Lawyers For Misdiagnosis And Failure To Diagnose Claims In Chicago

Millions Recovered For Victims And Families

Although minor medical conditions can go away with time, some ailments and diseases can become progressively worse. Due to the time-sensitive nature of serious conditions, it is imperative doctors diagnose patients quickly and accurately. If you suffered harm or a worsening of your medical condition because your doctor did not make a timely diagnosis, you may have a medical malpractice claim.

Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, and delayed diagnosis cases are best evaluated by experienced attorneys. Our team at Power Rogers has recovered millions for victims of medical negligence in Chicago and throughout Illinois. Let us help you evaluate your rights and legal options; call now for your FREE consultation: 312-500-1792.

Diagnostic Error Cases We Handle

At Power Rogers, we review potential missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis claims with a focus on determining whether treating providers failed to act in accordance with accepted medical standards. Backed by a team of award-winning attorneys and a network of expert witnesses, we have the resources to handle all types or missed diagnosis claims. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Failure to diagnose cancer
• Failure to diagnose heart attack or stroke
• Undiagnosed internal bleeding
• Failure to diagnose deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
• Failure to diagnose infection or sepsis / septic shock
• Failure to diagnose complications in pregnancy or childbirth resulting in birth injuries

Examples Of Our Missed Diagnosis Settlements And Verdicts

• $47.5 million settlement for a child who suffered serious injuries after physicians failed to diagnose and treat a bacterial infection. This was the largest reported settlement in Cook County in 2016, and one of the largest malpractice settlements in Illinois history.
• $40 million settlement for a 12-year-old girl who suffered permanent neurologic injury after hospitalists failed to diagnose deep neck abscesses when treating mononucleosis and streptococcal infection. This is the largest settlement for a brain injured-minor in Illinois.
• $18.5 million verdict for a man who suffered a stroke and left-side paralysis after his physician and an ER doctor negligently failed to diagnose subacute bacterial endocarditis. This was the largest medical negligence verdict in Illinois history and the largest in the nation at the time.
• $18 million recovery in a birth injury case where attending providers failed to diagnose preeclampsia resulting in permanent brain damage to her baby.
• $12.8 million recovery for a client who suffered injured when providers failed to diagnose compartment syndrome.
• $9.8 million verdict over the failure to perform a spinal tap and diagnose a subarachnoid hemorrhage and aneurysm. At the time, this was the largest wrongful death verdict in Illinois.
• $7.5 million settlement over the negligent failure to diagnose and treat bacterial meningitis. This result is the largest settlement in Lake County history, and the largest recovery in a malpractice case involving bacterial meningitis in Illinois history.

Who Is Responsible For A Missed Diagnosis?

Determining who is responsible for a missed diagnosis will depend on the facts of your case and whether a provider deviated from the standard of care when performing patient evaluations, administering and interpreting tests, conducting proper differential diagnoses, and arriving at their ultimate finding.

Because there can be many providers involved in a patient’s care, more than one provider may be responsible for a missed diagnosis. While you should seek a personalized evaluation from an attorney, some examples of providers who may be named as defendants can include:

• A primary care provider / family physician who fails to recognize symptoms, order tests, or refer patients to specialists.
• Specialists who fail to meet the standard of care when evaluating or diagnosing patients.
• Lab technicians who fail to correctly perform exams or interpret results.
• Hospitals and medical practices responsible for administrative errors that result in failures to follow up, order needed tests, or communicate findings to patients and other providers.
• Nurses, surgeons, and other providers who fail to recognize complications before, during, or after a medical procedure.

When Is A Missed Diagnosis Considered Negligence?

Medical malpractice cases involving misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and failure to diagnosis are based on a standard set by comparing how other similarly trained medical professionals would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.

In other words, it must be shown that the provider(s) failed to care for a patient with the level of skill and competency comparable to other providers in the same or similar field.

Proving negligence in diagnostic error cases will also require a review of the specific facts involved. Negligence can take many forms and may occur in many different situations. Examples of negligence that may lead to a missed diagnosis include:

• Failure to obtain a patient’s medical history or perform an adequate evaluation
• Failure to correctly perform a differential diagnosis
• Failure to order necessary exams or tests
• Misreading or incorrectly interpreting test and lab results
• Failure to recognize complications during or after procedures

Medical experts play a large role in helping victims evaluate the conduct of providers and whether they were negligent in failing to meet the standard of care.

An expert’s insight is also critical to proving that a missed diagnosis caused a patient’s injury. To have a viable medical malpractice claim, victims must prove the underlying negligence was the cause of their harm. This can include injury resulting from a failure to treat and a worsening of their condition, or continued pain and suffering and the development of other medical problems.

Our Proven Success In Medical Malpractice Cases

Power Rogers has recovered more than $5 billion in compensation for clients – $900 million more than our closest competitor since the year 2000. Our attorneys have also cultivated a record of notable recoveries for medical negligence victims, including numerous multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements and record-setting results.

Examples of our record results include:

• $55.4 million verdict for a client who suffered brain damage following a bronchoscopic procedure for possible tuberculosis. This result is the largest medical malpractice verdict in Illinois history, and includes the largest recovery for loss of consortium in Illinois history.
• $35 million settlement for a child who suffered brain damage resulting in quadriplegia, cerebral palsy, and seizures at birth. This settlement is a state record for a child injured at birth.
• $30 million recovery over stapling device injuries to our client’s kidney during a laparoscopic nephrectomy procedure. Our client was rendered paraplegic and requires permanent dialysis.
• $23 million recovered for a pregnant mother who suffered brain damage after providers failed to treat high blood pressure.

Call To Request A Free Case Evaluation

Power Rogers is known for our work litigating complex medical malpractice claims in Illinois. Our attorneys have excelled in this challenging area of law for decades, and have been trusted by clients and colleagues across the country to tackle the toughest of cases.

Call or contact us online for a FREE consultation with our Chicago misdiagnosis attorneys at Power Rogers, LLP.