Our Lawyers
Failure to Diagnose Bloodstream Infection Medical Malpractice in Chicago
A bloodstream infection, known medically as bacteremia or septicemia, is one of the most dangerous conditions a doctor can fail to catch. When bacteria enter the bloodstream and go undetected, the infection can spread to every organ in the body within hours. Patients in Chicago-area hospitals, from Northwestern Memorial near Streeterville to Rush University Medical Center in the Illinois Medical District, trust their care teams to recognize and act on these warning signs. When that trust is broken, the consequences can be catastrophic, and the law gives you the right to hold negligent providers accountable. If you believe a missed bloodstream infection harmed you or a family member, a Chicago personal injury lawyer at Briskman Briskman & Greenberg can review your case at no cost.
Table of Contents
- What a Bloodstream Infection Is and Why Missing It Is So Dangerous
- How Doctors Are Supposed to Diagnose a Bloodstream Infection
- What Illinois Law Requires to Prove a Failure to Diagnose Claim
- Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Missed Bloodstream Infection
- What Compensation You Can Pursue After a Missed Bloodstream Infection
- Why Briskman Briskman & Greenberg Is Ready to Help You
- FAQs About Failure to Diagnose Bloodstream Infection Medical Malpractice in Chicago
What a Bloodstream Infection Is and Why Missing It Is So Dangerous
Bacteremia means bacteria are present in the bloodstream. This can happen after a dental procedure, a urinary tract infection, a surgical wound, or the use of a catheter or IV line. When the body’s immune system overreacts to those bacteria, the result can quickly become sepsis, a life-threatening condition that causes widespread inflammation, organ damage, and death.
According to the CDC, more than a quarter million Americans die from sepsis every year. The progression from a localized infection to a full bloodstream infection can be rapid. If left untreated, these infections can lead to blood poisoning, a serious condition that happens when bacteria causing an infection in another part of the body enter the bloodstream.
The window for effective treatment is narrow. Early treatment using aggressive antibiotics and large amounts of intravenous fluids drastically improves chances of survival. When a doctor or nurse fails to order blood cultures, misreads lab results, or dismisses warning signs like a high heart rate, fever, or confusion, that window closes. Inpatient mortality rates from healthcare- or community-associated bloodstream infections range from 18% to 48%.
Common sources of bloodstream infections include the lungs, urinary tract, abdomen, and skin. Hospital settings carry their own risks. Infections acquired in a healthcare setting, such as surgical site infections or catheter-related bloodstream infections, can lead to sepsis if proper infection control protocols are not followed. Patients in nursing homes and long-term care facilities near Chicago’s South Side and western suburbs face similar risks when staff fail to monitor for early signs of infection.
Once a bloodstream infection reaches septic shock, blood pressure drops to dangerous levels. Septic shock presents a drastic decrease in blood pressure requiring vasopressor medications, and those vasopressors may save the patient’s life but at the expense of the patient’s arms and legs. Amputations, permanent organ damage, and brain injury are real outcomes when diagnosis is delayed.
How Doctors Are Supposed to Diagnose a Bloodstream Infection
The standard of care for diagnosing a bloodstream infection is well established. A physician who sees a patient with a suspected infection has a duty to order blood cultures, monitor vital signs closely, and watch for specific warning signs that indicate the infection has spread to the bloodstream.
The early warning signs that doctors should be aware of are high heart rate and fever, shivering, or feeling very cold. Beyond those initial signs, clinicians are expected to look for rapid breathing, low blood pressure, and altered mental status. In order to be diagnosed with sepsis, a patient must have a confirmed infection as well as other signs, including a high respiratory rate, a lowered systolic blood pressure reading, and a marked change in mental status.
Ordering blood cultures is a critical step. When a lab processes those cultures and finds bacteria in the blood, the results must be communicated to the treating physician immediately. Failures in this chain, from the bedside nurse who does not report a spiking fever to the physician who does not act on a positive blood culture result, all represent potential departures from the standard of care. Related failures, like a failure to communicate critical test results or a failure to order appropriate diagnostic testing, can turn a treatable infection into a wrongful death case.
Negligence in maintaining sterile environments or adhering to hand hygiene guidelines can increase the risk of patients developing serious infections that could progress to sepsis. This means the failure does not always start with a missed diagnosis. Sometimes it starts with preventable contamination that the medical team then fails to recognize and treat in time.
Physicians working in busy emergency departments, like those at Stroger Hospital on the Near West Side or Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Lakeview, see high volumes of patients. That pressure does not reduce their legal obligation to meet the standard of care for every patient who walks through the door.
What Illinois Law Requires to Prove a Failure to Diagnose Claim
A failure to diagnose bloodstream infection claim falls under Illinois medical malpractice law. To succeed, you must prove four core elements: the provider owed you a duty of care, they breached that duty, the breach caused your injury, and you suffered real damages as a result.
Illinois law adds a procedural requirement that applies before you even file your lawsuit. Under the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, Section 735 ILCS 5/2-622, known as the Healing Art Malpractice statute, your attorney must attach an affidavit to the complaint stating that a qualified health professional has reviewed the case. That reviewing professional must have determined, in a written report, that there is a reasonable and meritorious cause for the lawsuit. The reviewing professional must be knowledgeable in the relevant area of medicine and must have practiced or taught in that field within the last six years.
This requirement exists to screen out frivolous claims, but it also means your case needs serious preparation from day one. A medical malpractice lawyer who handles these cases understands how to retain qualified medical experts, obtain and analyze records, and satisfy this affidavit requirement properly.
Illinois also has a statute of limitations. In most medical malpractice cases, you have two years from the date you knew or should have known about the injury to file suit, with an overall four-year cap from the date of the act or omission. Missing this deadline means losing your right to pursue compensation entirely. If a loved one died from a missed bloodstream infection, the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, codified at 740 ILCS 180/1, allows surviving family members to bring a claim for damages. It is important to note that under 735 ILCS 5/2-1115, punitive damages are not available in healing art malpractice cases in Illinois, though you can still pursue compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
Who Can Be Held Responsible for a Missed Bloodstream Infection
Multiple parties can share liability when a bloodstream infection goes undiagnosed. The attending physician is the most obvious defendant, but they are rarely the only one. Nurses, hospitalists, emergency medicine doctors, infectious disease specialists, and the hospital itself may all bear responsibility depending on the facts.
Hospitals can be held liable for their own institutional failures, including inadequate infection control protocols, poor staffing, and failures to implement evidence-based sepsis screening tools. A hospital that does not train its staff to recognize early signs of bacteremia, or that allows contaminated equipment to remain in use, may face direct liability separate from the individual providers involved.
Under the Illinois Joint Liability statute, 735 ILCS 5/2-1117, all defendants found liable are jointly and severally liable for a plaintiff’s past and future medical and medically related expenses. Any defendant whose share of fault is 25% or greater is also jointly and severally liable for all other damages. This matters because it means a patient can recover their full compensation even if one defendant has limited resources.
Laboratory errors also play a role in many bloodstream infection cases. If a lab mishandles a blood sample, reports a false negative result, or delays communicating a positive culture, those failures can be just as deadly as a physician’s failure to order the test in the first place. A medical malpractice attorney will investigate every link in the chain of care to identify all responsible parties. Nursing failures, such as a failure to notify a physician of patient deterioration or a failure to monitor vital signs, are also common contributing factors that a thorough investigation will uncover.
When multiple defendants are involved, having experienced legal representation matters. Briskman Briskman & Greenberg, located at 205 W Randolph St., Suite 925, Chicago, IL 60606, handles these multi-party cases and works to identify every source of accountability for our clients.
What Compensation You Can Pursue After a Missed Bloodstream Infection
The damages available in a failure to diagnose bloodstream infection case can be substantial. The harm caused by a missed diagnosis often extends far beyond the initial hospitalization, affecting every part of a patient’s life for years to come.
Economic damages include past and future medical bills, the cost of rehabilitation, long-term care expenses, and lost wages. If the infection led to an amputation, permanent organ damage, or a brain injury, future care costs alone can reach into the millions. Non-economic damages cover pain and suffering, loss of normal life, and emotional distress. Illinois does not cap these damages in medical malpractice cases under 735 ILCS 5/2-1115, which means a jury can award an amount that truly reflects the severity of what you have been through.
In cases where a patient died from a missed bloodstream infection, the Illinois Wrongful Death Act at 740 ILCS 180/1 allows the surviving spouse, children, or next of kin to recover damages for grief, loss of companionship, and financial support the deceased would have provided. These cases are among the most serious that a medical malpractice lawyer handles, and they deserve the full weight of legal resources.
Attorney fees in Illinois medical malpractice cases are governed by 735 ILCS 5/2-1114, which caps contingency fees for the plaintiff’s attorney at no more than 33 1/3% of all sums recovered. At Briskman Briskman & Greenberg, we work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay no attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you. You should be aware that clients may still be responsible for certain case costs and expenses, so we encourage you to discuss the specific terms during your free consultation.
Compensation in any case depends on its specific facts and circumstances. No attorney can guarantee a particular result, and past outcomes do not predict future ones. What we can promise is that we take every case seriously and fight hard for our clients throughout the entire process. A medical malpractice attorney at our firm will give your case the individual attention it deserves.
Why Briskman Briskman & Greenberg Is Ready to Help You
Briskman Briskman & Greenberg has represented injured Chicagoans and their families for decades. Our firm handles serious personal injury and medical malpractice claims throughout the Chicago area, including cases arising from hospitals across Cook County, DuPage County, and beyond. We know how Illinois courts handle these cases, and we know what it takes to build a compelling claim against a hospital or physician.
If you or a family member suffered serious harm because a doctor or hospital failed to diagnose a bloodstream infection, you deserve answers. You deserve to know whether what happened to you was preventable, who is responsible, and what your legal options are. A missed bacteremia diagnosis is not simply bad luck. When a provider departs from the accepted standard of care and that departure causes harm, the law provides a path to accountability.
Our team reviews medical records, works with qualified medical experts, and handles every aspect of the legal process so you can focus on your health and your family. We serve clients throughout Chicago and the surrounding communities, from Lincoln Park and Hyde Park to the western suburbs. A medical malpractice lawyer at our firm is ready to listen to your story and help you understand your rights.
Call Briskman Briskman & Greenberg today at (312) 222-0010 for a free consultation. There is no obligation, and speaking with us does not create an attorney-client relationship. We are located at 205 W Randolph St., Suite 925, Chicago, IL 60606, and we are here to help.
FAQs About Failure to Diagnose Bloodstream Infection Medical Malpractice in Chicago
What is the difference between bacteremia, septicemia, and sepsis?
Bacteremia means bacteria are present in the bloodstream. Septicemia is an older term that was used to describe a bloodstream infection with active bacterial growth. Sepsis is the body’s dangerous, life-threatening immune response to that infection, which can cause widespread organ damage and death. In medical malpractice cases, the failure to diagnose any stage of this progression can form the basis of a legal claim if it caused preventable harm.
How do I know if a doctor’s failure to diagnose a bloodstream infection rises to the level of malpractice?
Not every missed diagnosis is malpractice. To have a valid claim under Illinois law, you must show that the provider failed to meet the accepted standard of care, that the failure caused your injury, and that you suffered real damages. This typically requires a review of your medical records by a qualified medical expert. The best way to find out is to call Briskman Briskman & Greenberg at (312) 222-0010 for a free case review.
How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in Illinois?
Illinois law generally requires you to file a medical malpractice lawsuit within two years from the date you knew or reasonably should have known about the injury. There is also an overall four-year limit from the date of the act or omission that caused the harm. If the victim was a minor, different rules may apply. Because these deadlines are strict and missing them can permanently bar your claim, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Can I sue a hospital, not just a doctor, for failing to diagnose a bloodstream infection?
Yes. Hospitals can be held liable for their own failures, including inadequate infection control policies, poor staffing decisions, and failure to implement sepsis screening protocols. Nurses, hospitalists, and other staff members employed by the hospital may also expose the hospital to liability for their individual errors. Under Illinois law, all defendants found to bear 25% or more of the fault can be held jointly and severally liable for all damages, including your full medical expenses.
What damages can my family recover if a loved one died from a missed bloodstream infection?
Under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act, 740 ILCS 180/1, surviving family members can pursue compensation for grief and sorrow, loss of companionship, and the financial support the deceased would have provided. The estate may also have a separate claim for the pain and suffering the patient experienced before death, as well as medical expenses incurred. Every case is different, and the amount recoverable depends on the specific facts. Contact Briskman Briskman & Greenberg at (312) 222-0010 to discuss what your family may be entitled to recover.
More Resources About Infectious Disease Negligence in Chicago
SEEN ON:
