Can You Sue a Doctor for Negligence?

You can sue doctors for negligence if you can establish that your case meets Illinois’s legal definition of medical negligence. That definition generally includes the following four elements: duty of care, breach of care, injury, proving the breach of care caused the injury.

1. The Doctor Owed You a Duty of Care.

To prove that the doctor owed you a duty of care, you must be able to demonstrate the following: 

• You had established a doctor-patient relationship. 
• The doctor provided you with medical care. 

When a doctor-patient relationship has been established, doctors must provide a reasonable standard of care. A reasonable standard of care is defined as the level of care a qualified physician would provide based on the patient’s needs and the available information. 

2. The Doctor Breached the Duty of Care

Doctors breach the duty of care when they fail to provide a reasonable standard of care. This may occur when the doctor does any of the following: 

• Fails to investigate symptoms 
• Fails to monitor medical conditions 
• Fails to order appropriate testing 
• Delays testing 
• Uses off-label prescriptions without advising the patient of the risks 
• Fails to competently and timely address emergencies 
• Fails to understand a patient’s history 
• Prescribes inappropriate medications 
• Makes assumptions about a patient’s conditions based on personal biases rather than listening to the patient’s concerns 
• Fails to obtain informed consent 

3. You Suffered an Injury

A medical error alone is insufficient grounds for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. Before a doctor can be sued for negligence, you must be able to prove that the doctor’s breach of duty caused you to suffer an injury that you would not otherwise have suffered. 

You can prove you suffered an injury by providing the following: 

• Medical records 
• Testimony by medical experts 
• Testimony of friends, family members, and employers who can attest to your health status before the medical error occurred 
• Visual evidence, such as scarring, casts, assistive devices, apparent disabilities, or disfigurement 
• Cognitive function test results for injuries resulting in cognitive impairment 
• Psychological or psychiatric test results for psychological injuries such as emotional distress 

It is not unusual for a doctor’s insurance company to minimize your injuries to avoid paying compensation. Having as much evidence as possible to support your claims will ensure the court determines your injuries resulted from the doctor’s actions or inactions. Therefore, it is crucial that you follow through with medical treatment. 

Our medical malpractice lawyers can retrieve your medical records and provide medical experts to examine you, interview you, and testify on your behalf to further support your claim. Our medical experts will be experienced in the field of medicine involved and will be able to identify how your doctor violated the reasonable standard of care.

4. The Breach of Duty Is the Proximate Cause of Your Injuries.

You must prove that your injuries were caused by the doctor’s breach of duty and not something else. The doctor’s insurance company will likely look for evidence that your injuries were caused by something else by looking for evidence of the following: 

• Your injury preexisted the medical malpractice. 
• You had a preexisting health condition that caused the injury. 
• You were injured elsewhere. 
• Your injury would have occurred even if the doctor had not been negligent. 
• You are faking your injuries. 

While these attempts by an insurance company can be upsetting, these are common tactics insurance companies use to avoid paying compensation. Our medical malpractice attorneys know how to refute these claims and ensure you receive the compensation you need and deserve. 

Affidavit of Merit 

The Illinois medical malpractice law requires plaintiffs in a medical malpractice case to obtain an Affidavit of Merit before filing a case. This is a legal document that your attorney must sign. It states that a qualified physician practicing or teaching medicine in the same field as the defendant has determined in a written report that your case has merit, and a lawsuit is reasonable.