Medical malpractice is a serious issue that can have devastating consequences. Unfortunately, it happens more often than you might think. It is essential to be aware of the different types of medical malpractice to protect yourself and your loved ones from suffering unnecessary harm due to medical negligence.

Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis

A doctor’s failure to diagnose a condition correctly or promptly can create a whole host of problems for the patient in question. This medical malpractice can lead to misinformed treatment decisions and serious health complications, including death.

Surgical Errors

Surgeons make mistakes all the time, but when those mistakes occur during surgery, it is the patients who suffer—and often greatly. Some common examples of surgical errors include leaving behind a foreign object in the patient’s body, performing the wrong surgery, or operating on the wrong area.

Despite advances in training, technology, and safety equipment, the construction industry consistently has one of the highest rates of worker fatalities and death. More than 20 percent of all worker deaths occur in the construction industry, yet construction workers make up only six percent of the labor force in this country. Approximately 1,000 construction workers are killed on the job each year. Another 175,000 workers suffer job-related injuries. Tragically, many of these construction accidents could be prevented.

The Fatal Four

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), about 20 percent of all worker fatalities are the result of the fatal four – falls, being struck by an object, electrocution, and being caught in or between objects.

Falls are the leading cause of construction worker deaths, responsible for more than 35 percent of all fatalities. Approximately 15 percent of fatalities are due to struck-by accidents. Electrocutions cause 7 percent of worker deaths and deaths caused by workers caught in or between incidents are at about 6 percent.

The number of pedestrian accidents that occur each year in the United States is alarming. According to a report released by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GSA), almost 7,500 people were killed in pedestrian accidents last year, an increase of almost 12 percent from the year before. This is the largest number of pedestrian accident fatalities recorded in 40 years. There are thousands more people hit by vehicles who do survive but suffer serious injuries that leave them with long-term or permanent disabilities.

Causes of Pedestrian Accidents

The most common cause of pedestrian fatalities is speeding, increasing by almost 10 percent in just one year. Per the GSA’s report, speeding is also becoming a significant factor in fatal pedestrian accidents involving children, with percentages doubling as the cause of the accident in a two-year period.

Distracted driving is also a major problem on roads, responsible for killing more than 3,000 people each year – many of those killed pedestrians. However, another issue that safety advocates and researchers have discovered that is becoming a more common factor in pedestrian accidents is distracted walking.

Cell phone use is behind quite a few traffic accidents these days, from minor fender-benders to very serious multi-vehicle pileups. Drivers may be using their cell phones for any number of reasons. They may have received an urgent text from their child’s babysitter, or they may be merely using a navigation app to find their next turn. Regardless of the situation, using a cell phone while driving is dangerous. Drivers cannot pay adequate attention to the road while they are focused on a screen. Aside from being dangerous, using a cell phone while operating a vehicle is also illegal in most cases. This may be important if you have recently been hit and injured by a driver who was on their phone. In Illinois, if it is found that a driver was breaking a statute that is in place for safety reasons and ultimately causes just the kind of harm the law aimed to prevent, they may be automatically considered negligent. 

Thus, if the driver who harmed you can be shown to have been using a phone in the moments leading up to the accident, it may help your case quite a bit. If you have been injured by a distracted driver, an attorney may be able to help you recover compensation. 

Illinois State Law and Cell Phone Use While Driving

Drivers in Illinois are not permitted to use a cell phone while driving, with limited exceptions. Drivers under the age of 19 may not use a mobile device at all while driving, and those 19 and older may use hands-free devices. The only times that a driver in Illinois may use a cell phone that is not hands-free are:

There is little room for carelessness in a medical setting. When the lives and health of patients are at stake, it is critical to use a high level of professional care at all times. A single negligent error by a medical professional can result in severe and lasting harm to a patient who relied on the care provider. Missed or delayed diagnoses are very common and can result in the unchecked progression of a disease such as cancer to a point at which it can no longer be treated as easily or effectively. Prescription drug errors might fail to treat the underlying health issue, and they can lead to all manner of harmful reactions to an unneeded or errantly prescribed drug. Surgical errors frequently require repeat surgery to correct and can leave a patient hospitalized and in pain for a prolonged period, even if the damage can be reversed.

Medical malpractice can be incredibly dangerous for the patient. If you believe that you have suffered harm as a result of medical malpractice, it is advisable to speak with an attorney upon your first suspicion. 

What Must be Proven in a Medical Malpractice Claim?

Two of the most critical facts that must be proven are that your healthcare provider was negligent in treating you, and that you suffered harm as a result. It is not necessary to prove any sort of malicious intent on the part of the doctor. Even a well-meaning care provider can make a mistake that would not generally be made by a reasonable person in their profession. If said unreasonable mistake ultimately results in avoidable harm to you, it is likely that you have a valid claim for medical malpractice.