Illinois Medical Malpractice Questions Answered

What is the definition of medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice is when a medical professional the standard of care in administering either the treatment, the procedure, or the diagnosis. To pursue a medical malpractice claim, the initial hurdle to overcome is there must be a breach in the standard of care.

An extreme, but straightforward example is where a person needs to have their right foot amputated because they have gangrene on the right foot, but the doctor amputates the left foot, that is a breach of the standard of care.  

A misdiagnosis can also be considered medical malpractice – if the misdiagnosis breaches the standard of care and leads to a traumatic injury suffered by the patient. So, if you have a physician visit,  and the physician fails to diagnose that you have a hernia, but the hernia doesn’t cause any significant injury, that is not medical malpractice because although there was a misdiagnosis, there has been no injury due to the misdiagnosis.

If you have a situation with the birth of a baby, and the physician failed to induce labor quickly enough, resulting in the death of the baby or a baby born with cerebral palsy – that would satisfy a claim against the doctor for breaching the standard of care because the physician did not induce labor in a more rapid and professional fashion.

When it comes to anesthesia cases, medical malpractice issues may arise if the doctor doesn’t make the proper pharmaceutical mix for the patient, which can result in serious brain issues or heart issues, leading to a brain aneurysm, heart attack, or death. Also, an anesthesiologist may fail to ask a patient if they’re allergic to anything that may be included in the chemical medication, leading to the death of the patient and therefore, a medical malpractice claim. 

If you think you or a family member has been a victim of medical malpractice that resulted in a serious injury or death, call the attorneys at Claim Your Justice. 

What happens when there’s a mix between medical malpractice, which then results in someone being charged with a crime?

Fortunately, these cases are very uncommon.  However, an example would be when a doctor examines a patient and then gropes the patient, inappropriately touches the patient or examines a part of the patient’s body that does not need examining because it is not related to the reason for the visit. These actions may result in the doctor being charged with an aggravated battery.

Another example is seen in the death of Michael Jackson where he was being overprescribed an anesthetic by a doctor, whose actions led to Jackson’s death. The doctor was then charged.

Is it considered medical malpractice if I’m injured by someone who doesn’t have a medical license?

Yes.  The hospital/practice/medical group that employed a non-licensed phony would be responsible because they did not verify their employee was properly licensed. It’s possible the employee previously had a license, which may have been suspended or revoked for any number of reasons, yet the hospital/practice/medical group still allowed them to provide medical services.

In these instances, the hospital/practice/medical group would be exposed to medical malpractice. For the physician, they would be exposed to a crime because they are practicing medicine without a license.

Regardless of whether an individual has a medical license or not, if they are portraying themselves as a doctor, they are exposing themselves to have a medical practice claim charged against them. The problem in this situation is – you want there to be medical malpractice insurance to pursue. Unfortunately, not every doctor does not have a $10 million net worth available to pay a claim.

Also, if an insurance company failed to verify a physician held a valid medical license, yet issued an insurance policy, then tried to get out of that policy of insurance – you might be able to keep the insurance company in the case, saying the insurance company didn’t follow proper protocols to verify who it issued insurance to had a valid license.

What happens is someone is passing themselves off as having a license and an injury occurs to their client?

Many professions need a license – such as a masseuse, a cosmetologist, or a threading technician, and if they are non-licensed, work on a client and cause injury to their client – you can make a claim against that person for acting as if they had a license or not being properly licensed. However, recovery would be a difficult process because the person probably doesn’t have any insurance, significant value, or net worth.

If you or a loved one have been victims of medical malpractice, call our medical malpractice lawyer in Schaumburg to discuss your potential case at 847-434-3555.