Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Illinois
I had at a tonsillectomy, septoplasty, and a turbinate reduction performed on me in the hospital in April 2009. At my follow up appointment, my ENT told me that I now have a hole in my septum but said that sometimes that happens during the surgery. My nose is now worse than it has ever been.(Before the suregery, I never knew that I had any problems with my nose-I just went to him for the tonsils issue) Since I have a hole in my septum and a third of my turbinates were removed, I get crusts that I cannot get out and majorly "weird" headaches from the nose area. My nose is never clear and the inside is always swollen. I fear that I have to deal with this the rest of my life! The biggest thing is this...I NEVER had any problems with my nose! NOW I DO!!! I totally regret ever having any nasal surgeries. Before the surgery,the ENT did NOT tell me that there was any risk of perforations in the septum as a result of this surgery-if he had, I would not have gotten it. My question is....is a hole in the septum a usual complication of this surgery or can I sue him for making me have to deal with nasal problems the rest of my life when I never had any to begin with?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Maybe-Maybe not...
In order to find out whether or not your surgeon failed to follow the proper standard of care (regardless of whether the result your are experiencing is normal or abnormal) you need to obtain all your medical records from the time before the surgery, all surgery notes, and all follow up notes along with all nurses notes etc... that is your complete and full medical records and charts. Once you have all that, then contact my office and we will have an expert review the records-if the standard of care was not followed, then you have a case we can pursue. If the standard of care was followed and things still went wrong, then you do not have a case we can follow.
Figuring out whether or not medical malpractice has occurred, requires an expert opinion without which any complaint filed in court will simply be dismissed.
I hope this helps-
Hello:
I agree to some extent with what the other attorney stated, but believe that he did not address a couple of areas. One being whether there was informed consent since you stated that you were not told about the possibility of the hole.
The other area that he did not mention and that is very important is that there is a statute of limitations that bars a cause of action if not filed within two years. Based on the information posted. that would have been in April of 2011 or possibly 2 years from whenever it was that you had the follow-up and were advised of the hole. There are exceptions to the two year rule that are somewhat case specific. I suggest that you immediately contact a medical malpractice attorney! Do delay in doing so. Good luck.
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