Injury Cases

We have a track record of helping people win Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits. Call us at 312-346-5320 for a free consultation with an attorney.

Anesthesia is combination of drugs administered by a doctor or nurse that makes medical procedures and surgery easier and more comfortable for patients as well as the medical professionals conducting the procedures.

There are three types of anesthesia. Local anesthesia numbs only a small part of your body for a short period of time. An example is an injection of novocaine at the dentist. Regional anesthesia numbs a larger area for a few hours. An example is an epidural during childbirth to numb everything below the waist for the mother.

The third is general anesthesia. General anesthesia affects the entire body. An anesthesiologist administers drugs to make the patient unconscious and keep them from moving during an operation.

Brain damage or death from anesthesia is rare; however, over 60,000 Americans have surgery under general anesthesia every day, and medical malpractice sadly does happen. When something does go wrong, the effects can be devastating for the victim and their family.

Brain damage cam occur when the brain is deprived of oxygen. Complications during the administration and monitoring of anesthesia include:

• The breathing tube is not inserted correctly or quickly enough.
• A stroke occurs, and it is not recognized and treated immediately.
• The patient’s medical history isn’t fully taken into account regarding medications and dosages.

The other big error that occurs is a failure to properly monitor the patient. Doctors get distracted or too confident and fail to do their job.

Even if complications are not fully within the anesthesiologist’s control, it is their responsibility to carefully plan the procedure, monitor vital signs, and react quickly and properly if things go wrong.

We have seen cases where the anesthesiologist administered the wrong drug or the incorrect dosage. We have seen instances where an anesthesiologist was distracted or out of the operating room when the patient’s vital signs were dropping.

If you or a loved one is experiencing any of these symptoms, brain damage may have occurred:
• Slurred speech
• Loss of coordination
• Abnormal behavior, particularly aggression
• Seizures
• Extreme confusion (beyond the first couple weeks post-surgery)

And in the worst cases, a person can die, be brain dead or completely incoherent.

When a loved one comes out of surgery with brain damage, it is important to have the case investigated to determine who is at fault and why. We have helped hundreds of people in similar situations over the last 23 plus years and would love to help you find out if you have a medical malpractice case for an anesthesia error. Contact us any time at 312-346-5320. We cover all of Illinois.

We are experienced Chicago malpractice attorneys with over 25 years of experience helping people who have birth injury claims. Call us any time at 312-346-5320 to speak with attorney for free and in confidence.

Fetal Distress

In simple terms, fetal distress is a sign that your baby is not well or having problems. Fetal distress occurs when the baby is not getting enough oxygen. Fetal distress can sometimes happen during pregnancy, but it is more common during labor. Most healthcare providers have replaced the term fetal distress with non-reassuring fetal status (NRFS), but we will use fetal distress in this article.

Causes of Fetal Distress
Fetal distress occurs when the baby doesn’t receive enough oxygen because of problems with the placenta (e.g., placental abruption or placental insufficiency) or problems with the umbilical cord (e.g., cord prolapse).

Fetal distress is more common if the mother:
• Is past her due date
• Has a multiple pregnancy
• Has pregnancy complications such as high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia
• Has contractions that are too strong or too close together
• Is obese
• Has a chronic disease such as diabetes, kidney disease or heart disease
Signs of Fetal Distress

The most common signs of fetal distress are:
• Changes in the baby’s heart rate (lower or higher than normal)
• Less movement from the baby for an extended period of time
• Low amniotic fluid, or meconium in the amniotic fluid
• Excessive bleeding during labor

Detecting and Addressing Fetal Distress
Health care professionals trained in obstetrics and labor and delivery should recognize the signs of fetal distress during late pregnancy and childbirth and take quick action to manage it and prevent harm. Often a Caesarian may be necessary. Failure to act in a timely manner can sadly lead to brain damage and possibly death of the baby. The damages could be in the tens of millions of dollars in the worst case scenario.

What to Do If Your Baby Has Suffered
Doctors and hospitals are expected to look for signs of problems with your pregnancy. Items like fetal monitoring strips exist to prevent otherwise healthy babies from suffering a catastrophic injury that could lead to a greatly diminished life and a lot of suffering for your family. When they screw up you may have a lawsuit.

If fetal distress led to a death or permanent disabilities, there is a possibility that your doctor, nurses, or the hospital or birthing center is at fault. At the very least, they should be investigated. We understand that this may be an emotional time, but time is often of the essence. We can investigate what happened and hold those responsible accountable if they were negligent.

For a free consultation to speak with an experienced attorney, please call us any time at 312-346-5320.

I was contacted by a woman who was curious about Illinois medical malpractice laws. The father of her two children had died from what may have been a medical malpractice situation and she was hoping to talk about the process.

Before we could get going though, she told me something I hear a lot. She said:

I don’t even know if I want to do this. My kids are grieving and I’m not sure I want to put them through this.

That is a common thought process and makes sense. This is a great mom who is trying to protect her kids.

All of that said, she is over analyzing things right now. Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits are very hard cases to win. Talking to a lawyer about a possible case doesn’t mean you are going to sue. It means you are having a discussion about having someone investigate a case.

Unlike a car accident where we can usually tell you from your own statements and/or a police report if you have a case, nobody can tell you that you definitely have a medical malpractice case over the phone.

To determine if you have a case not only requires to hear your version of events, but much more importantly, requires us to review the relevant medical records of the person who was harmed. That is an involved process that often requires a review of thousands of pages of medical records.

These reviews are first done internally and then if it appears there might be something wrong, an experienced medical malpractice lawyer will contact an expert in the relevant field to arrange to send the records to them for their review and opinion. In some cases multiple physicians need to be involved.

The whole investigation process commonly take 6-12 months. So by contacting a lawyer, even while grieving, you are not committing to anything other than the chance to find out if you might have a case. If the answer is yes, then you can decide if you want the attorney to file a lawsuit or not.

Even once the lawsuit has been filed, it doesn’t mean that your family will have to go through a trial. While that is definitely a possibility, many cases settle long before that has to happen.

All of these situations come down to case facts. Just know that time is of the essence. Usually once two years has passed it’s too late (there are exceptions, call us any time to discuss your time limits). So know that if you are really “just thinking about it” that means you should have an attorney review the case with you and go from there.

See also: 8 Things To Know About Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Generally speaking, police in Illinois do not have an obligation to do much. To “protect and serve” is a motto, but not usually a requirement. There are some exceptions to that and that includes victims of domestic violence. This is covered in the Illinois Domestic Violence Act.

Under that law, police officers in Illinois have a duty to protect victims of domestic abuse from their abusers. They are required to use all reasonable means to provide this protection. Whenever a law enforcement has reason to believe that a person has been abused, neglected, or exploited by a family or household member, the law requires them to: make an arrest if appropriate, discuss orders of protection, refer the victim to a social service agency and offer to take the victim to a shelter, among other things.

In a recent case, it was ruled that the Chicago Police failed in their duty when a 49 year old mother of five was killed by her abuser. Her estate was awarded $3 Million in damages.

In this case, the cops showed up and saw the abuser holding a Samurai sword and appearing to make Molotov cocktails. Officers took the man, who had been hearing voices and trying to start grease fires in the apartment to a hospital where they strapped him to a bed and then left him there.

He was released the next morning and ended up strangling the woman to death. The court found that “the officers’ failure to fulfill their duties under the (state’s Domestic Violence) Act was a substantial factor in bringing about the death.” They further stated that the police showed utter disregard for her safety.

Some of the steps they could have taken to protect her but didn’t include: informing her about orders of protection, referring her to a social service agency and taking her to a nearby domestic shelter. The Judge also faulted the officers for not ensuring the medical staff understood the dangerous behavior Thomas exhibited, which could have factored into the doctor’s decision to civilly commit him. They also didn’t arrest him despite her having a black eye and him resisting efforts to restrain him.

Worst of all, the Court suspected that the officers failed to act because they were at the end of their shifts. In other words, they couldn’t be bothered.

While these cases are rare, it’s not an isolated incident. In fact, the Village of Maywood was also successfully sued under a similar fact pattern. The cops can’t simply drop off an abuser at the hospital and then decide it’s not their problem any more.

If you or a loved one was a victim of domestic abuse and the police did not protect you/them in a way that led to your abuser coming back and doing worse, our lawyers would love to talk to you for free. Call us any time for help anywhere in Illinois.

See also: Chicago Police Are Raping Immigrants

Being an Illinois medical malpractice attorney, it’s easy to assume that the general public knows things that we assume are basic. This is our mistake and something we shouldn’t do.

One that comes to mind which I hear a lot from people who contact us has to do with legal terms. It’s not uncommon for a caller to say something like, “I’m looking for a lawyer to sue a doctor. I don’t know if it would be for malpractice or for negligence. Can you tell me the difference?” Or others when we say that we don’t think they have a good medical malpractice case that they’d like to sue for negligence then.

The reality is that these are essentially the same things. Medical malpractice is negligence by a health care provider. So when we file a medical malpractice lawsuit, we are suing them for being negligent.

The confusion comes in because people hear the term negligence a lot and don’t understand it. Most injury lawsuits are negligence lawsuits. It could be medical negligence, product liability negligence, car accident negligence, etc.

Negligence means “failure to take proper care when doing something.” So when we say a doctor is negligent, it means they didn’t follow the proper standards of care. That is the same definition as medical malpractice.

The other one we hear a lot is that people want to sue for medical malpractice or wrongful death? A medical error that leads to a death is a wrongful death lawsuit, but is filed under medical malpractice laws. In other words, it’s again essentially the same thing. You can have wrongful death lawsuits from car accidents, a product malfunctioning or other reasons. But the laws and the standards needed to bring and win a case don’t change.

I hope that this brings some clarification. My advice to people is to not get caught up in legal mumbo jumbo and worry about the goal which is to find out if you might have a case and if so, how to bring it and which is the best law firm to hire for your case. That is our goal when we speak to you and what we’ve done for over a half a million people since 2001.

If you’d like to talk with an attorney for free, we are happy to speak with you any time at 312-346-5320. All calls are free and confidential and we cover all of Illinois.

I’ve been a lawyer since 1997. There are some medical malpractice injuries that I’ve seen every week since then like death, failure to diagnose cancer, or surgical errors. While they may occur in different ways, it’s no surprise when a caller tells us that is what’s what happened. Other injuries are more unique or only now understood. One such potential medical malpractice lawsuit is purple glove syndrome.

Purple glove syndrome (PGS) is a minimally understood and uncommon skin disease where a patient’s limbs become discolored, painful, and swollen. PGS is most commonly reported among patients who have received intravenous (IV) doses of the drug phenytoin. It’s an anti-seizure medication also known as Dilantin. Phenytoin is only administered through an IV in emergency situations where the patient is having active seizures and is unable to receive medications orally.

Physicians believe that there are a few reasons for why PGS occurs, one being that a chemical irritation forms due to the high alkalinity of phenytoin and propylene glycol being administered. Further, they think that the mixing of alkaline solution and a neutral pH may led to a vascular and IV catheter obstruction. They also believe that the IV insertion may cause a microtear in the vessel wall that allows phenytoin to infiltrate the tissue without a way to exit. Microtears are more commonly seen in elderly patients which is why physician believe PGS is more common among their demographic.

PGS is characterized by a blueish-purple discoloration around the IV site accompanied with severe swelling and pain. The symptoms typically form within two to twelve hours of administration. Progression of PGS occurs in between twelve and sixteen hours where discoloration and swelling continues to spread throughout the whole limb.

There can be very mild and very severe cases of PGS. In the mild cases, physicians quickly recognize the symptoms and immediately discontinue the phenytoin IV, elevate the limb and/or apply heat/cold applications. Eventually the symptoms will subside, and the patient is healthy. In worst case scenarios, PGS can lead to necrosis, ischemia or vascular compression, any of which could lead to a need for amputation.

There are a few methods to reduce the likelihood of PGS which include education on various procedures. Phenytoin should not be administered at a rate greater than 50mg/min. Phenytoin, if diluted, should not be mixed immediately prior to administration. Dextrose solutions and lactated ringers’ solution cannot be used with a phenytoin IV. Avoid smaller veins especially in the hands. 20-guage catheters should be utilized, and arguably the most important, there should be careful and diligent monitoring of the IV site.

This is certainly not the most common case out there, but there are cases where patients are given this medication and not properly monitored. If you have purple glove syndrome and want to know if you may have a malpractice lawsuit, please contact us any time.

See also: Degenerative Disc Disease Injuries, Illinois Workers’ Compensation

We are Illinois lawyers who since 2001 have helped people find the right lawyer for their case and as a resource for people who want to ask an attorney questions for free. Please call us at 312-346-5320 to speak with a lawyer any time.

A caller to our office was upset because she had called a bunch of different law firms and nobody wanted to take her medical malpractice lawsuit. Rather than discuss what was wrong with her case, I thought it would be helpful to tell you what attorneys are typically looking for in order to take on a medical malpractice lawsuit. Note that despite public perception, these are very hard cases to bring and win so the best firms are very selective when it comes to taking on clients.

1. Is it clear that you are a victim of negligence? Having a bad result with a doctor, nurse, etc. is not enough to bring a lawsuit. You have to show that they violated the acceptable standard of care and that what happened to you wasn’t just a risk of your situation. For example, getting an infection after surgery is usually a risk of a medical procedure. Not monitoring the heart rate of a baby about to be delivered is usually negligence.
2. What is the long term outcome? A sad but true fact is that a doctor can screw up badly, but if you are going to make a great recovery or nothing bad actually happens to you, there likely isn’t a case. This is because a key factor in Illinois medical malpractice lawsuits is what are your damages? It’s very expensive to bring a lawsuit (often $200,000.00 or more) so if you don’t have life altering injuries such as death, paralysis, brain damage, permanent disability, etc., then it can cost more to take the case on than it’s worth. Lawyers also look for things like long term economic loss because you can’t work any more or cost for having to receive significant future medical care or help.
3. Do you have any co-morbidities? A common defense to malpractice lawsuits is that the person was so sick that this was an expected outcome or their poor health increased the chances of a bad result. It may not sound nice, but it’s true. For example, if you weigh 550 pounds and have blood flow issues that you feel a doctor didn’t diagnose, the insurance company for the doctor will argue that they couldn’t have done much to change your outcome. If you have stage 4 cancer with a six-month life expectancy, if a doctor doesn’t properly diagnose a blood clot your damages would likely be limited due to your short life expectancy.
4. What is your age? The honest truth is that the older you are, the harder it is to get a lawyer to take on a medical malpractice lawsuit. It’s not impossible, but very hard to find. You could be the healthiest 85 year old in the world, but even then your life expectancy is very short. That limits what any case could be worth. So as with the other examples, if the lawyer thinks they might spend more than they can win, they won’t take the case on.
5. How much time do you have left to sue? Generally speaking, the closer you are to the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit, the harder it will be to find an attorney. It takes six months to a year to pull most cases together. If a law firm takes on a case right before the deadline to file, they risk not identifying the right defendants and exposing themselves to legal malpractice.
6. Have other reputable law firms reviewed the case and declined to take it? We’ve taken and won cases that other lawyers have rejected, but if a really good law firm has reviewed your case and declined to get involved, most law firms would be hesitant to get involved. It’s expensive to have these cases reviewed which again makes lawyers very selective.

Remember of course that every case is different and not every law firm has the same standards. In other words, it doesn’t hurt to ask. If you’d like to speak to an attorney for free, please contact us any time.

Growing up I heard the term ambulance chaser. It’s meant to describe a low life personal injury attorney who would follow an ambulance to a hospital and try to sign up a client. The image is of an unkempt person with a bad suit and bad haircut.

I never imagined that could be a reality, but sadly it is. Now with the caveat that most Illinois personal injury attorneys are honest and ethical and the ones we recommend wouldn’t do these things, there do seem to be more and more that toe the line of morality. And in my opinion they greatly cross the line of what’s right and wrong. Here are some things I’ve heard from callers in the last few months:

• One Chicago personal injury attorney may have stolen funds from a client as part of a settlement that were supposed to be used to pay off liens by medical providers. This same attorney paid the client in cash for the settlement instead of writing a check. I’ve literally never heard of an attorney doing that and can’t imagine why they would. Oh, and this lawyer has been suspended from practicing law for unethical behavior three times.
• In one case where a person was rear-ended in Chicago at a stop light, more than 20 law firms reached out to them within a week, unsolicited. Many of them did it by phone, a couple had “runners” show up at their house. I hear this type of behavior all the time. Is that not ambulance chasing? Many firms buy crash reports. Some allegedly pay off cops to hand out their business card or alert them to big accidents.
• One of the lawyers who does this chasing is backed by private equity money meaning he has investors in his law firm that fund his practice. They of course have an expectation of getting a return on their money. To me it’s a huge red flag if a firm is doing this as you have to question if they are going to be worried about your best interests or making their investors happy. In fact, I encourage you to ask your lawyer before you hire them if they are backed by private equity. One notorious lawyer who does this doesn’t actually try cases.
• Another firm advertises heavily here with billboards and TV ads yet the main guy isn’t even licensed to practice law in Illinois. They just hire out attorneys to handle the cases. They are, in my opinion, marketers, not lawyers.
• I’ve heard stories of some attorneys paying clients at the beginning of the case to sign up. It’s basically an illegal advancement on their settlement. It sounds great to the client, but the reality is that these lawyers are breaking the law and often you end up with less because they are just trying to churn through cases instead of get the best result possible.
• And of course many lawyers pay doctors for referrals or have an arrangement where they send each other business even if it’s not in the best interest of the client.

It’s really disheartening that it happens so much and that it’s happening more and more. The public gets hurt. All I can tell you is that if someone will cross an ethical line to get your business, it’s a reflection of how they will handle your case. And the best firms who get the best results don’t feel a need to do this and their clients are happier.

Most Americans have heard about the opioid crisis in our country. Opioids (or opiates) are a broad class of drugs that help control or relieve acute pain. Some common opiate painkillers include oxycodone (sold under the trade names OxyContin and Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin and Norco) and fentanyl (Actiq, Duragesic). Some opioids are derived naturally from the poppy plant and others are synthesized in a laboratory.

When opioid medications travel through your blood and attach to opioid receptors in your brain cells, the cells release signals that dampen your perception of pain and increase your feelings of pleasure.

Doctors often prescribe opioids following surgery or an injury, or for health conditions such as cancer. The opioid drugs are quite potent and readily available, which means there is a risk that patients will become addicted to them and possibly overdose. It’s not negligent for these doctors to prescribe these drugs, but it is negligent to not monitor their use or over prescribe them.

Since the 1990’s there has been an alarming increase in the overuse, misuse/abuse, and overdose deaths attributed to opioids. Yes, there is some level of personal responsibility involved when taking any medication; however, we are going to focus on corporate greed and physicians wrongly prescribing or over prescribing the drugs that lead to these awful outcomes.

Pharmaceutical companies make more money if more people take the medications they produce. That makes sense. But what is concerning is that, according to an analysis from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, and CNN, “Opioid manufacturers are paying U.S. doctors huge sums of money for speaking, consulting, and other services—and the more opioids a doctor prescribes, the more money he or she gets paid by those same manufacturers.”

With pharmaceutical companies and doctors looking to line their pockets, is the best interest of the patient at the forefront? Can drug-pushing doctors be liable for the deaths of their patients?

Recently, a Cook County jury decided yes, in a particular case. That jury awarded $6 million to the family of a woman who died due to an opioid addiction the family says was caused by her doctor.

A woman was under the care of a pain management physician for years for neck and back pain from a work-related accident. That physician prescribed her hydrocodone with refills nearly every month. The doctor also increased her prescription several times as she said she was feeling no change in her pain level.

The woman began to abuse the opioids and died of respiratory failure related to her opioid use.

The woman’s family stated that the doctor failed to warn her of the dangers of opioid medications and failed to wean her off them after the doctor knew that the meds were not working to relieve her pain.

The $6 million verdict sends a signal to pain management doctors to be more thoughtful about how they prescribe these drugs.

While every case is different, we are interested in helping families who have lost loved ones due to the failure of doctors in monitoring these opioids. If you know someone who has died from opioid use related to a doctor over-prescribing these powerful meds, please contact us at 312-346-5320. All calls are free and confidential and there is no fee unless the case is successful.

See also: Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Attorneys

I recently had an hour long conversation with a woman who was looking for an Illinois medical malpractice attorney to pursue a case involving the tragic death of her husband.

At first it seemed like it would be a quick conversation because she just asked “Who is the best Illinois malpractice attorney?” Usually I can explain this away quickly, but she asked me so many good questions about hiring a lawyer that I thought it would be a good blog post.

What I told her is that there isn’t a “best” law firm, but what we can do is help her find the best one for her possible case. To do that though, we need to know what happened with the treatment and about the patient.

I say that because there are some Illinois malpractice firms that are extremely selective with the cases they take. They have amazing track records of success and it would be great if you can get them to take your case. But because time is of the essence, you don’t want to waste your time with them if it’s clear you won’t meet their standard.

In other words, for some firms, if there isn’t an economic loss or millions of dollars in medical bills for past and future treatment, they won’t consider the case. Some firms are only interested in cases that could be worth potentially in the mid to high seven figures at worst.

Other firms won’t take cases that have obvious defenses right away. For example, if you have co-morbidities such as diabetes, extreme obesity, etc., they won’t even consider your case.

There’s of course no way for you to know this about various firms which is one reason we started our lawyer referral service. We know the selection criteria each firm has and can match you up with the best one for your case facts.

You also want to hire someone who has experience with your type of case. Having won similar cases in the past can increase the chances of success as well as speed up the process. If they know which experts to consult with, it can significantly cut down on the investigation time. These are also things we are familiar with and can help you with.

Some things you can do on your own when looking for an Illinois medical malpractice attorney include:

• Make sure they can demonstrate a track record of settlements and trial verdicts in many cases. How many? There’s no magic number, but it should be at least somewhere above 25.
• Verify that they can fund these very expensive cases. If you have a young or one person firm, they might not be able to.
• Know that just because a lawyer says they do medical malpractice cases in Illinois doesn’t mean they really do. A lot of lawyers just list it in order to refer the cases on to other firms.
• Be aware of the time limits for suing. It can be as little as two years from when the incident happened. So don’t delay looking for a law firm as it takes more than six months on average and often more than a year to properly investigate a case.
• Avoid lawyers that also do defense work. You don’t want to have to worry that they will have a conflict of interest or be more loyal to their insurance company clients.

If you have any questions or want our opinion as to if you have a case and if so who you should hire, call us any time to speak with a lawyer for free at 312-346-5320.

Electric cars are all the rage and that makes sense. They are new. They are cool. And with the high cost of gas they make economic sense for many people in the long run. And they are getting better and better every year.

I’m not an Elon Musk fan, so I’d never buy a Tesla, but I would like to buy one of the other great electric cars on the market some day. I’m not a huge “car guy” but do like the idea of buying something environmentally friendly. And the electric cars I’ve been in, including Teslas, are very cool.

What I never thought about Teslas until recently was how fast they are. I met an engineer for Rivian, which is an electric vehicle company focusing on trucks and SUV’s, who explained to me how these cars really work.

What he told me was that some versions of Tesla and Rivian are actually as fast or faster than pretty much any car on the road including Lamborghinis. The Model S Tesla can go zero to sixty in 2.07 seconds. That is really fast.

What we have started to see and will see more as more people take possession of the Teslas they’ve ordered is a lot of car accidents caused by people going at an excessive speed. I’ve seen teens driving these vehicles which makes sense because teens want cars that are cool and fun. I’m sure a lot of them like that the Tesla can make fart noises. But I question if they are truly prepared and trained to drive a car that can go so fast in such a short period of time.

Of course these cars can be driven safely, but high speed leads to many accidents. So while we’ve all heard about deaths and accidents from the self driving feature of Tesla, I think that the great majority of accidents where the Tesla driver is at fault will be due to excessive speed situations.

We’ve helped thousands of people who have been in car accidents. For someone who has a catastrophic injury such as death, brain damage, paralysis, etc., it may make sense to not only sue a negligent driver, but also to sue Tesla (or whoever the auto maker is for negligent product design.

If you’d like to speak with an attorney for free about your car accident, we are happy to talk to you. Please contact us any time at 312-346-5320.