In short, no. This is because in order to recover monetary compensation for your damages following an act of medical negligence, you must show that you actually suffered such damages. If you did not suffer damages, what is there to compensate?

Of course, there is more to this issue than simply accepting that although malpractice occurred, you were unharmed and can simply move on with your life. Sometimes, the effects of malpractice are not immediately apparent. In other cases, patients actually do suffer financial damages, but these are not obvious at the time of the original incident. To determine if you are entitled to collect compensation for anything following an act of malpractice, you need to determine the following:

• What type of malpractice occurred? And

• How did the act of negligence affect me financially?

Defining Malpractice

Medical malpractice is defined as a doctor’s failure to take the action that another doctor would reasonably have taken to protect a patient from harm. With this definition, it is quite possible for malpractice to technically occur without the patient suffering an injury. For example, a doctor might not thoroughly explain the potential side effects of a procedure to a patient. If the patient does not suffer any of these side effects, he or she cannot recover compensation even though the doctor technically did not act according to the standard of care for the procedure. In another example, a doctor might deviate somewhat from the original treatment plan, thereby technically performing a procedure without the patient’s informed consent. Again, if the deviation results in the patient’s recovery without complication, the patient typically cannot recover monetary compensation unless he or she can prove that the deviation was an unnecessary or harmful procedure.

You Must Prove that you Suffered Financial Damages from your Injury to Collect Compensation

You cannot simply claim that you suffered an injury and receive compensation based on your claim. You must provide evidence to show exactly how the injury was caused by a healthcare provider’s negligence and how this resulted in specific financial damages. If you cannot produce this documentation, you do not have a medical malpractice claim. Your lawyer can help you work out monetary figures for your damages like your lost wages and your reduced quality of life, damages you might not have considered. But in order to receive a settlement that covers these, you must show that they resulted from an injury caused by a healthcare provider’s negligence.

Work with an Experienced Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Informed consent is an important component of medical care. So is demonstrating how a physician’s negligence caused the patient to suffer financial damages like high medical bills and a reduced quality of life. If you think you have suffered from an act of medical malpractice, contact our team of experienced medical malpractice lawyers (https://www.baizlaw.com/practice-areas/medical-malpractice/) at Baizer Kolar, P.C. today to set up your initial consultation in our office.