Unfortunately, although egregious medical errors and other forms of medical negligence occur every day, relatively few victims of this form of professional negligence take advantage of their rights under the law. The fact that it is not always clear when medical malpractice has occurred is one of the primary reasons driving this reality.

For most people, “medical malpractice” is a vague legal term that is not easily applied to individual circumstances. This is understandable. This area of the law is both complex and highly contextual. As a result, unless a healthcare provider admits to making a mistake or it is clear that a preventable situation has gone terribly wrong, it is rarely easy to identify and respond to incidents of medical malpractice.

When Does Medical Malpractice Occur?

Medical malpractice occurs when a patient suffers harm while under the care of a healthcare professional, subject to specific legal and professional criteria. Generally speaking, if a healthcare provider – either by action or omission – causes a patient harm due to engaging in a professionally substandard level of care, medical malpractice has likely occurred.

In 2016, researchers from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine revealed that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Since that time, there has been considerable pressure on the medical profession to identify why so many errors are occurring and what can be done to mitigate this devastating trend.

Research and practical trials designed to answer these questions are ongoing. Additionally, many medical facilities are starting to implement new technologies to minimize the likelihood that errors will occur and to reduce the harm associated with any that do occur. Among the most promising innovations being widely embraced across the country in recent years involves the mining of electronic medical records.

What Mining Aims to Achieve

All too often, failures in communication, multitasking, and attempts to account for a wealth of information in the blink of an eye lead to errors. By mining a patient’s electronic medical records in specific ways, potential errors can be caught before they are fully realized.

It is not difficult to imagine why a missed diagnosis or a delayed diagnosis could cost a patient dearly. When injuries are acute and illnesses are aggressive, a diagnostic error can cost a patient valuable time. Under the most extreme circumstances, an error made in an operating room, at the scene of an accident, or in an emergency department could cost a patient their life.

One of the primary reasons that diagnostic errors occur is that not every condition presents in the exact same way in every patient. For example, it has only been over the last 20 years or so that the medical community and the wider public have come to understand that heart attack symptoms tend to manifest very differently in women than they do in men.

Dismissing someone’s atypical manifestations of a serious condition can result in catastrophic consequences. Recently, it was revealed just how often misinterpretation of atypical symptoms in E.R. patients causes irreversible harm.

Even with all the remarkable advances in maternal healthcare, pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum recovery still pose serious risks to pregnant mothers in Illinois. One of the riskiest conditions that a pregnant mother can be diagnosed with is preeclampsia. Maternal healthcare providers should be carefully trained to recognize early symptoms of preeclampsia because this condition can escalate quickly into serious complications and may even be fatal for both mother and child. 

Failure to diagnose preeclampsia is among the most serious and consequential types of medical malpractice, and doctors, nurses, and hospitals who fail to provide pregnant patients with the highest standard of care should be held accountable for their actions. If you or a loved one had preeclampsia and your team of healthcare providers did not diagnose you in a timely fashion, you may want to take legal action to recover compensation for any damages you suffered. 

What is Preeclampsia?

Understanding preeclampsia is essential for understanding why it is so important to catch and treat early. For reasons that are not yet entirely clear, some pregnant women develop certain symptoms that indicate preeclampsia. These include, but are not limited to: 

Visiting the hospital is never a pleasant experience, but at the very least, the hospital patient can expect a treatment that improves his or her medical condition. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Some patients suffer worsened conditions, new illnesses or injuries, or even wrongful death because of the negligent medical care they received in a hospital. A medical malpractice claim is often the best way to hold a hospital or medical professional accountable for negligent care. A malpractice claim may also allow for the recovery of monetary damages.

Types of Compensatory Damages in a Hospital Malpractice Case

If you or a loved one has been seriously harmed by medical negligence, you may be wondering what types of damages you can recover in a hospital malpractice case. The amount of compensation that a person can recover will depend on the specific facts and circumstances of their case. However, there are certain types of damages that are commonly awarded in hospital malpractice cases, including:

• Medical expenses - This may include the cost of all future medical care related to the negligent injury, such as long-term care or rehabilitative therapy.

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