Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Illinois

Re: unnecessary breast removal

I wish there was a way that modern medicine and the law could restore you to how you were. Unfortunately, all that is available is a malpractice suit. I am sorry to hear what you are going through and hope this explanation is of some help.

It is not easy to determine whether there is a cause of action against your doctor although my first impression is that it sounds like you may have one. However, I do not want you to get your hopes up too high. Oftentimes, when subsequent treating physicians are presented with the facts of an adverse outcome by a patient, they receive only a partial picture of what happened becasue they have no access to what went into the decision-making process of the original treating physician.

For that reason, it is necessary for a thorough reveiw of your medical records by a physician who is similarly licensed to your surgeon. A determination that the standard of care was violated is necessary and in Illinois an affidavit has to be filed with a complaint at law stating that the standard was violated.

The standard of care is not necessarily what the second physicians would do.

The standard of care can be defined as �what a physician of similar education, training, and experience would do under similar circumstances". The question in malpractice cases is what a reasonable physician would do given the same circumstances and information and whether the decisions of the original treating physician were informed and reasonable,not whether it was wrong. Assuming that a reviewing physician determines that there was malpractice you can then go ahead and file.

Also, I note that this happened to you in 2006,you have only two years from when you learned of the malpractice to file a suit. So if the two years has not passed yet, you need to contact someone immediately.

I have handled malpractice cases in Illinois and Indiana and would welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation in more detail.

Re: unnecessary breast removal

I am so sorry to hear about what you have gone through. In order to find out whether there is a case of medical malpractice, we have to review your entire medical records from before, during and after the surgery, all the nurses charts etc... ALL of your medical records. An expert, after having reviewed the record, will have to give an affidavit that in his opinion, your doctor has failed to follow the standard of care for that type of treatment in the community in which the doctor practices. Short of that, any complaint you file will be dismissed.

The issue is that because medicine is not a science, things can go wrong or bad judgment can be exercised without necessarily fall into the realm of negligence. That is why we have to get an expert's opinion to tell us whether this was bad judgment but within the standard of care or simple negligence.

My office regularly handles medical malpractice cases. If you need any more information, do not hesitate to contact me.

I hope this helps,

Nima Taradji