Illinois Lawyer Referrals and Legal Guidance

It’s really hard to win Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits, so the right lawyer can make all of the difference.

Despite what you may read or hear, most errors buy doctors, nurses and hospitals in Illinois don’t result in any recovery. In fact a study came out that in the most plaintiff friendly county in Illinois (Cook County) only 19% of cases that went to trial were won by the plaintiff. That means four out of jury decisions find that malpractice didn’t occur.

There are many reasons for this: Juries like doctors; many people who die in a hospital were already sick so the defense argues they would have died anyway; in almost every case the defense has other doctors testify that even though there was a bad result, the doctor didn’t do anything negligent.

Now of course many cases get settled before trial. If you are a victim of medical malpractice there are a handful of firms that can demonstrate a track record of success in winning cases. If you would like our help in finding the right firm for you please call us at (800) 517-1614.

University of Illinois negligence kills patient

A woman went to the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago for a fairly routine outpatient procedure. The hospital staff over-medicated her before the procedure because she was restless, which caused her breathing to stop. Normally, this would not be a big problem because the staff could resuscitate her upon realizing she was no longer breathing. However, the staff failed to recognize her deteriorating condition, misinterpreting electrical activity in her heart, so they believed that her heart was beating.

Because of its misinterpretation, the staff failed to resuscitate the patient. Her brain didn’t receive enough oxygen, and she died a week later without regaining consciousness. The University of Illinois has agreed to settle the case, paying $9 million to the woman’s family.

Medical Malpractice Deaths That Shouldn’t Happen

According to a study done by the Institute of Medicine, between 44,000 and 98,000 people die in hospitals each year due to preventable medical errors. A survey of doctors published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that more than 1 in 3 doctors said that they or their family members had experienced medical errors, often leading to serious health consequences, including death. The toll is not only in lives lost; it’s also financial. The cost of medical errors to society is estimated to be between $17 billion and $29 billion because of disability, health care costs, lost income, and lost wages.

10 Largest Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuits From 2009

More than 80% of medical negligence trials go in favor of the doctors and most cases aren’t pursued because the damages don’t justify the cost of a suit. That said, in some cases there is negligence and a terrible result. Here are the ten largest malpractice results from 2009 in Illinois.

1. Award for Plaintiff: $25.00 Million
   Case Cite: Payton White, etc. v. Eileen Murphy, M.D.,
   Brief Description: Child now 8 is a quadriplegic as a result of doctor not properly interpreting results of a non-stress test and ultrasound which was performed during the day of his birth therefore child suffered oxygen loss at the time of his birth.
2. Award for Plaintiff: $15.71 Million
   Case Cite: Elda Heng, etc. vs Rush University, et al.,
   Brief Description: A 51 year old woman was left in a vegetative state after a doctor performed a neuroendovascular coiling and stenting procedure which he used a device which was not FDA approved.
3. Award for Plaintiff: $12.50 Million
   Case Cite: Lourdes Perez, etc. vs St. Francis Hospital of Evanston
   Brief Description: Woman left with choreoathetoid cerebral palsy due to the nurse failing to properly monitor patient and leaving the patients side causing her heart rate to drop. Woman could not be resuscitated in utero so emergency cesarean was perform.
4. Award for Plaintiff: $12.50 Million
   Case Cite: Keith Quadros, et al. vs Undisclosed Medical Provider,
   Brief Description: Feeding tube was inserted into 3 week old premature infants lung space instead of his stomach. Baby went into respiratory arrest after being fed and suffered oxygen deprivation which in turn caused cerebral palsy.
5. Award for Plaintiff: $12.00 Million
   Case Cite: Michael Davis, etc. vs Rashidi Gani Loya, MD., et al
   Brief Description: 44 year old woman suffered anoxic encephalopathy and brain damage as a result of alarms failing to sound on the ventilator equipment during an elective biopsy for left ankle pain.
6. Award for Plaintiff: $12.00 Million
   Case Cite: Jeremy Law vs OSF Healthcare System
   Brief Description: Baby boy born with permanent disabilities and is required to be on a ventilator and 24 hour care. This is a result of the doctor failing to determine child was breech before inducing labor and the nurse’s failure to notify doctor of the baby becoming bradycardic.
7. Award for Plaintiff: $11.00 Million
   Case Cite: Mark Bentivenga, etc. vs. Pamela Good win, M.D., et al.
   , Brief Description: Case brought by Chicago wrongful death attorney after patient had a brain hemorrhage and died after being induced due to doctors failure to monitor blood pressure knowing the patient had severe preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome.
8. Award for Plaintiff: $10.20 Million
   Case Cite: Shawn Luera, et al. vs. Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group, et al.,
   Brief Description: 34 year old man left with physical, language and cognitive deficits from doctors failure to diagnose infective endocarditis. This caused the patient to have a embolic stroke.
9. Award for Plaintiff: $9.80 Million
   Case Cite: Robert Dickerson, etc vs. Cook County
   Brief Description: 27 year old woman admitted for preterm labor. Emergency cesarean was performed and he anesthesia team was not informed that the woman was hypovolemic. The women died when the epidural was administered.
10. Award for Plaintiff: $9.75 Million
    Case Cite: Rosa Lopez, et al. vs Leeber Cohen, M.D., et al
    Brief Description: Pitocin was improperly managed by hospital staff after being administered. Which in turn caused abnormal fetal heart tones. Baby suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy as well as numerous other problems.

Don’t wait until the last few months before considering a medical malpractice lawsuit in Illinois.

If you or a family member are possibly the victim of medical malpractice in Illinois it is understandable that you would be focusing on your health or if someone dies, the grieving process. All that said, if you suspect there may have been medical malpractice you don’t want to wait too long before you consult with an Illinois medical malpractice attorney.

The biggest reason not to wait is that a proper investigation as to whether malpractice occurred can take 6-12 months. All relevant medical records must be gathered and sometimes this could be thousands of pages. Typically the law firms we recommend have in-house nurses (or incredibly experienced lawyers) that do an initial review. If they believe malpractice might have occurred, they send the records along with their theory of what happened to a specialist doctor. That doctor will review the records and often will ask for more information.

As you typically only have two years from the malpractice date to file a lawsuit (there are some exceptions which make it shorter or longer) it is important to get an investigation going as soon as possible. If you would like an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer referral, please call us at (800) 517-1614.

Please don’t insult the victims of medical malpractice in Illinois by calling their court wins a lottery ticket.

A couple was recently awarded $12 million after their baby was born with severe brain damage from a birth injury. The money received will go for a lifetime of medical care for a child that will never lead a normal life.

We recently heard one commentator refer to this result as the couple hitting the lottery. While it may have been said to fan the flames in favor of medical malpractice damage caps, it is incredibly insensitive and unprofessional. Essentially this person is saying that by getting this money to take care of their baby the couple should be celebrating and will now be living a lavish lifestyle. The fact of the matter is that they lost out on a normal parent-child relationship and will have to direct all of this money toward taking care of the child who will never run, not wear diapers, never speak, never hold a job, never marry and never live independently. To imply that this is a good result for anyone is ridiculous. Anyone who sees these awards as anything other than justice is simply fooling themselves. Would you trade positions with this family? Neither would we. That doesn’t sound like the lottery to us.

And another note, even with damage caps in Illinois, the result would have likely been the same as the money awarded was given to cover the medical care of the child. Damage caps do not limit what you can receive for medical bills that will come in the future.

Five tips for anyone looking for an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer.

No case is the same and we don’t believe in a one size fits all approach when it comes to hiring an Illinois medical malpractice attorney. That said, these tips apply to most cases.

1. Before you hire a firm, verify that they will be the ones working on your case and not shipping it out to another firm. Believe it or not, some firms do this and while there is nothing wrong with it, you should know who you are working with.
2. Ask to see a sample of results in previous medical malpractice cases. Especially in large damage cases such as wrongful death, Illinois birth injury lawsuits or other catastrophic claims, you want to verify that the lawyer you hire has a track record of many six and seven figure results.
3. Beware of firms with only one lawyer. There are many good one lawyer firms in Illinois, but we don’t suggest it for most medical malpractice cases. These claims are time intensive so if your lawyer is on trial with another case that could mean that for a month he is unable to talk about your case. With the larger firms that we recommend this is almost never a problem.
4. Be organized. Before you meet with a lawyer for them to evaluate your case and decide whether or not they want you as a client you can help them out by putting in writing everything you know in clear, chronological order. For example, let them know when things started, doctors that were seen, problems that were mentioned to the doctors, etc. You can also help a great deal by obtaining copies of all relevant medical records whenever possible.
5. Talk to the lawyer about costs. Every Illinois medical malpractice lawyer works on a contingency basis which means that they don’t get paid unless they make a recovery. The malpractice attorneys we recommend all advance the costs of going to trial which at times can be in the six figures. Make sure the firm you hire has the ability to fund a lawsuit and beware of any firm that asks you to pay for anything more than the initial costs of getting the medical records. If they are right away asking you to pay for filing the suit, obtaining a medical review or other costs it could be a bad sign.

If you would like a referral to an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer or have any questions, please call us at (312) 346-5320.

Failure to diagnose cancer leads to award of $3.5 million.

In a recent case, a Naperville woman went to her doctor complaining of a lump in her breast. After an exam in which no diagnostic tests were performed, she was told that she had calcium deposits. Over the next seven months she went back twice to the same doctor and nothing was diagnosed. After being concerned that she went to a different physician who diagnosed state 3 breast cancer.

A Naperville medical malpractice lawyer was hired to bring suit over the failure to diagnose cancer in this woman. Given the non-invasive procedures that could have saved her life had they been performed, the insurance company felt a need to settle this case.

It is worth noting that in most failure to diagnose cancer lawsuits in Illinois you need to show at least a six month delay to medically prove that the doctor’s negligence made a difference in the ultimate outcome.

Plaintiff wins almost $6 million after suffering severe leg nerve damage lawsuit.

In what is reportedly the 2nd highest DuPage County medical malpractice lawsuit verdict, malpractice attorneys for a man who was injured during a routine stenting procedure recovered nearly $6 million dollars.

The plaintiff had an angioplasty which showed a need for his iliac artery to be stented. During the stenting a tear occurred and it went undetected. As a result the plaintiff suffered significant nerve damage to his leg, multiple surgeries, muscle damage and has chronic pain. The defense claim that this was a result of a blood disorder was rejected.

This verdict is significant in that DuPage County is traditionally very doctor friendly and there are not too many seven figure verdicts that have occurred, especially when compared to Cook County.

If there is an injustice when it comes to Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits, it is probably that the same case in different counties yields different results.

A woman came to us for help a few years ago. Her husband had knee replacement surgery at a hospital in a small town. He was in his early 40's and otherwise in great health. He tragically died when he was drastically overdosed with drugs during his recovery stage. It simply was a death that shouldn't have happened. We referred them to one of the top medical malpractice law firms in Illinois.

At the trial witnesses for the defense were shown to have lied. The expert for the defense was paid over $50,000. The case was tried in a small county because that is where it happened. There is only one hospital and unfortunately some of the jury members would never find against their own hospital no matter what happened. Reportedly the jury foreman took the instructions from the judge at the beginning of deliberations and said, "I don't care what those say, I'm not finding against the hospital."

The jury split 6-6, resulting in a mistrial. Now if someone doesn't want to find liability because they think that a defendant isn't guilty, we think that's great. But just as it would be wrong to find guilt because of a bias not related to the case, we don't think any juror should find for a defendant for any reason other than the facts.

What's really crazy is that this case would probably have been worth $5 million or more in Cook County or a bigger area. Shouldn't there be a consistent standard throughout the state. And if jurors are making decisions based on personal bias in civil lawsuits, what are we doing to stop that from happening in criminal cases?

In order to have a successful Illinois medical malpractice case, you must show that there is a patient-doctor relationship.

In a recent case heard in an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, the judge dismissed the case. It wasn't that the plaintiff didn't have a legitimate injury, but rather that evidence showed that a doctor-patient relationship had not been established. The defendant doctor did give out medical advice and that advice was incorrect. It is also likely true that this wrong advice led to the plaintiff's serious injury. However, this advice was given on a personal friendship basis and not in the course of treatment in a hospital or office. As a result the judge stated that no case could be proven.

Ironically, there have been decisions where Illinois lawyers have lost legal malpractice lawsuits based on advice that they gave at a party to a friend that caused a statute of limitations to be missed. Attorneys in IL are held to a different standard when it comes to civil liability.

The average medical malpractice lawsuit in Illinois takes 67 months from the time of the alleged malpractice.

According to a recently published study, the average Illinois medical malpractice claim takes more than five and a half years to reach a resolution from the time that malpractice occurred. This is true for a variety of factors including the statute of limitations, the amount of pre-trial work that is needed (e.g. you could take depositions of 20 or more witnesses, when there are multiple attorneys on a case it's hard to get everyone on the same schedule), people are understandably more focused on recovery or grieving issues at first and the fact that it can take some time to properly determine what actual damages are such as lost income, medical bills, etc.

Looking for an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer? If they don't fit this criteria, you might want to look elsewhere?

There are exceptions to every rule, by most of the attorneys we recommend for Illinois medical malpractice claims fit the following description:

1. They advance all costs for their clients. No attorney we recommend will ask the client to pay the fees unless it's a last minute filing or the client is asked to get the medical records.
2. They focus their practice on medical malpractice. These are complex cases and you really are best served by hiring an attorney that understands the confusing terminology and has a track record of success. A lawyer that does medical malpractice and divorce and criminal law is not likely the best attorney for you.
3. They aren't a "solo practitioner". An attorney can only work on one case at a time. If you hire a malpractice attorney that doesn't have any other lawyers in his/her firm, you risk your case being alienated or delayed while attention is paid to other matters. IL medical malpractice trials commonly last two weeks. If your lawyer is working on another trial that usually means nothing is happening with your case.

If you have any questions or would like a recommendation to an medical malpractice attorney in Illinois, please call us at (800) 517-1614.

Even the most obvious cases of medical malpractice in Illinois are challenged.

We are involved in a case where a man went to a Chicago are hospital, told them that he was allergic to a certain drug, had it written on the top of his chart and on the door of his room that he was allergic and notified the pharmacy that he was allergic. Shockingly, they gave him this drug anyway and it literally fried his skin to the point that about 80% of it fell off. After two weeks of suffering he finally died.

The Illinois medical malpractice lawyers that we recommend typically reject 29 out of 30 cases that they are asked to review. They do this because it is extremely difficult and expensive to win an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit. Insurance companies defend just about every case and even in an obvious case of medical negligence, this case is being defended because the man who died was older and they are trying to argue that he might not have survived even if they did the right thing in treating him.

We mention this because we are grateful called by people every day looking for medical malpractice lawyers in Illinois. A lot of people we can help, but there are many others that just can't prove a case or don't have significant enough damages. We will always talk to people for free to evaluate their case. If you would like us to evaluate a medical malpractice situation, please call us at (312) 346-5320.

Chicago area hospital settles lawsuit after woman it sent away twice dies.

A 48 year old woman went to Loyola Medical Center complaining of blurred vision, dizziness and left sided numbness. She was evaluated and discharged, only to return when she collapsed in the parking lot. She was discharged again and after an additional evaluation. Three days later she died.

Should the public be entitled to know the results of medical malpractice lawsuits in Illinois?

If you are going to get your car repaired, you can go to the Better Business Bureau and find out if the plumber has a good rating. You can also search out many other resources.

If you are going to hire a doctor in Illinois, especially for a serious procedure, you likely would want to know his track record of success. While you can seek out his/her disciplinary record from the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations and you could go to your county courthouse to see if he has ever been named as defendant in a lawsuit in your county, there is currently no way to discover the whole picture when it comes to the background of a doctor. Any time a physician settles a medical malpractice lawsuit, that result is reported to a national data base.

For some reason, the public is never allowed to view that data base. So while you may be able to search your county court records, there is no way to determine the complete background of a doctor in Illinois and whether or not they have lost a previous medical malpractice lawsuit. We think that the public has a right to this information.

Lawsuit fails because it was filed too late

A family of a severely disabled boy lost their Chicago medical malpractice lawsuit claiming damages from a birth injury because it was not filed until about ten years after the birth. In general, the statute of limitations for a birth injury is no more than eight years from the date of the incident. An exception to this rule is if the victim lacks the legal capacity to make decisions and in the eyes of the law has a legal disability.

In this case, it appears that most of the boy's disabilities are physical. A legal disability is usually found in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits when there is a mental issue such as brain damage or cerebral palsy. Although the boy's attorneys did allege a brain injury, we can only assume that the jury did not believe it was severe enough to result in a legal disability.

Are Illinois Medical Malpractice Insurance Rates Falling?

ISME which is a doctor owned malpractice insurance company announced that it will begin offering new coverage to doctors after declining to offer new policies for the last few years. It may be a sign that the caps placed on non-economic damages in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits is causing rates to fall.

Currently there are challenges to the constitutionality of the damage caps and in the court of public opinion you can bet that this new offering will be offered as proof that the caps are working.

Failed catheter insertion results in patient’s death

An obese patient was taken to the hospital for dialysis in order to treat his kidney disease. While doctors inserted a catheter into the patient, they accidentally severed his veins and the patient died as a result. His estate filed an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit. A jury awarded the patient’s estate $925,000.

Patient neglected at nursing home

We don't just handle Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits, we also help people find lawyers for Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect cases. The following is a recent case that we became aware of:

An 83-year-old patient was taken to a nursing home to recover after a stroke and a broken hip. While at the nursing home the patient lost 27 lbs as a result of malnourishment and dehydration. The patient died of unrelated causes, but his estate sued the nursing home for the neglect and was awarded $500,000.

Call findgreatlawyers.com at (312) 346-5320 if you would like a referral to an Illinois medical malpractice lawyer of if you have any general questions about Illinois medical malpractice law.

Does the "perceived" defendant make a difference in the outcome of a case?

We recently discussed a medical malpractice study that shows that a jury will view a case differently depending on who they see as the defendant. Many jurors don't like to find a doctor liable because they are brought up to think of a doctor as someone they can trust and someone they need to rely on in the community. Jurors view nurses as mothers and associate them as someone who is caring and helpful so they don't like to find nurses liable. However, when the defendant in a medical malpractice lawsuit is a hospital, jurors perceive that as a bureaucracy and think of getting bills in the mail and poor customer service. As a result, juries are more likely to award a higher sum when they feel they are punishing a hospital as compared to punishing a doctor or nurse. Now obviously this isn't true in every case, but it is food for thought and certainly explains why some cases settle for smaller amounts than other cases that sound really similar.

Woman recovers over $1 million medical malpractice verdict, $850,000 for pain and suffering.

After a gastric bypass surgery, a 47-year-old patient experienced intractable vomiting. It was not until five surgeries later when doctors finally discovered the cause of the vomiting was related to an error made by the gastric bypass surgeon. The woman was severely malnourished and dehydrated. Once the error was corrected, the woman needed an additional two surgeries one for a leak caused by the reconstructed bypass and a one for a hernia caused by severe weakening of her abdominal walls. A jury awarded the woman $1,387,400, and $850,000 was for the pain and suffering.

Constitutionality of damage caps to be challenged.

In 2005, Illinois put medical malpractice damage caps in place that limited the amount a plaintiff could receive for non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. As expected, with the recent passing of the state wide elections, a group of Illinois medical malpractice lawyers are putting forth a challenge that states the med mal damage caps are not lawful. Back in the 90's, various Illinois medical malpractice law firms successfully overturned a law that limited the recovery a plaintiff can receive in an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit. What will happen this time? What should happen this time? Stay tuned.

Newborn left with cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation after early discharge from hospital

A newborn was discharged from a hospital 20 hours after his birth. Three days later the infant was rushed back to the hospital with hypernatrimic dehydration and jaundice. The child was left with severe mental retardation and cerebral palsy. The infant’s mother claimed that her son was released from the hospital too soon and that the hospital should have waited to make sure he was feeding properly. The jury found the hospital not guilty of medical malpractice, because the child’s development delays were more likely congenital and not the result of hypernatremic dehydration.

Pharmacy liable for over $31 million for patient’s death.

A 77-year-old man went to a pharmacy to fill his prescription for gout but was given an anti-diabetes prescription instead. As a result, the man died after one year of suffering from a diabetic coma, renal failure, pneumonia, and a stroke. After his stroke, the patient was placed on a feeding tube for the rest of his life until he ultimately died of renal disease. The reason why the patient was given the wrong prescription was because an unfit pharmacist who was stealing from the pharmacy and consuming narcotic controlled substances each day filled it. A jury found the pharmacy liable for reckless employment of an unfit agent and gave the deceased patient’s estate $31,351,107. $25,000,000 of the total verdict represented punitive damages

Jury says that pulmonary embolism death was not doctor’s fault.

A woman fainted at home and was rushed to an emergency room. While she was at the hospital, her doctor ordered an echocardiogram. Two days later, the woman died of a pulmonary embolism and her estate sued, claiming that the pulmonary embolism should have been detected in the echocardiogram. The doctor contended that the echocardiogram did not show a pulmonary embolism and that echocardiograms are not even the appropriate tests used for detecting pulmonary embolisms. The jury found the doctor not guilty.

Is a doctor liable for a late diagnosis of cancer when an early diagnosis would not have allowed the patient to live longer?
Patient dies after late diagnosis of rectal cancer.

A 68-year-old patient died of rectal cancer in 2002, after an 8 x 8 centimeter tumor was found in his rectum. The patient’s estate sued the patient’s physician for failing to diagnose the cancer earlier. Because of the cancer’s location, the cancer could have been detected with a few basic physical exams. The doctor claimed that his fingers would have been too short to be able to detect the cancer with a physical exam and that the patient did not like the rectal exams. Furthermore, the doctor was able to prove that the cancer had metastasized so early on that an earlier diagnosis would not have prolonged her life. The jury found the doctor not guilty.

Cancer patient dies from neglect at nursing home.

A 57-year-old cancer patient was admitted to a nursing home for conditioning treatment after receiving radiation for epiglottal cancer. During rehab, the patient was given a tracheotomy tube, which functioned as her primary airway. The nursing home staff failed to clean the tube for five days so it became clogged with mucus and suffocated the patient to death. A jury gave the deceased patient’s daughters $2,978,896.

Can juries assume that surgery is the cause of a punctured bowel?
Penile enhancement surgery, not excessive aspirin use, is the cause of patient’s punctured bowel according to jury in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit.

During a penile enhancement surgery, a doctor performed liposuction on a patient. The liposuction resulted in a punctured bowel and after seven days in an intensive care unit, the patient’s abdominal muscles were removed and he was left with a severe hernia. The patient was permitted to remove his shirt and show members of the jury how his abdominal contents would spill through his weakened tissue without the continuous use of a girdle. The surgeon argued that he did not puncture the patient’s bowel, and that the puncture was likely due to the patient’s excessive aspirin use combined with stress related to the surgery. The patient asked for $850,000 and the jury returned with a verdict of $454,000.

Doctor is not liable for failed eye surgery that took place shortly after Lasik surgery.

After receiving Lasik eye surgery on September 22, 1999, a patient underwent a second, unrelated eye surgery on October 5, 1999. The second eye surgery was unsuccessful and the patient was left with deteriorated vision. The patient brought an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit against her doctor, claiming that the second surgery should not have been performed so soon after the Lasik surgery. The patient claimed that the second surgery would have been successful if only the doctor had given her more time to recover from the Lasik surgery. The patient demanded $1 million. The jury deliberated for 1.5 hours before finding the doctor not guilty.

Woman dies after cardiac catheter allegedly malfunctions

The family of a 62-year-old woman who died after complications during a cardiac catheterization procedure will receive a $2.25 million settlement in a combined medical negligence and medical product liability case. After a heart attack, the decedent went to the University of Chicago Hospital for a cardiac catheterization. During the surgeons' attempts to insert an intra-aortic balloon catheter manufactured by Datascope Corp., the catheter came apart, causing the loss of four units of blood. Surgeons said they were unaware that portions of the catheters were detachable. The manufacturer said that there were clear warnings in their product manuals. Barker was left neurologically impaired and both of her legs were amputated before she died four weeks later.

Getting copies your medical records

If you’ve been injured by a medical error, you should get copies of all your relevant medical records. It’s a good idea to do this sooner rather than later. If you decide to hire an attorney to review a possible medical malpractice case, they will need these records. Waiting to get your records can cause delay in your case investigation. And you can’t be certain that your records won’t get misplaced by the time you really need them.

You may find that you have trouble obtaining your medical records. Whether the office is making excuses or just taking forever, there are a few things you can do. Get a person on the phone, rather than leave a message. Make your request clear – which files you want and when you need them. Ask when you can expect to receive them. If that doesn’t work, send a letter making your request.

If you’re still facing resistance or delay, consider hiring an attorney to make the request for documents. Keep in mind that doctors often charge a fee for copying and sending records. If you are working with an attorney on a potential malpractice case, they should cover these types of costs for you.

Despite increase in maternal mortality rate, health experts say childbirth-related deaths are often preventable

The number of childbirth-related deaths in the U.S. has increased in recent years. The reason isn’t perfectly clear, but some experts point to the changing profile of the average pregnant woman. These days, women are having children later – in their 30s and 40s – which increases the chances of complications. Other factors include an increase in obesity, as well as a higher number of induced labors and C-sections. Some experts say that the medical field is not keeping up with these changes and should adapt practices to protect the health of these pregnant women.

The causes of childbirth-related deaths include infection, high blood pressure, hemorrhage, blood clots and cardiac disease. Often, these are preventable with proper care and monitoring. If a doctor or other healthcare professional fails to properly treat a woman during or after childbirth and it causes injury or death, it may be a case of medical malpractice or wrongful death. There are attorneys in Illinois who have the experience to handle such a case. Contact us if you need more information, or if you would like a referral.

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Web Site Disclaimer: None of the information on this website should be considered legal advice. The law in Illinois is constantly changing and although we do our best to keep our website current, you should not make any final determinations based on what you read here. By contacting us or any lawyer that you are referred to through this website, you have not created an attorney-client relationship. The only way to establish an attorney client relationship with us or any other Illinois lawyer is through a signed retainer agreement in which you agree to hire the lawyer and they agree to work with you as a client. The advice that you receive from us should be taken in general terms. Finally, there is never a cost to speak with the Illinois attorneys that run our site and will talk to you on the phone or by e-mail for free. However, the cost to actually handle a case by any lawyer that we recommend is between you and that law firm. If you have questions about anything we offer or anything related to our website please call us at (312) 346-5320.