Botched surgery cases are medical malpractice cases, which are personal injury cases against a health care provider. You are alleging that your doctor was negligent and caused you harm as a result. These cases involve more than an unfavorable outcome. They are cases where the doctor screwed up, making more than just an honest mistake.
A botched surgery can be one of those cases where a piece of medical equipment or gauze is accidentally left inside a patient during surgery. It can also be unnecessary complications from a surgery that wasn’t performed properly or shouldn’t have been done in the first place. It can also be something severe, such as amputation of the wrong limb, permanent scarring or disfigurement, or even death.
In any medical malpractice case, the key is proving that the health care provider – the surgeon for example – acted below the standard of care. You’ll have to show that a reasonable doctor in the same position would not have done what yours did. In order to prove this, you’ll use a medical expert who will testify that this is the case. Medical malpractice lawsuits hinge on the opinions of these experts.
In general, medical malpractice cases are complex. They are also expensive for the attorney you hire, because they are the ones (or the should be the ones) paying for all the expenses up front. Expert witness fees can be thousands of dollars. They also don’t charge you for their time upfront. Only when, and if, you win the case does your attorney get a fee. This is why it’s important to hire a firm with a lot of resources and experience in this type of case. It’s not uncommon for a medical malpractice case to cost $100,000.
In light of these things, medical malpractice attorneys are picky about the cases that they take. It’s often a business decision. If there is not a significant injury, it won’t be worth the large expense to the firm. You can always get a consultation with an Illinois medical malpractice attorney to go over your case. It’s free, so there’s nothing to lose in looking into your options. Contact us if you’d like our help.