Cosmetic surgery, whether it involves an elective or necessary procedure, exposes patients to the same risks as any other surgery in Illinois. Without competent doctors, nurses, and surgical technicians, patients can suffer serious or even fatal injuries.
In Illinois, you may be entitled to seek compensation for medical errors during cosmetic surgery. The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Hale & Monico have extensive experience fighting medical malpractice insurers and the providers they cover. Contact us today for a free consultation to learn how we can help you.
Cosmetic Surgery Malpractice Cases We Handle
We handle a wide range of cosmetic surgery malpractice cases, from diagnosis errors to records issues.
Diagnosis Errors
Diagnosis errors happen when a doctor misdiagnoses your condition. This error can take the following forms:
- Diagnosing you as healthy when you have a condition
- Diagnosing you with one condition when you have a different one
- Diagnosing you with a condition when you are, in fact, healthy
During surgery, doctors must constantly monitor you and identify potential problems. If they make a mistake diagnosing any issues or problems that arise, you might receive the wrong treatment or miss receiving necessary treatment.
For example, suppose that your blood pressure spikes during cosmetic surgery. The doctor must diagnose the issue and decide whether and how to treat it. A mistake in this scenario could lead to injuries or even death. If you were injured during cosmetic surgery due to a diagnosis error, we can fight for compensation on your behalf.
Treatment Errors
Treatment errors happen when doctors fail to provide competent medical care. These errors can include mistakes committed during any of the following:
- Performing surgery, such as leaving an instrument inside a patient
- Prescribing the wrong medication or dosage
- Administering anesthesia
- Monitoring a patient’s vital signs while anesthetized
- Failing to maintain sterile conditions
Labs and pharmacies can also commit treatment errors. For instance, a radiologist commits a treatment error when they miss something on your MRI that leads to an injury during cosmetic surgery.
Records and Communication Errors
Medical records contain essential information for doctors and nurses performing cosmetic surgeries. Serious injury or death can occur when doctors rely on erroneous records.
For example, medical records contain your allergies. If the records contain incorrect information, your doctor may administer a drug during cosmetic surgery that triggers an allergic reaction.
Communication errors can happen during communications involving doctors, staff, administrators, and patients. Your primary care physician might give incorrect information to the cosmetic surgeon, or the cosmetic surgeon might fail to instruct a nurse to administer a drug. Administrators might mix up your lab results with a different patient’s.
Any of these errors might result in a cosmetic surgery complication. We can get to the bottom of such errors and determine who should be held accountable.
Proving Malpractice After Cosmetic Surgery
Cosmetic surgery malpractice is a form of professional negligence. To prove medical malpractice, your personal injury attorney must show the doctor failed to meet the professional standard of care by not providing reasonably knowledgeable, competent, and skilled medical care.
This standard is measured against an ordinary practitioner in the same situation. If the doctor fails to live up to the standard set by an ordinary doctor exercising reasonable care, they have committed medical malpractice.
With cosmetic surgery, you can often start with the results. If your surgery left you with pain, disfigurement, or disabilities, you have a reasonable starting point for an injury attorney to analyze your malpractice claim. Contact us for a free consultation to learn about your options for pursuing a cosmetic surgery malpractice claim.
Available Compensation for Cosmetic Surgery Malpractice
The compensation you can seek for medical malpractice can cover both your economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses represent the financial losses resulting from your cosmetic procedure injuries. These losses include the following:
- Expenses for corrective medical care to treat or fix the doctor’s error
- Income lost due to missing work for treatment and rehabilitation of your injuries
- Diminished future earning capacity resulting from long-term disabilities
- Out-of-pocket costs associated with your injuries
Your medical malpractice attorney proves your economic losses using your financial records. Thus, bank and credit card statements, receipts, and pay records might prove the costs you incurred as a result of your injuries.
Non-economic losses represent the human side of your injuries. These losses try to capture the diminishment in your quality of life after your cosmetic surgery. One of the most common non-economic losses after cosmetic surgery errors is disfigurement.
When a surgical error alters your appearance, you may face social anxiety or even become the target of ridicule. Other common non-economic losses include physical pain, emotional distress, mental suffering, and disability.
Contact Our Medical Malpractice Attorneys Today
Medical malpractice during cosmetic surgery can leave you with disabling and disfiguring injuries. At Hale & Monico, our seasoned team won’t hesitate to take a case to trial when necessary, and our passion for justice has led to regular features on television shows and documentaries.
Contact us for a free consultation with an experienced Chicago, IL, medical malpractice attorney today.