Medical malpractice affects anyone at any age. When a medical professional breaches their duty to provide the standard of care to a patient, the patient, even a child, could suffer from severe or catastrophic injuries or even death. Common errors that lead to Chicago child injuries include failing to diagnose or wrong diagnosis, surgical errors, prescription errors, childbirth injuries, and anesthesia errors.
If you believe a medical professional caused your child’s injuries, contact a Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyers as soon as possible for a free case evaluation.
Why You Need a Chicago Medical Malpractice Attorney
Medical malpractice cases are complex cases that often require expert witnesses—usually doctors in the field of the injury—to review medical records, the negligent medical professional’s actions, and, if necessary, testify on behalf of the injured child. The negligent medical professional might state that the injury is temporary when it caused a permanent disability or otherwise try to cover up the negligence.
Expert witnesses use their knowledge and experience to testify as to whether negligence caused the injury and whether the injury caused a permanent disability. Experienced medical malpractice attorneys also ensure that your child recovers the compensation they deserve based on the investigation of the incident and expert witness reports and testimony.
Chicago Child Injuries Guide
- Child Injuries in Chicago Hospitals
- Recovering Damages After Chicago Child Injuries
- Contact a Chicago Child Injuries Lawyer
Child Injuries in Chicago Hospitals
When you go to the hospital, you expect the medical professionals to fix whatever is wrong. However, sometimes that doesn’t happen—your child suffers injuries because of a medical professional’s negligence. This could also happen during what is supposed to be one of the happiest times of your life—childbirth.
We know you are dealing with a lot when your child suffers injuries, but you don’t have to go through that yourself. A Chicago child injury lawyer can help you recover the compensation you deserve and need to care for your child while he or she is recovering from injuries or when your child needs additional medical attention because the doctor’s negligence caused long-term or permanent disabilities.
Common errors that cause child injuries by medical professionals include:
Failure to Diagnose and Misdiagnosis
Misdiagnosis often happens because of the similarity of symptoms. Failure to diagnose often happens when medical professionals cannot determine what is causing the illness. In some cases, misdiagnosis and failure to diagnose happen because some symptoms are more difficult to diagnose accurately. And in other cases, a medical professional is negligent—they might have problems outside of work, show up to work under the influence, or for other reasons.
Failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis can lead to severe or catastrophic injuries or even the death of a patient.
Surgical Errors
Surgical errors include errors during and after surgery. Both could cause severe or catastrophic injuries or death. These types of errors are often the result of poor pre-surgery planning or an incapacitated medical professional.
Surgical errors include:
- The wrong operation on the wrong patient or the medical professional performed the wrong operation on the correct patient
- Surgery on the wrong body part
- Cutting in the wrong place
- Leaving foreign objects inside the patient
- Medical professionals do not follow post-op procedures or fail to properly instruct the patient or other medical professionals about post-op procedures
- Prescription errors during recovery and upon release
Prescription Errors
Prescription errors could also lead to injuries or death.
Common prescription errors include:
- An error in writing the prescription
- The prescription is correct, but medical professionals administer the wrong dosage
- The pharmacist incorrectly fills the prescription, either with the wrong medication or the wrong dosage
- Medical professionals do not check a patient’s history and prescribe a medication that has severe reactions when taken with another medication the patient is taking
Birth Injuries
A child could suffer injuries during pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Injuries such as cerebral palsy, paralysis, brain injuries, and bone fractures could happen because of:
- Failure to diagnose a contagious disease and the mother passes the disease to the child
- Failure to diagnose birth defects
- Failure to diagnose pregnancy-related issues
- Wrong diagnosis of pregnancy-related issues
- Ignoring fetal distress signs
- Improper action taken during birth complications, such as not ordering an emergency c-section
- Improper use of forceps and vacuums
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia errors could also cause long-term or permanent injuries or death.
This type of error includes:
- Administering too much anesthesia.
- Failure to monitor the patient’s vital signs while they are under anesthesia.
- Failing to evaluate a patient’s medical history to look for potential complications.
- Failing to give the patient pre-op instructions, such as not eating before the procedure.
- Improper breathing tube placement.
- Using defective or improperly sterilized medical equipment.
Recovering Damages After Chicago Child Injuries
If your child suffered injuries or permanent disabilities at the hands of a negligent medical professional, you could recover damages in the form of economic and non-economic damages, including:
- Medical expenses
- Loss of future earning capacity in the event the child suffered permanent disabilities.
- Death-related expenses if your child lost his or her life due to medical malpractice
- Pain and suffering, including emotional distress
- Loss of companionship
Contact a Chicago Child Injuries Lawyer
If your child suffered injuries, whether temporary or permanent, he or she has the right to recover damages from the negligent medical professional. Permanent disabilities mean your child might never live on their own and might need medical care for the rest of his life.
Some children, as they age, may also need rehabilitation in the form of physical, occupational, cognitive or even psychological therapies. The negligent medical professional is responsible for all these costs, which could be a lifetime of costs that insurance may not cover.
A Chicago medical malpractice attorney can help you recover the compensation your child deserves, so contact one today as soon as possible for your free, no-obligation case evaluation.
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