Chicago OB-GYN Malpractice Attorneys
Ob-gyns, or obstetrician-gynecologists, are specific types of doctors who specialize in female reproductive health. An obstetrician more specifically, according to WebMD, is a type of doctor who specializes in prenatal care for pregnant women and in providing care during pregnancy and through childbirth. While other types of healthcare providers may also deliver babies, such as nurse practitioners or midwives, obstetricians also deliver babies and provide medical care to pregnant women through labor and delivery.
One of our experienced Chicago ob-gyn malpractice attorneys can speak with you today about your options for filing a claim.
What is Chicago OB-GYN Malpractice?
Chicago ob-gyn malpractice is a type of medical malpractice that occurs when an ob-gyn is negligent and causes patient injuries. It is important to know that an unwanted outcome in a pregnancy does not automatically mean that an ob-gyn has been negligent and is responsible for malpractice. While many harms that occur during pregnancy or childbirth are the result of malpractice, there are also certain harms that may not have been preventable. It is important to have an experienced Chicago ob-gyn medical malpractice lawyer evaluate the specific facts of your case in order to determine whether your ob-gyn was negligent and thus responsible for damages.
Generally speaking, the elements of a Chicago ob-gyn malpractice claim will require you to prove the following:
- Ob-gyn owed you a duty of care because you were a patient of the doctor, and thus a doctor-patient relationship existed;
- Ob-gyn breached the duty of care by behaving negligently, which usually means that another ob-gyn in Chicago would not believe your doctor’s behavior was reasonable under the circumstances and would consider your doctor’s actions or inactions to have breached the duty of care owed to you;
- Your ob-gyn’s negligence caused the injury; and
- The injury resulted in actual damages.
Statute of Limitations for a Chicago OB-GYN Medical Malpractice Claim
The statute of limitations for filing an ob-gyn medical malpractice lawsuit in Chicago will depend upon whether the pregnant mother was injured or the baby suffered a birth injury, and whether the parent or the injured child will be the party filing a claim. If the pregnant mother suffered harm because of the ob-gyn’s negligence, that mother will most likely have two years under Illinois law from the date of the malpractice to file a lawsuit against the obstetrician. However, if the baby suffered a birth injury and the child later files a lawsuit against the doctor, the injured child will usually have eight years from the date of the ob-gyn negligence to file a birth injury claim in Illinois.
To ensure that you understand the specific timeline for your case, it is important to seek advice from a Chicago obstetrician malpractice attorney. If the statute of limitations runs out and a claim has not been filed, your ability to seek compensation through a civil lawsuit will likely become time-barred under Illinois law.
Contact Our Chicago OB-GYN Malpractice Lawyers
To find out more about filing a claim against a negligent obstetrician, you should seek advice from one of our Chicago OB-GYN malpractice attorneys. Contact Wais, Vogelstein, Forman, Koch & Norman, LLC for more information.
