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Failure to Diagnose

What it is: A healthcare provider fails to identify a condition that a competent physician would have caught under the same circumstances.

This does not mean every missed diagnosis is malpractice. The legal question is whether another qualified doctor, given the same symptoms and patient history, would have reached the correct diagnosis. When the answer is yes, and the patient suffered harm because of that delay, there may be a valid claim.

Common examples:

• Cancer diagnosed months or years too late
• Heart attack symptoms dismissed as anxiety or indigestion
• Infection signs ignored after surgery

Delayed Diagnosis

Different from failure to diagnose. The condition is eventually identified. Just not in time.

A delay of days, weeks, or months can turn a treatable condition into a permanent injury or wrongful death. In Illinois, patients harmed by delayed diagnosis have the right to pursue compensation for the harm that delay caused even if the condition was ultimately treated.

Misdiagnosis

The doctor reaches the wrong conclusion entirely.

A patient treated for the wrong condition receives the wrong medication, the wrong procedure, or no treatment at all for what they actually have. Meanwhile, the real condition worsens. Misdiagnosis is one of the leading causes of serious patient harm in the United States.

Surgical Negligence

What it is: Errors made before, during, or after a surgical procedure that fall below the accepted standard of care.

Surgery carries inherent risks. Patients accept those risks when they consent to a procedure. What they do not accept is preventable error.

Surgical negligence includes:

• Operating on the wrong body part or wrong patient
• Damaging surrounding organs, nerves, or tissue
• Leaving surgical instruments inside the patient
• Failing to properly close an incision
• Improper technique that causes internal complications
• Inadequate post-operative monitoring

Failure to Treat

A provider recognizes a problem and still does nothing adequate about it.

This is one of the most frustrating forms of malpractice. The patient raises concerns. The doctor acknowledges something is wrong. And then the patient is sent home without appropriate treatment, without antibiotics, without a referral, without follow-up. When that decision causes the patient’s condition to deteriorate, it is actionable negligence.

Premature Discharge

Releasing a patient too soon is a form of failure to treat.

When a patient presents with those signs, particularly following surgery, childbirth, a wound complication, or any invasive procedure, medical staff are expected to act immediately.

Failure to Refer

Some conditions require a specialist. Knowing when to refer is part of the standard of care.

When a general practitioner or emergency physician continues treating a patient whose condition clearly exceeds their expertise instead of referring that patient to the right specialist and harm results, they may be liable for that decision. The failure to escalate care at the right moment costs lives.

Medication Errors

The wrong drug. The wrong dose. The wrong patient.

Medication errors occur at every level of the healthcare system from the physician writing the prescription to the pharmacist filling it to the nurse administering it. In Illinois, any party in that chain whose negligence causes patient harm can face a malpractice claim.

Common medication errors include:

• Prescribing a drug the patient is allergic to
• Incorrect dosage causing overdose or underdose
• Dangerous drug interactions not flagged
• Dispensing the wrong medication entirely

Anesthesia Errors

Anesthesia errors are among the most dangerous forms of malpractice and among the most preventable.

Too much anesthesia can cause brain damage or death. Too little can mean a patient is conscious and feeling pain during surgery. Failure to review a patient’s medical history before administering anesthesia or failure to monitor the patient properly during a procedure falls well below the accepted standard of care.

Birth Injuries

A child’s entire life can be altered by negligence that occurs during labor and delivery.

Birth injury malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider’s failure during pregnancy, labor, or delivery causes harm to the baby, the mother, or both. These cases are among the most emotionally devastating and the most legally complex in medical malpractice law.

Birth injuries linked to malpractice include:

• Cerebral palsy caused by oxygen deprivation
• Brachial plexus injuries from improper delivery technique
• Skull fractures from forceps or vacuum errors
• Failure to respond to fetal distress signals
• Delayed C-section when one was clearly indicated

Nursing Negligence

Nurses are responsible for direct patient care. Their errors carry real consequences.

Nursing negligence includes failure to monitor a patient’s condition, administering incorrect medications, ignoring or failing to report a patient’s worsening symptoms, and improper wound care. When a nurse’s failure to act or failure to communicate with the treating physician causes harm, both the nurse and the employing hospital can face liability.

Emergency Room Errors

The ER is where speed and accuracy matter most. Mistakes there can be fatal.

Emergency rooms are high-pressure environments, but that pressure does not excuse negligence. ER malpractice commonly involves failure to triage properly, misdiagnosis of heart attacks or strokes, failure to order timely imaging, and premature discharge of patients in serious condition.

Misread or Misinterpreted Diagnostic Results

A correct test. A wrong read.

When a radiologist misreads an X-ray, a pathologist misreads a biopsy, or a physician ignores abnormal lab results, the patient may go untreated for a condition that was already detected. The test did its job. The provider did not.

Hospital-Acquired Infections and Sepsis

Infections acquired inside a hospital are often preventable.

Sepsis the body’s extreme and life-threatening response to infection is one of the deadliest conditions that can develop from inadequate hospital care. When a patient develops a serious infection due to unsanitary conditions, improper wound care, or failure to administer appropriate antibiotics, and that infection progresses to sepsis, the hospital and treating physicians can bear legal responsibility.

Sepsis can develop rapidly. Hours matter. A provider who misses the warning signs or delays treatment when sepsis is suspected may have committed malpractice.

Wrongful Death Due to Medical Negligence

When a patient dies because of a healthcare provider’s negligence, surviving family members have the right to pursue a wrongful death claim under Illinois law.

Wrongful death claims in medical malpractice cases can recover:

• Funeral and burial expenses
• Loss of financial support
• Loss of companionship and consortium
• The deceased’s pain and suffering prior to death

These cases require experienced legal representation. The burden of proof is significant, and insurance companies fight hard against them. Phillips Law Offices has handled wrongful death malpractice cases in Chicago for more than 77 years.