Chicago patients who must undergo intense surgical operations or medical treatments might assume that their risk of being injured by a doctor’s mistake is greater because of the complex nature of a surgery or medical treatment. But even patients who suffer from seemingly minor illnesses or injuries may be permanently harmed by doctors’ mistakes.
Earlier this month, a lawsuit was filed against an Illinois hospital, a doctor and emergency physicians for allegedly failing to properly treat a patient’s seemingly minor medical problem. The patient’s fingertip was infected, according to the lawsuit. The patient expected medical professionals to treat the infection so the patient could recover. However, the patient says that instead she was seriouslyinjured because of medical negligence.
The woman’s lawsuit argues that the hospital, doctor and emergency room physicians who had treated the woman had failed to properly care for the woman’s minor medical problem. Due to the inadequate care she received, the patient’s medical condition worsened. The lawsuit states that the patient suffered additional physical and emotional pain from her infection that could have been avoided had the infection been treated correctly.
A report of the woman’s lawsuit from The Madison-St. Clair Record does not state many details of how or why the hospital and its medical professionals had failed to properly treat the patient’s infected fingertip. The report does state that the patient’s injuries from the hospital’s and medical professionals’ negligence were severe and that some of her injuries from the incident are permanent.
The plaintiff is seeking at least $300,000 in monetary compensation for her injuries. According to the lawsuit, the woman now has a disfigurement from the alleged incident of medical negligence. The woman also suffers from permanent pain, the lawsuit states.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Med mal complaint filed against Alton Memorial over infected fingertip,” Kelly Holleran, May 29, 2013
