes has become more prevalent around the country. Part of… ...

Hospital Mistakes

• The Importance of Informed Consent - Why Is Informed Consent Important? Informed consent is critical to patient safety. To make the best decision regarding your own health, you should be provided with all available information about your situation. Asking questions is important.… ...
• Illinois Supreme Court to decide doctor credentialing case - What information a hospital can keep private about its credentialing process for physicians is before the state’s highest court. When a doctor causes harm to a patient, the injured patient understandably has many questions. How… ...
• Keeping Patients Safe: The University of Illinois’ Patient Safety and Medical Liability Project - When a patient is harmed in a hospital, few people hear about it, especially other patients. That's why the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Patient Safety Excellence will use a $3 million federal… ...
• The Pressure is On: Medical Professionals Standing Up For Patient Rights - Medical Whistleblowers and the Sovereign Immunity Roadblock The heroic actions of two individuals recently brought the little town of Kermit, Texas, into the limelight. Two nurses at Winkler County Memorial Hospital found themselves in an… ...
• Seven Pillars Method to Handle Medical Errors Up for Testing at IL Hospitals - In an article published earlier this year, a group of doctors at the University of Illinois Medical Center (UIMC) in Chicago explained their "seven pillar" method of handling "patient safety incidents," or, put simply, medical… ...
• The Worst Times of Year to Go to the Hospital - When Is The Best Time of Year For Elective Surgery? Thinking of scheduling that hip replacement next summer? Based on two recent studies, you might want to have the surgery done in the spring or… ...
• Successful Preventive Measures Lead to a Decrease in Hospital Infections - Staph infections, which can form during or following hospital stays, can be deadly. Fortunately, recent news reports and studies indicate that reported cases of staph infections are on the decline in the U.S., mainly due… ...
• Study Shows High Rate of Avoidable Hospital Readmissions - A study by The New England Journal of Medicine reports that 20 percent of elderly patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. The study indicates that this high percentage of readmission… ...
• Physician Errors During Patient Handoffs Lead to Liability Claims - Medical errors that occur while shifting a patient from one physician's care to another has sparked an increase in medical malpractice claims over the last five years, according to Alan Lembitz, MD, vice president of… ...
• Study Reveals Disconnect Between Patient Perceptions and Health Outcomes - According to a study conducted by USA Today, the way patients perceive a hospital may be completely different from that facility's actual record of care. The newspaper looked at data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment… ...
• Using Patient Pictures to Reduce Medical Mistakes - Electronic medical records are intended to improve the care patients receive when they enter the hospital. EMRs put a patient's medical record at the finger tips of doctors and nurses throughout the hospital, without having… ...
• Hospitals need to address alarm fatigue - When people go into the hospital, they expect that the staff there will attend to their needs and help them recover. Many people feel safer in hospitals than at home when they are ill, given… ...
• Hospitals may put patients at risk for further illness or injury - After an extended stay in a hospital, many people want nothing more than to be able to go home and recuperate. Often people do not want to see the inside of a hospital again for… ...
• Illinois public hospitals paid out hundreds of millions of dollars for errors in the last decade - Wrongful death cases have been all too common in Illinois public hospitals News about healthcare and the healthcare industry is not hard to come by. From the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, numerous articles… ...
• Illinois hospitals attempting to avoid liability for medical negligence - A recent case held that a hospital could waive its liability for medical malpractice through a consent form given to a legal guardian in the emergency room. A recent case out of Will County, Illinois… ...
• Using electronic health records to improve patient safety has proven a difficult task - Medical errors that can be traced to the automation of the U.S. health care system are increasingly an issue in medical malpractice lawsuits. Electronic health records (EHRs) were first introduced as a way to improve… ...
• Avoidable Medical Errors: VA Hospital Exposed Vets to HIV and Hepatitis - Veterans of the armed services being treated at a veterans' hospital in Missouri didn't expect anything less than clean and competent care. Yet nearly 2,000 veterans were stunned when they received letters from John Cochran… ...

Medication Errors

• Interrupted Nurses More Likely to Perform Medication Mistakes - A report published by the Archives of Internal Medicine in April of this year found that nurses who were interrupted while administering drugs have an increased risk of making medication errors. The report's study, which… ...
• Study Finds Millions of Patients Suffer Adverse Drug Events Annually - Prescription drugs are meant to help and heal people, not harm and hurt them. When reactions to pharmaceutical drugs occur, whether from overdose or underdose, allergies, drug interactions, side effects or incorrect prescriptions, patients experience… ...
• Medication Errors in the ICU Contribute to Serious Infections - Vulnerable ICU patients are often receiving the wrong medicine or not the right amount. In fact, according to the Society of Critical Care Medicine, 80 percent of the serious medical errors reported in ICUs are… ...
• Electronic health records used to limit medication errors - When a person visits a doctor or emergency room, one of the first questions health care providers ask the patient is if he or she is taking any medications. This is important information for medical… ...
• Computer Technology Used to Make Delivery Rooms Safer - Having a new baby can be stressful for expectant parents, with nine months of preparation and worry. Perhaps even more stressful is the actual birth of the new child - not only for the parents,… ...
• FDA could place new restrictions on Vicodin - Many people are aware of the dangers that opioid painkillers such as oxycodone pose to those who use them. People can easily become addicted to them or overdose on them, so the government regulates these… ...

Misdiagnosis

• Surviving Breast Cancer: Early Detection & Treatment - The second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today is breast cancer. A woman today has a 1 in 7 chance of developing invasive breast cancer – a cancer that spreads beyond its original… ...
• How does a blood clot in the lung kill you? - Have you ever visited someone in a hospital after surgery and wondered about those big plastic sleeves around their legs, that were attached by air hoses connected to a bedside machine that made a periodic… ...
• Studies Show Annual Breast Cancer Screenings Are Beneficial - A retrospective study based on the records of breast cancer patients has found that the revised guidelines of the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force (USPSTF) have a decreasing effect on survival rates. USPSTF revised their… ...
• Diagnosing and Treating Ovarian Cancer - Ovarian cancer is the fifth most deadly cancer among women, killing 15,000 women each year. But because symptoms are easily overlooked, diagnosis often comes too late for successful intervention. As a result, more women die… ...
• Misdiagnosis of MS Results in Hundreds of Patients Receiving the Wrong Treatment - Hundreds of patients a year are being misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, is a chronic disease that assaults the central nervous system. The symptoms for MS vary for each patient and can… ...
• Supercomputers replacing doctors? - Doctors and other medical professionals have spent years learning about the various injuries and illnesses that may be affecting their patients. When a patient comes into a clinic or hospital, the doctor will have a… ...
• CT imaging can lead to unnecessary, dangerous treatments - Over the past 20 years, medical science has developed a number of new treatments and diagnostic tools that help doctors not only manage diseases more effectively, but also save lives. And while these new tools… ...
• The failure to follow up on lab test results jeopardizes patient safety - The Cook County Record recently reported that a woman is suing her doctors for their alleged failure to follow up on the abnormal results of a bone scan. Subsequently, the woman was diagnosed with metastatic… ...
• Doctor allegedly fails to inform patient he has bladder cancer - Suit alleges patient thought he was cancer-free and was unaware of test results A Chicago-area woman is suing an Oak Park urologist for allegedly failing to inform her father of his cancer diagnosis, according to… ...
• What to do when confronted with unexpected blood test results - Human error can result in inaccurate lab work. Doctors and medical professionals test blood samples for a variety of purposes. Lab tests can determine how much blood thinner to give a patient who has just… ...
• IOM finds “most people” experience at least one misdiagnosis - Misdiagnosis can lead to harm since a failure to properly diagnosis an illness or injury can lead to a delay in needed treatment. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently released a publication designed to draw… ...

Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect

• Protecting Nursing Home Residents from Other Residents - Agents from the Illinois attorney general's office recently conducted a raid that netted five people with outstanding warrants. Only this wasn't a raid on some drug den - the wanted criminals were hiding in a… ...
• Judge Issues Injunction Against Nursing Homes Persecuting Patients - Nearly 5,000 psychiatric patients in Illinois will now have the ability to peacefully relocate to community housing after a federal judge issued an injunction against the nursing homes where the patients reside. In his ruling,… ...
• Nursing Home Abuse Doesn’t Just Happen to the Elderly - In January 2011, a Chicago nursing home for disabled children was cited for the death of a 14-month-old girl. According to the Chicago Tribune, this death was the 14th time Chicago care facility Alden Village… ...
• Preventable errors happening to patients receiving skilled nursing care - When health problems arise, many people will schedule an appointment with a medical professional to gain a better understanding of what is wrong. They want to learn more about their conditions and receive a diagnosis… ...

Pediatric Care Malpractice

• Cancer-causing Chemicals Found in Baby Products - Recent results from a Duke University study show that foam padding used in baby products often contains known or suspected carcinogens. The culprit? Flame retardant chemicals used to improve fire safety. The study, published in… ...
• Doctor preference leads to differences in pediatric care - No matter the situation, be it a regular checkup or a medical emergency, when parents take their children to the doctor, they expect them to receive the very best in medical care. Recently, researchers at… ...
• New research on pediatric disease example of need for informed consent - A new study finds that risks connected to anesthesia in children with pulmonary hypertension remain high, even with the use of new, disease-modifying treatments. The research is an example of information that should likely be… ...

Surgical Errors

• Anatomy Relevant to Cholecystectomy - Click here to read the full article. ...
• Defendant Severing Common Bile Duct - Download our PDF resource about Defendant Severing Common Bile Duct ...
• Biliary Injury In Laparoscopic Surgery - Download our PDF resource about Biliary Injury in Laparoscopic Surgery ...
• Pitfalls to Avoid in Cholecystectomy - Download our PDF resource about Pitfalls to Avoid in Cholecystectomy   ...
• The ‘Hidden Cystic Duct’ Syndrome - Download our PDF resource about The 'Hidden Cystic Duct' Syndrome ...
• Lapro-Chole-Illustration - Click here to view PDF illustration. ...
• Study: Music played during surgery may increase patient risk - It is said that music is healing. New research suggests that during surgery, background music may have the opposite effect. Performing surgery is stressful. One of the best ways to relax is to listen to… ...

General Medical Malpractice

• Study reveals medical malpractice “tort reform” is ineffective - Capping the amount of damages a patient can recover in a medical malpractice lawsuit does not lower healthcare costs or improve patient safety, according to a recent study. New research out of the University of… ...
• Plaintiff’s Deposition - Your (the plaintiff's) deposition is probably the most important part of a medical case. At CHH no one gives a deposition unprepared. We will meet with all of our witnesses before their deposition to describe… ...
• Three Stages of Discovery in Medical Malpractice Cases - In most states, there are three stages of discovery in medical malpractice cases. First Stage In the first stage most of the questions are directed to the parties only - the plaintiffs and the defendants.… ...
• Modes of Discovery - There are different ways for lawyers to get the information they need in discovery. One way is to use written questions called interrogatories. Another is to convene a deposition. A deposition describes the giving of… ...
• Discovery Stage - Discovery is the term used to describe the investigation process that occurs once a case is filed and answered. Compliance with discovery is mandatory for all parties. The idea behind discovery is that if both… ...
• The role of the medical expert witness in a medical malpractice case - Medical experts are used to define how a doctor's actions are negligent in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Nearly every patient has who has suffered an unexpected negative medical outcome has questions regarding the actions of… ...
• Differential Diagnosis Cross - Differential Diagnosis – General You'd agree that whenever a doctor sees a patient with abnormal signs or symptoms he is required by the standard of care to formulate a differential diagnosis, correct? It would be… ...
• Do I Have A Case? - While a bad outcome from medical care is not necessarily the result of malpractice, the error causing a patient's injury may sometime not be obvious – even to the physicians themselves. It often takes both… ...
• Settlement Model Helps Victims and Lowers Malpractice Litigation Costs - Recent statistics estimate that medical malpractice cases add anywhere from $30 billion to $55 billion to national healthcare costs each year. This is around 2.4 percent of the yearly healthcare budget in the U.S. Many… ...