No one checks into a hospital for a vacation. If you go to the hospital, it is because you have a health issue that needs to be taken care of. Even with the excitement of having a baby, going into the hospital can trigger stress and anxiety for many. The hope is that you come out of the hospital better than when you went in, but there are no guarantees. Sometimes, there is nothing more that a doctor can do.

Unfortunately, there are also scenarios where you could leave the hospital in a worse condition because of negligence. In that case, you could be dealing with an issue of medical malpractice, and that is when you need the guidance of a supportive attorney, like you would find at Prince Law Firm. We have helped many clients navigate the complexities of a medical malpractice claim.

Ensuring a safe and healthy birth is one of the most important responsibilities of obstetricians and gynecologists (OB/GYNs), midwives, doulas, and other medical professionals who handle this area of medicine.

However, their negligence, or more appropriately, their failure to uphold a standard of care, may lead to preventable injuries to moms during the labor and delivery process.  

What birth injuries can mothers suffer from, and how often does it happen? Those are some questions we’ll address below. 

When you go to the doctor for a health concern, you expect them to look at your health history and perform a thorough examination to determine what is ailing you. But, when your doctor tells you nothing is wrong or prescribes medication for an illness you don’t think is the cause of your symptoms, you might feel discouraged or even scared.

You might then seek a second opinion from another doctor, hoping that they will find the true cause of your illness. And when a doctor misdiagnoses you as well, what options do you have?

In this post, we’ll discuss what the differences are between a misdiagnosis and a missed diagnosis and how serious both types of medical negligence can be to a patient’s health.

According to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), there are “tens of thousands” of individuals in the U.S. who suffer anaphylactic reactions, another way of referring to someone who experiences a severe sensitivity to an allergen every year.

This one factor results in 1 per every 3,000 inpatient hospitalizations. That same report outlines how anaphylaxis leads to anywhere from 500 to 1,000 annual fatalities in our country.

Anyone who is preparing to undergo a medical treatment or surgery should go through the informed consent process.

However, while statistics aren’t readily available, physicians likely fail to perform this required pre-operative procedure when treating patients. Doing so violates a doctor’s duty of care per a court ruling cited in a study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2023, yet it happens nonetheless.

Another study published by the NIH in 2004 suggested that the “lack of informed consent can reinforce a claim of medical malpractice.”

Below, we’ll delve deeper into what informed consent is, when it must be performed, and by whom.

We’ll also describe the dangers associated with doctors failing to consent patients and how situations like these often lead to the filing of a medical malpractice claim.

Preparing for the birth of your child is supposed to be an exciting time for every parent. You’ve spent months researching car seats, stocking up on diapers, and organizing baby clothes. But something went wrong, and now your child has been irreversibly harmed.

If a doctor’s negligence hurt your child and you’re wondering, “What should I know about filing a birth injury lawsuit in Illinois?”, know that you’re not alone. Prince Law Firm is a proud legal advocate and ally for families in Marion, Williamson County, Johnson County, and beyond.

As a parent, there are few things more important in life than preparing to welcome the birth of a child. When a doctor’s negligent, reckless, or wrongful actions cause your child to suffer, you may be left wondering: Is birth injury preventable?

At Prince Law Firm, we understand how difficult it can be to watch your child suffer what was most likely a preventable injury. You may be racked with guilt, wondering if it was your fault or if there was anything you could have done. The reality is that you are not the medical professional; your obstetrician is. You trusted their expertise only to be let down.

Typically, you see the doctor when you are at your most vulnerable—either you’re sick, have an injury, or need a surgery to get better. You trust your doctor to heal you and help you get back to feeling as normal as possible. However, sometimes doctors can do more harm than good, and as a result, they commit medical malpractice.

Strokes are serious events that happen in the arteries of the brain and are caused by a blockage of blood flow or rupture of a vessel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 87 percent of strokes are ischemic strokes, or caused by a blood clot.

When the blood flow to or within the brain is restricted, brain cells die. When brain cells die, you can lose your memory, certain motor functions, or worse. This is why it’s imperative for strokes to be recognized and diagnosed as soon as possible—because taking too long and misdiagnosing could be the difference between life and death.

When you’ve been misdiagnosed by a medical professional and it ends up causing you further damage, you could be eligible to file a medical malpractice claim. At Prince Law Firm, our lawyers understand how hard it can be to deal with the effects of a misdiagnosis. That’s why we’re here to help you with your claim and ensure that you get justice for your doctor’s negligence.

When a doctor or other medical professional fails to abide by the standard of care and injures a patient, the injured party can file a medical malpractice claim to seek compensation for their losses. When negotiations fail and a claim proceeds to trial as a lawsuit, it’s important for the plaintiff to understand the rights, options, and the likelihood of them receiving a monetary award for their expenses and suffering.

While every situation is different, there are factors we can look at to determine what the odds are of winning a medical malpractice lawsuit. Let’s start by taking a look at statistics from past cases.