Sexual harassment in a Chicago workplace is never excusable - and in 2022, nobody can say that they have not received training or adequate information about what constitutes sexual harassment. Yet this terrible behavior continues to happen all the time and the most common victims of sexual harassment are women, ethnic minorities, and other vulnerable populations. 

In addition to being an unacceptable way to treat another human being, sexual harassment is illegal. If you are a victim of sexual harassment, you have options to stop the harassment and possibly even pursue a lawsuit against the perpetrator. You do not have to take action alone; consider speaking with an experienced Illinois sexual harassment attorney. 

Is “Joking” an Excuse for Sexual Harassment? 

While some people may want to engage in flirtatious innuendo at work, people often engage in sexual harassment and later fall back on the excuse that it was “just a joke.” Whether the perpetrator claims it is a joke or not, sexual harassment occurs when someone makes unwanted sexual advances, asks for sexual favors, or engages in other unwanted physical or verbal conduct of a sexual nature. When someone rejects or submits to sexual harassment because of the fear that doing otherwise could lead to a negative employment outcome or hostile work environment, the sexual harassment is against the law. 

Breast cancer treatments are constantly evolving towards more effective methods with less significant side effects. Women in Illinois who are diagnosed today with breast cancer, especially those whose cancer is caught early, stand a much better chance of survival than cancer patients even in the more recent past. 

But even the most effective treatment is dependent on correctly diagnosing cancer in a timely manner. Doctors, radiologists, and oncologists must take the responsibility to provide their patients with a standard of care seriously. When medical providers make mistakes, act negligently, or otherwise cause a misdiagnosis or inappropriate course of treatment for breast cancer, they may be held liable for the consequences. Here are some of the most promising emerging breast cancer treatments available today. 

HER2-Positive Breast Cancer

For a long period of time, HER2 breast cancer was one of the most difficult types of breast cancer to treat. A new drug, trastuzumab, specifically targets HER2 receptors and has improved treatment outcomes significantly, especially when combined with chemotherapy. HER2-positive breast cancer is still challenging because not every patient receives the same benefit from trastuzumab and doctors must be particularly careful to assess a patient’s likelihood to need aggressive treatment methods. 

Every day, thousands of women across the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time. One of the most common and well-understood types of cancer, breast cancer is a type of cancer that forms in the cells of breast tissue of both men and women, although it is seen far more frequently in women. 

If you have received a breast cancer diagnosis, you likely already know that a large team of medical staff is going to help you throughout your treatment and recovery. Each part of your Chicago cancer treatment team, whether doctors, nurses, oncologists, or radiologists, are responsible for providing treatment according to the established standard of care. 

Unfortunately, this does not always happen successfully. Breast cancers are often misdiagnosed, mistreated, or missed altogether. To optimally treat breast cancer, it must be caught as early as possible and the patient given an effective testing and treatment regimen. Understanding how and when breast cancer diagnosis and treatment may involve medical malpractice is important for ensuring you get the best quality treatment available. 

When someone is diagnosed with breast cancer, there are a number of tests that can indicate what kind of cancer it is, how quickly it is likely to progress, and which treatment options may be more successful than others. This can be an overwhelming amount of information for breast cancer patients and patients must put their trust in the hands of a qualified medical team. 

Unfortunately, doctors, nurses, radiologists, and other medical staff do not always exercise an adequate standard of care, and breast cancer patients can suffer when their cases are misdiagnosed or otherwise not managed appropriately. Lives are tragically cut short every day because of breast cancer malpractice, and doctors are responsible for doing everything in their power to keep this from happening. 

If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with breast cancer, you are probably learning as much as you can. One important test you may want to know more about is the Ki-67 proliferation marker test. For a brief overview of this topic, and how it may contribute to an understanding of your breast cancer diagnosis, read on. 

Cases of breast cancer misdiagnosis are tragically common and the results can cause life-threatening injuries and death. Doctors are responsible for ensuring they pay close attention to their patients’ needs, complaints, and health histories so they can order the appropriate screening and diagnostic tests. 

One of the best screening and diagnostic tools available is digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). 

When DBT is properly utilized in coordination with other tools, patient outcomes can improve dramatically. If you or a loved one have suffered from a delayed diagnosis or misdiagnosis because your doctor failed to order the appropriate detection tools or treatment, you may be able to pursue compensation. 

Whether due to suspicious results on a routine mammogram or a patient finding a lump in their breast, breast tissue biopsies may be warranted to determine whether breast cancer is present. After breast tissue is removed, it is sent to a laboratory and tested. If breast cancer is present, the breast cancer cells may be tested further to determine the specific type of cancer and potential treatment options. 

Breast tissue is regularly tested for the presence of certain proteins that allow estrogen and progesterone to attach to special receptors in breast tissue cells, stimulating cancer growth. 

If a breast tissue sample does have these estrogen and progesterone receptors, the cancer will be deemed hormone receptor-positive. Understanding what it means to have breast tissue that is hormone receptor-positive is important if you believe you may have suffered from a breast cancer misdiagnosis or negligent treatment from your Illinois healthcare provider. 

Breast cancer is one of the most well-understood forms of cancer and the field of treatment and diagnosis is continually evolving and improving. Illinois doctors like radiologists and oncologists who work with breast cancer patients are responsible for constantly pursuing appropriate education so they can give their patients an appropriate standard of medical care. When doctors fail to do this, test results can be delayed, misdiagnosed, or poorly managed, leading to adverse patient outcomes and a possible medical malpractice lawsuit. If you have been diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer, it may be helpful to learn more about what this means so you can ensure you are getting what you need. 

What is the HER2 Gene? 

The “human epidermal growth factor receptor 2,” or HER2, is a gene that can contribute to the growth of breast cancer. When a breast tissue biopsy is performed, a written report will have specific information about the tissue, including whether HER2 plays a role in a specific patient’s cancer development. 

More specifically, the HER2 gene creates HER2 proteins that help healthy breast cells grow, divide, and repair themselves. But for an estimated 10 to 20 percent of breast cancer patients, HER2 genes do not work properly. When this happens, HER2 cells may make too many copies of themselves, leading to uncontrolled cell growth and division. 

Thanks to major advances in technology and treatment, breast cancer is currently one of the best-understood types of cancer. Although this can be good news for women who have recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, it is not a guarantee that breast cancer will always be appropriately diagnosed and treated. 

One of the most important elements in properly anticipating, diagnosing, and treating breast cancer is a comprehensive understanding of a patient’s current health, health history, and risk factors for breast cancer. Physicians who practice an appropriate standard of care will take all of these issues into account and strive to provide the best care for their patients. When they fail to do this, breast cancer patients can suffer from late diagnoses, misdiagnoses, and serious injury or death from cancer that has advanced past the point where it can be treated. Here are some common risk factors physicians should be aware of when assessing a patient’s risk of breast cancer. 

Natural Risk Factors 

Patients may not be able to change certain risk factors, but awareness is a great first step in breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Natural breast cancer risk factors include: 

Every year, incredible new diagnostic and treatment options are developed for detecting and managing breast cancer. While it is crucial for doctors to understand each of these options so that cases of failure to diagnose and other medical malpractice are minimized, it is also necessary for patients to be informed about their options. 

Mammography is one of the most important resources for finding breast cancer, but not all mammograms are the same. If you are in the early stages of finding out more about breast cancer, read on. 

Screening Mammograms

Screening mammograms are given during regular breast exams to detect cancer early, when it is easiest to treat. Screening mammograms use x-rays in safe, low doses so women can have regular mammograms–usually once a year around age 45 or later. Screening mammograms are usually the first strategy for looking at potentially cancerous tissue that can be further investigated and treated if necessary. 

Breast cancer appears in many different forms. Doctors who specialize in breast cancer treatment, such as radiologists and oncologists, must be able to correctly distinguish between the different types of breast cancer so a patient gets the necessary treatment. But when doctors do not order the appropriate diagnostic tools, a misdiagnosis may occur, leading to inadequate treatment or delayed treatment and serious injury or death. If you are worried that your doctor may have failed to diagnose or misdiagnosed you or a loved one with the wrong type of breast cancer, read on. 

Common Types of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is initially divided into two categories: Invasive and non-invasive. While non-invasive breast cancer is contained within the milk ducts and glands, invasive breast cancer has already spread beyond the ducts and glands into the surrounding fatty tissue, muscles, lymph nodes, and beyond. 

Although there are many types of breast cancers, the two most common types of invasive breast cancers are:

Mammography is a technology that works wonders for many women by detecting breast cancer early enough that doctors can treat it effectively. Using x-rays, mammograms offer a safe and routine screening method for women over a certain age. But if a woman is at an increased risk of breast cancer, she may need to take additional measures to catch developing masses early. These include extra forms of screening, the most common of which is magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI. Using a magnetic field and computer-generated radio waves, an MRI creates detailed images of breast tissue that can show cancerous growths that a mammogram might miss.

However, no screening measures are effective if they are not used because a doctor ignores or misses risk factors and fails to order necessary diagnostic tests. Insufficient monitoring or follow-up during routine mammograms may lead to the failure to diagnose breast cancer and lawsuits for medical malpractice. 

Who is at an Increased Risk of Breast Cancer? 

Medical providers have many tools available to estimate a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer. Although there is no sure-fire way to predict whether a woman will develop breast cancer, some common risk factors include: 

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the U.S. today. Approximately one in eight American women will develop invasive breast cancer during her lifetime, and even men can develop this insidious disease. Although there is no failsafe method for detecting and completely eliminating breast cancer, medical professionals such as women’s health providers, oncologists, and radiologists must meet a standard of care when detecting and treating breast cancer. Failing to adhere to this standard at any point during treatment may be medical malpractice that can result in unnecessary loss of life. One of the most helpful procedures for identifying a breast abnormality is called a “stereotactic biopsy.” In this blog, we will explore what a stereotactic biopsy is and how it can help detect breast cancer. 

What is a Stereotactic Breast Biopsy? 

Stereotactic breast biopsies are procedures that use X-rays to diagnose and locate tumors or other abnormalities in breast tissue. “Stereotactic” means that a machine uses two images of the same location, taken at slightly different angles. Stereotactic biopsies are less invasive than a surgical biopsy and patients have a faster recovery time. 

Doctors will often order a stereotactic breast biopsy when they see a suspicious irregularity on a mammogram. Stereotactic breast biopsies are widely considered to be the gold standard of breast cancer diagnostic tools because they are so good at locating the exact area of concern so that a biopsy needle can take a tissue sample at an exact location. 

Families in Illinois who struggle to conceive without medical assistance already have enough challenges to manage without having to face the consequences of incompetent or negligent medical care. Unfortunately, this does not prevent in vitro fertility (IVF) treatment professionals from failing to provide an appropriate standard of care when treating their patients, potentially causing great harm to the mother, an embryo, or a child developing in utero. 

Reproductive law is relatively new and presents unique and developing legal challenges. In this blog, we will reveal some of the common harms that can result from improper treatment in a fertility clinic. If you recognize yourself as having experienced any of these conditions, a fertility medical malpractice attorney may be able to help. 

Common Types of Fertility Malpractice and Injury

Fertility clinics exist to help people who wish to become parents but are struggling with fertility due to underlying conditions. Fertility clinics may also help preserve the eggs or sperm of people who hope to have children one day but are not yet ready. 

Every year, between 75-100 women die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth injuries in Illinois alone. Even worse, the 2016-17 Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report estimated that 83% of pregnancy-related deaths could have been prevented and the problem is serious enough nationally that around 11% of medical malpractice lawsuits each year are filed against OBGYNs for medical malpractice during pregnancy, labor, and delivery.  

Mental health conditions, substance abuse, and pre-existing medical conditions can all significantly complicate the process of giving birth, but they should not be a death sentence. Women giving birth in Illinois are entitled to expect a standard of care that takes into account complicating factors and comorbidities, and when doctors and nurses fail to provide the appropriate standard of care, the consequences can be tragic. 

What Factors Contribute to Maternal Mortality? 

Many people are surprised to learn that only one in five maternal deaths occurs during childbirth. The majority of maternal deaths happen in the time following the birth, when the mother and child are no longer at the hospital. Although there are many reasons that women die during or following childbirth, they are often due to one or more of the following: 

Having to decide whether or not to get an abortion is one of the toughest positions in which a woman can find herself. The emotional complexities of abortion are sometimes complicated by the fact that abortions do not always go according to plan. Sometimes women suffer serious and even fatal injuries due to medical malpractice on the part of their abortion provider. 

If you have been injured during an abortion, an experienced Illinois medical malpractice attorney may be able to help. Seeking justice, protecting your rights, and pursuing compensation cannot undo the suffering you have experienced, but it can be a step on the road to emotional and physical recovery. 

Medical Malpractice and Abortion

Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor or other medical professional causes a patient harm by failing to provide the appropriate standard of care. Unfortunately, sometimes women who seek abortions are the victims of negligence or incompetence from their abortion provider. Common types of abortion medical malpractice include: 

The number of licensed midwives in Illinois is set to expand as the state prepares to widen the criteria for allowing midwives to apply for licensure. Currently, only midwives with nursing degrees are allowed to practice in Illinois, but some professional midwives who are trained and certified would be allowed to practice with the change in the law that Governor Pritzker is expected to sign. 

Midwives are important health professionals who help women before, during, and after childbirth. Many midwives work in hospitals along with other medical staff, but some midwives help women who want to give birth at home. Unfortunately, not all midwives are properly prepared to help women safely give birth. When midwives fail to see and address potential complications during birth or attempt to handle cases where substantial medical risk is present, they place the health of the mother and child in jeopardy. In some cases, a midwife may be held responsible for birth injuries due to medical malpractice. 

Common Types of Midwife Medical Malpractice 

There are several common types of medical malpractice specific to midwifery, including but not limited to: 

The United States is a world leader in medical research and best practices. Unfortunately, even with such an elevated level of healthcare, medical professionals sometimes fail to serve their patients with the highest standard of care, with tragic consequences. 

Medical negligence can turn giving birth from one of the most memorable, intimate times in a parent’s life into a nightmare scenario. Even when they are not fatal, birth injuries can have a devastating long-term effect on a family’s emotions and finances. If you suspect you were the victim of medical malpractice during childbirth, an experienced Illinois medical malpractice attorney may be able to help. 

Common Types of Birth Injuries

Birth injuries can occur before, during, and after delivering an infant, and although they most commonly affect the child, the mother can suffer serious harm as well. Common birth injuries include, but are not limited to: 

Breast cancer is a pernicious, all-too-common type of cancer that primarily affects women later in midlife. Amazing progress in medical research has made it so that, when properly detected and diagnosed in its early stages, victims of breast cancer have overwhelmingly positive odds of survival - in some instances, up to a 99 percent five-year survival rate. 

But a misdiagnosis and or delayed diagnosis can seriously harm the chances of effective treatment. Left untreated, breast cancer often spreads and metastasizes, causing serious harm and even death. Failure to diagnose breast cancer can happen when a doctor does not order appropriate tests or misinterprets the results. If you have suffered as a result of a breast cancer misdiagnosis, a qualified medical malpractice attorney can help you understand your options. 

How is Breast Cancer Diagnosed? 

Breast cancer diagnoses frequently take place after a routine mammogram screening. Routine mammogram screenings are scheduled without any symptoms or signs of breast cancer - they are done preventatively and the science about how often they should take place is still evolving. 

Construction workers face some of the most dangerous work conditions in the United States. Every year, around 20% of fatal workplace accidents happen on a construction site, and many thousands of workers sustain serious or permanent injuries.

One of the most common ways that construction workers are injured or killed is through a fall. Falling from scaffolding, unfinished balconies, and other unprotected heights can cause brain trauma, paralysis, spinal cord injuries, broken bones, and even death. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has instituted construction site regulations to protect workers from falling. 

What are OSHA Fall Protection Standards? 

Employees have the right to a safe workplace. If a construction worker or other employee is working at least six feet above the ground or a lower level, fall protection systems must be in place. Employers are required to provide these protections and are responsible for ensuring they are properly utilized. Some of the fall protection systems include: 

Scaffolding is essential at many construction sites for building and renovation. Well-constructed scaffolding allows painters, maintenance workers, window cleaners, and construction workers to reach high places safely and do their jobs on a stable walkway. In any given year, the Department of Labor has estimated that over 2 million workers use scaffolds, an enormous number that makes proper scaffolding use extremely important. 

Unfortunately, scaffolding mistakes can lead to severe injuries and even death. Scaffold use or erection errors cause thousands of injuries every year, and approximately 25 percent of fatal falls happen on scaffolding. Accidents involving scaffolds take an incalculable toll on the victims and their families. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed in a scaffolding construction accident, a personal injury attorney may be able to help you obtain financial compensation. 

What Are Common Causes of Scaffolding Injuries? 

The vast majority of scaffolding accidents are caused by one of the following circumstances: