Illinois woman files negligence suit against doctor

Illinois woman files negligence suit against doctor

A woman has filed a medical negligence lawsuit against a Chicago area doctor whom she claims possibly endangered her life by failing to diagnose her cancer. The woman filed the lawsuit for alleged medical negligence on July 10 in the Cook County Circuit Court against a physician and the University of Chicago Medical Center where she was treated.

In her suit, the woman claims that the doctor’s failure to order an MRI and provide an accurate diagnosis for her cancer considerably delayed proper treatment and thus significantly endangered her life. The woman and her two Chicago area attorneys are demanding more than $50,000 in damages and legal costs.

The plaintiff’s complaint alleges that she visited the doctor at the University of Chicago Medical Center on Jan. 18, 2012 in order to receive a second opinion regarding the possible presence of a nasopharyngeal mass detected by another doctor. The doctor then allegedly told her that no such mass existed and that she did not require an MRI to confirm. This diagnosis was supposedly repeated by him again in both February and March of 2012. However, the existence of a cancerous mass was confirmed on July 15, 2012 during an emergency room visit, according to the complaint.

While doctors do sometimes make mistakes, the failure to diagnose such a serious medical condition may be grounds for a medical malpractice suit by the patient. Because this same error was repeated more than once on multiple occasions and the doctor did not choose to order additional tests to verify his diagnosis, the patient could be entitled to compensation in the form of a financial settlement for her potentially worsened medical condition.

Source: The Cook County Record, “Suit: Doctor’s failure to diagnose woman’s cancer delayed treatment period“, Annie Cosby, July 21, 2014