Over the past few weeks, our Chicago medical malpractice law blog has discussed some very tragic stories involving medical mistakes that contributed to the deaths of several patients.
Fortunately, not all victims of medical malpractice suffer fatal injuries. Sometimes a mistake is caught immediately and a patient suffers only minor health complications. For others who suffer serious injuries, they may be able to eventually make a full recovery. In either case, though, victims of medical malpractice may at the very least be able to obtain compensation for their injuries so that they can afford to pay for costly medical expenses.
Just a few weeks ago, a woman filed a complaint seeking compensation for injuries she sustained during an emergency room visit at an Illinois hospital. She claims that a doctor’s mistake forced her to make additional hospital trips that could have been avoided had the mistake never been made. The additional hospital trips resulted in costly treatment, and now the woman wants to be compensated for the medical expenses.
According to the lawsuit, the woman had initially received treatment at the Illinois hospital for an abscess in July 2010. To treat the woman, a doctor at the hospital had to remove tissue from the patient that had been damaged by the abscess. But after this process, the patient developed an infection that required her to make subsequent trips to the hospital so that she could receive proper treatment for the infection.
The lawsuit argues that the patient developed the infection after the doctor who treated her for the abscess made the mistake of cutting away too much tissue. In addition to medical expenses, the woman is seeking compensation for court costs.
To ensure that one’s complaint alleging medical malpractice is investigated and represented effectively and appropriately, patients may want to consider working with an attorney. An attorney can help a patient come up with an accurate estimate of the financial and emotional consequences of a doctor’s mistake and explain to the court why these requests are necessary.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Gateway Regional named in med mal complaint over abscess issue,” Andrea Dearden, July 12, 2012
