As we have mentioned before on our Joliet medical malpractice law blog, a misdiagnosis or failing to diagnose a patient’s illness, disorder or injury can result in serious complications.
Sometimes patients suffer a wrongful death due to a missed diagnosis because they are prevented from receiving life-saving treatment. Others might be forced to endure weeks or months of pain and suffering before doctors finally make a correct diagnosis. The outcomes of both of these forms of medical malpractice are devastating.
Last month, it was reported that an Illinois woman filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against her doctor after her doctor had failed to pinpoint the cause of some severe pain she had experienced for several months after a surgery. Had her doctor ordered the correct diagnostic test to find the source of her pain, she would have never suffered as much as she did, her lawsuit claims.
The patient’s lawsuit states that the woman had surgery in January 2011. The surgery had been performed to help treat her back problems. But for several months after the procedure had been performed, the woman continued to experience severe pain in her lower back.
For three months following the surgery, the woman’s doctor performed several radiological imaging tests in order to try to determine the cause of the woman’s lower back pain. In April 2011, a CT scan was finally performed. The CT scan revealed that the woman’s pain was being caused by implanted screws that had been touching the woman’s nerve roots and theral sac.
The woman’s lawsuit argues that the doctor had first misplaced the screws during the woman’s operation in January and then failed to take appropriate steps to determine what was causing the woman’s pain in a timely manner. The woman experienced severe pain which also led to mental anguish and depression.
In addition to her physical and mental injuries, the woman also incurred thousands of dollars in medical expenses while her doctor tried to pinpoint the source of her pain after surgery. The woman is seeking more than $200,000 in compensation for the doctor’s mistake.
Source: The Madison-St. Clair Record, “Patient claims she endured months of pain following surgery,” Kelly Holleran, Dec. 3, 2012
- Our firm assists Illinois patients harmed by medical malpractice, including surgical errors and missed diagnoses. To learn more about our firm and practice, please visit our Will County medical malpractice page.
