Chicago Medical Malpractice Law Blog

Sometimes, the existence of a doctor-patient relationship is unambiguous - for instance, when you've been regularly seeing the same doctor for years. But when, exactly, does this relationship begin?

The answer to this question can be extremely important for patients harmed by physician negligence: a successful medical malpractice claim can be made only against a doctor with whom you had a bona fide doctor-patient relationship. Yet, to the untrained eye, it can be difficult to recognize what constitutes a doctor-patient relationship.

Cerebral palsy is a disorder that affects babies who have suffered some sort of brain damage. This type of brain damage might be caused by genetic abnormalities or complications during a woman's pregnancy that could not have been avoided or prevented. However, medical malpractice during the labor and delivery of a child in any Chicago hospital can also cause an otherwise perfectly healthy baby to suffer brain injuries that could affect the child for the rest of his or her life.

Some injuries caused by negligence during the delivery and birth of a child might only have a minor impact on a child and the child's parents. But when medical mistakes lead to cerebral palsy, oftentimes the damage is permanent and severe. Some symptoms of cerebral palsy include: paralysis, inability to control movements, seizures, learning disabilities, or speech, hearing and vision impairments.

While parents may take legal action in order receive compensation for a child's birth injuries, their child will still be forced to live the rest of his or her life with cerebral palsy because there is no cure for the disorder, at least not yet.

In July 2009, a member of the U.S. military underwent surgery to have his gallbladder removed. But when military doctors began performing the routine laparoscopic procedure, a serious surgical error was made that eventually caused the man to lose both of his legs.

When doctors started performing the operation, the one surgeon mistakenly punctured the patient's aorta. This caused massive bleeding, but other doctors did not notice that there was a complication until the man's blood pressure began to drop after his operation. Medical staff opened up the man's abdomen again and discovered the lacerated aorta. The laceration was fixed, but the repair was not made in time to prevent the patient from suffering life-threatening injuries.

As the man's health continued to worsen after the laceration was fixed, doctors finally made the decision hours later to transfer him to a civilian hospital. Doctors at the civilian hospital discovered that the man's aorta was not properly supplying blood to his legs and his legs had to be amputated because too much time had passed. Now, if you have been reading our Chicago medical malpractice law blog for awhile, you might assume that this man could be entitled to a medical malpractice settlement for his injuries, but according to a U.S. doctrine and previous Supreme Court rulings, military doctors cannot be held liable for their medical mistakes.

Chicago residents who have been diagnosed with cancer know how important it is to diagnose the disease while it is still in its early stages so that an individual has a better chance of beating cancer with radiation, chemotherapy or other treatments. Individuals can certainly take steps to ensure that they remain cancer-free by checking for lumps and going in to the doctor's office for regular screenings. But Illinois doctors and other medical professionals must also do their part not to overlook any warning signs that could indicate that a patient has cancer.

A misdiagnosis of cancer is an especially dangerous mistake that doctors are capable of making if they ignore a patient's symptoms or if they fail to thoroughly investigate what could be causing their patient to experience abnormal health problems. Failing to diagnose cancer prevents a patient from receiving life-saving treatment he or she may need before the disease progresses and becomes fatal.

In 2005, a famous chef visited a dentist in the Chicago area because he noticed that he had a lesion on his tongue and it was causing him to experience pain. Despite the man's pain, a biopsy was not ordered by the dentist. Two years later, the chef was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer.