Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog

You have the right to expect and receive the proper surgical care when undergoing surgery at any hospital or medical facility in the Chicago, Illinois area. If you sustain injuries or other unanticipated damages or side effects because your surgeon made an error during the procedure, you have the right to claim medical malpractice compensation for the physical, emotional, and psychological injuries that you are suffering from.

Attorney Joseph Klest is a Chicago medical malpractice attorney who has helped many surgical patients recover compensation because their surgeon or another member of the surgical team made a mistake during an operation in hospitals throughout Will County, Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, and in other counties throughout Illinois. We would be happy to offer you a free consultation to talk about your surgical malpractice case.

Proving liability due to a surgical error can be a very difficult matter, which is why you need to retain the services of an experienced medical malpractice attorney that has the skills, resources, and experience to determine how the surgical error occurred.

Common Surgical Errors:

* Operating on the wrong part of the body
* Performing the wrong operation
* Leaving a surgical instrument in a patient's body
* Delay in treatment
* Failure to obtain the patient's consent
* Assigning a major surgery to an assistant
* Failure to perform caesarean surgery in time to prevent birth trauma
* Failure to properly administer anesthesia
* Performing the correct operation on the wrong part of the body
* Birthing errors/trauma

Common Causes of Surgical Errors:

* Fatigue
* Performing too many surgeries in one day
* Not supervising a new surgeon properly
* Surgical inexperience
* Miscommunication between surgical and medical staff
* Negligence or carelessness

The repercussions of a surgical error on a patient's condition can be very serious—even catastrophic. A patient may have to undergo more surgeries to correct the damage done by the surgical mistake. He or she may experience a lot of physical pain. Infections, organ damage, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, disfigurement, loss of limb use, scarring, and wrongful death are some of the devastating consequences that can result because of surgical malpractice.

Surgical errors occur far more frequently in the Chicago area than we would like to think that they do. Attorney Joseph Klest is committed to helping surgical malpractice patients obtain the financial recovery that they are entitled to for the serious acts of medical negligence that has been done to them.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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If you or someone you love has been seriously injured because a nurse involved in your care made a mistake or acted negligently or carelessly anywhere in the Chicago area, contact Joseph Klest, Attorney at Law today. Mr. Klest is an experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney who has successfully helped many nursing malpractice patients injured at hospitals and nursing homes recover compensation for their injuries in Will County, Cook County, Lake County, DuPage County, and in other counties throughout Illinois.

Causes of Nursing Malpractice
Because of the financial cutbacks made by insurance companies in the past decade, nursing malpractice incidents are on the rise in the Chicago area. Nurses are being forced to work too many hours at a time in hospitals and nursing homes that are understaffed.

Also, due to the lack of funds to hire qualified nurses in the Chicago area, many nursing homes and hospitals are forced to hire nurses from temporary agencies. These nurses may not have enough experience or qualifications and are unfamiliar with the hospital or facility where they have been hired to work.

It is not uncommon for a nurse to be on duty for more than 12 hours and take very short breaks. Nursing fatigue and/or inexperience can be a recipe for disaster, which can result in errors that can seriously injure a patient or jeopardize his/her medical treatment.

Types of Nursing Malpractice:

* Overdosing a patient
* Giving the correct medication to the wrong patient
* Failure to properly monitor a patient's condition
* Failure to follow the doctor's orders
* Forgetting to give a patient his or her medication
* Documentation errors
* Failure to notice a dramatic change in a patient's vitals
* Using a medical device incorrectly
* Failure to acquire informed consent
* Nursing home abuse
* Nursing home negligence
* Failure to administer a test properly
* Dispensing the wrong medication

Errors or failure by a nurse to administer the proper care can cause a patient to become seriously injured, sick, or die. If a nurse acted carelessly, negligently, or made mistakes in providing you or your loved one with the proper medical care, you should speak with an experienced nursing malpractice lawyer that knows how to properly and zealously prosecute your nursing malpractice claim or lawsuit.

Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence

In the United States, thousands of elderly and sick patients live in nursing homes and other special care facilities. Private nurses are hired to care for sick or elderly patients that need full-time care at home. These nurses are supposed to give their patients the medical care and attention that they need. Like doctors, pharmacists, and other medical providers, nurses are supposed to provide their patients with a certain level of care.

Unfortunately, not every nursing or residential care facility abides by this standard of care. There are been many reported and unreported incidents of patients becoming injured, sick, or dying because they have been abused or neglected by a nurse or nursing home facility. Bruises, sexual assault wounds, bedsores, fall injuries, broken bones, severe dehydration, depression, malnutrition, weight loss, and death are some of the injuries that can be inflicted by an abusive or neglectful nurse.

It is vital that you take the necessary steps to remove your loved one from the care facility if you believe that he or she is being abused. Your nursing home abuse attorney can also take the necessary steps to file your nursing abuse claim and begin preparing your case in the event that a lawsuit and trial are required to obtain your loved one's compensation.

For more information about medical malpractice claims and lawsuits in Illinois, visit our medical malpractice page for more information.

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Failure to diagnose cancer is a medical malpractice error that can lead to grave—if not fatal—consequences for a person afflicted with the disease. Many forms of cancer are easily treatable if diagnosed early enough. Failure to diagnose cancer or delay in diagnosing cancer can seriously affect a cancer patient's prognosis for recovery, as well as the kind of treatment he or she must undergo in order to survive.

Attorney Joseph Klest is a Chicago medical malpractice attorney who has dealt with cancer-related malpractice cases in Will County, Cook County, DuPage County, Lake County, and elsewhere in Illinois. He is aware of the devastating impact that the failure to diagnose cancer can wreak on a patient's health and chances for survival. He would like to offer you a free consultation to discuss your case.

Consequences of Failure to Diagnose Cancer
The sooner that cancer cells are identified and diagnosed in a patient, the sooner a treatment can be prescribed. Depending on the type of cancer a patient is afflicted with, he or she may even be able to forego chemotherapy, radiation, or invasive surgery.

Failure to diagnose cancer during the early stages can cause the cancer to spread to other parts of the body and reach a stage of seriousness where it cannot be controlled and the patient could die. Procedures that could have been avoided, such as radiation, chemotherapy, reconstructive surgery, or surgery to remove a breast, lung, kidney, or testicle, may become necessary. What could have been an easier procedure or method of treatment can end up becoming a prolonged, complicated, and painful process where the patient ends up suffering greatly— even dying.

Some cancers that are easily detected or treated if diagnosed early:

* Breast cancer
* Cervical cancer
* Cancer of the esophagus
* Colon cancer
* Prostate cancer
* Skin cancer

Causes of failure to diagnose cancer or delayed diagnosis of cancer:

* Test screening errors
* Lab errors
* Misinterpreting pap smear results, mammogram tests, HPV tests, or biopsy results
* Failure to conduct the proper detection test
* Prescribing a treatment plan that is too aggressive or not aggressive enough
* Negligence or carelessness
* Not paying proper attention
* Surgical error

At Joseph Klest, Attorney at Law, we represent many cancer patients who have suffered more than they should have because a doctor or oncologist failed to diagnose cancer even when there was an opportunity to do so.

Attorney Klest will work with our team of top cancer specialists to review your medical records and determine when and how the failure to diagnose your illness took place. You may be eligible for financial recovery for medical costs, home care expenses, hospice-related expenses, pain and suffering, and lost wages. Visit our medical malpractice page for more information.

Or, if you believe your loved one died because a doctor or oncologist in the Chicago area failed to diagnose cancer, you may be entitled to compensation for your family member's wrongful death.

To request your free consultation with Joseph Klest, Attorney at Law, contact us online or call (847) 969-9510, (312) 527-2779, or (630) 529-7848. We have law offices in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois, and Attorney Klest will travel anywhere in Illinois to meet with his medical malpractice clients.

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It can be devastating for a mother and father to have their child sustain a serious physical or medical condition because of the medical negligence or carelessness of a doctor, nurse, or another medical care provider. Injuries from birth trauma are often life-altering and can affect a child for the rest of his or her life.

If your son or daughter has suffered serious injuries as a result of a birthing-related medical error in Chicago or anywhere else in DuPage County, Will County, Cook County, or Lake County, Illinois, you should contact Chicago birth injury lawyer Joseph Klest right away.

Attorney Klest has helped many clients in the Chicago area and in cities throughout Illinois obtain compensation for their children's birth injuries, and related corrective surgeries, adaptive equipment, therapy, special education needs, ongoing medical care, home remodeling costs, and other expenses.

Birth Trauma and Injuries
Unfortunately, birth injuries caused by medical malpractice are not uncommon. Medical malpractice during delivery commonly occurs because a doctor did not recognize the symptoms of fetal distress or did not perform a cesarean birth in time to avoid causing trauma. Other causes of birth injuries include:

* Failure to induce labor when the fetus is in distress
* Failure to plan/perform a c-section after noticing fetal distress
* Failure to monitor the fetus for distress
* Improper use of forceps
* Failure to properly monitor and treat preeclampsia
* Leaving the baby in the birth canal longer than necessary
* Medical errors prior to delivery
* Wrong diagnosis
* Improper use of vacuum extraction

Many medical malpractice errors could have been prevented if your doctor or other health care provider had provided you with the standard of care required by the state of Illinois.

Birthing injuries caused by medical errors include:

* Brachial palsy
* Cerebral palsy
* Erb's palsy
* Brain damage
* Shoulder dystocia
* Facial paralysis
* Fractures
* Broken bones
* Forcep marks
* Bruising
* Caput succedaneum

You and your child deserve to be compensated for the medical and long-term care that your son or daughter may need to lead as normal and productive a life as possible.

Attorney Klest will zealously pursue your recovery so that you can obtain the financial resources that you need to give your child the medical care and treatments that he or she may require in the coming years. Mr. Klest can also determine whether the hospital or birthing facility where your baby was injured should also be held liable for the trauma that your child and your family experienced. Visit our medical malpractice page for more information.

To schedule your free consultation regarding your birth injury case, call Joseph Klest, Attorney at Law at (312) 527-2779, (630) 529-7843, or (847) 969-9510. You can also contact us online.

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Errors made by a physician treating a patient can lead to catastrophic consequences, including permanent injury or wrongful death. Your doctor is supposed to provide you with a certain standard of care. If you have sustained injuries or someone you love died in the Chicago area or anywhere in Illinois because your physician made a medical mistake, you should speak to a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer right away.

Chicago medical malpractice attorney Joseph Klest represents medical malpractice clients throughout Will County, DuPage County, Cook County, and Lake County that have been injured or harmed because of physician errors and other kinds of medical malpractice mistakes. We also handle medical malpractice cases throughout Illinois.

Physician Errors and Injuries
Frequently, physician errors occur because a doctor made a mistake, did not possess the skills or experience to properly perform a specific medical procedure, or was careless and did not pay proper attention when treating the patient.

Common Physician Malpractice Errors:

* Failure to diagnose an illness
* Misdiagnosis
* Delayed diagnosis
* Prescribing the wrong medication or drug dosage to a patient
* Failure to admit a patient to a hospital or an emergency room
* Failure to properly monitor a patients' vitals
* Misreading lab results
* Overdosing a patient
* Underdosing a patient

Injuries sustained due to physician error can include cardiac arrest, traumatic brain injuries (including coma and permanent brain damage), terminal breast cancer, cervical cancer, a ruptured appendix, cerebral palsy, infections, organ damage, and wrongful death.

A physician is required to provide you with a certain level of medical care. Failure by your doctor to do so can be grounds for a medical malpractice claim or lawsuit. There is also a possibility that the hospital or medical facility can be held liable for your doctor's mistake.

Visit our medical malpractice page for more information about medical malpractice lawsuits and how to obtain recovery compensation for your injuries.

Chicago Attorney Klest has successfully negotiated large settlements and won major verdicts for injury victims of medical malpractice. He has the resources and experience to represent you.

To schedule your free case evaluation with Joseph Klest, Attorney at Law, contact us online or call (630) 529-7848, (847) 969-9510, or (312) 527-2779. Our law offices are located in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois.

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Posted In: Medical Malpractice

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