We are experienced attorneys who can help you find the best Illinois medical malpractice lawyer for your case or even just help you figure out if you have a case at all. If you would like a FREE case review, please contact us at 312-346-5320 to speak with a lawyer. All calls are confidential.
We love helping people with their legal issues. We have had a lot of success since 2001 in helping people find the right attorney for their medical malpractice case.
A lot of people who call us just want to know if they have a case. Generally speaking we are able to help people who are victims of negligence who also have a very bad result that they would not have had otherwise. That said, a lot of people have what sounds like a case, but they can not find an attorney.
Reasons Why You Might Not Have An Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
We hear a lot of awful stories and wish we could help everyone who contacts us. Often we will hear what sounds like a great case and refer the person to a top lawyer, only for their investigation to determine it is not a case. Other times it is obvious as to why someone will have trouble finding an attorney to help. Some of these reasons include:
- You ignored doctor’s instructions – If you want to sue for a failure to diagnose cancer for example, if the records show that your doctor recommended a year ago that you follow up with a specialist and you ignored it, that will end any chance of suing them.
- Known risk – When you are bringing an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, it is for negligence. A lot of surgeries come with risks that are a part of having that procedure. If what happened to you is considered a known risk, proving negligence would be difficult. An example would be having a colonoscopy and your colon being cut. That is a known risk. If the error is caught in a timely basis, you likely would not have a case.
- The statute of limitations – For those over 18, you have two years from when you knew or should have known malpractice occurred to sue, but can not go back farther than four years. So if something happened when you were 35 and you are now 41, it is too late to sue. The more common issue we see is people not reaching out for legal help until the two years is almost up. It takes many months to properly investigate most malpractice cases. If you call a lawyer with only a month or two before the time limit to sue is up, most will not even look at it because they do not have enough time to do a proper investigation.
- Comorbidities – This means other health issues. For example, we recently thought we had a great lawsuit against a hospital that did not properly diagnose a blood clot that killed a man. Unfortunately his autopsy revealed that he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and that his life expectancy was less than six months. In other cases, having diabetes increased the risk of a bad result. The sicker that you are, the harder it is to prove that the malpractice caused a long term harm.
- Drug use – If you are an active user of hard drugs like heroin or cocaine, they can have terrible side effects that can contribute to medical errors. It is not automatic, but we have seen a lot of cases where people suffered great harm and their drug use prevented a claim from happening.
- The hospital is bankrupt – While this happens more in nursing home claims, if a hospital goes into bankruptcy and has no money to pay a verdict, you could have a great case, but since you can not collect, no attorney will take your case.
- You want to sue a Federal doctor for something that happened while you were active duty – As much as the Government talks about loving our military, the reality is that those members give up a lot of rights. One of them is that they can not sue for something that happened while they were active duty. That only applies to Federal doctors, not private ones.
- Your age – My grandma was amazing and lived to 97. For 95 years she was healthy and sharp as a tack. So I get that older people can be healthy. The reality is that once a person outlives their life expectancy, any damages from a malpractice lawsuit are greatly reduced and it is more likely they will have a bad result. That does not mean you can’t have a case for an older person, just that it is much harder.
- You made a good recovery – This is a bad news, great news, bad news situation. The bad news is the doctor made a mistake. The great news is that while it could have killed you or seriously harmed you, it didn’t. The further bad news is that they will then get away with it. Medical malpractice lawsuits need damages. If you do not have that, it’s not that the doctor didn’t screw up, it’s that it’s not worth the expense of bringing a case. So do some doctors get away with negligence? The answer is sadly yes. But attorneys spend $100,000 or more on most cases, so if you do not have major harm, they can not help as they would spend more than the case is worth.
- Your weight – This is considered a co-morbidity. If someone is morbidly obese, they are much more susceptible to infections, heart issues and other major health problems. They are also more likely to have complications after surgery. If you weigh 500 pounds, it is not impossible to bring a malpractice lawsuit, but it creates an obvious defense that will end most cases.
- The county you live in – This might sound odd, but there are some counties in Illinois that have never had a successful medical malpractice lawsuit trial and there are many that have had less than ten. In rural counties, the defense attorneys will scare jurors that they will lose the limited local health care they already have if they find against the doctor. If just one juror buys this, you lose the case. So to get an attorney to sue in a smaller county, you really need clear and obvious malpractice with very bad results. Even then it would not surprise anyone if the insurance company took the case to trial.
These are just some of the reasons why you would have trouble finding an attorney for an Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit. We do not want to discourage you. But we pride ourselves on straight talk and being honest and want people to know the truth.
All that said, every case is different and you should not make any decisions without talking to an attorney. If you would like a free review of your situation, call us any time at 312-346-5320 to speak with a lawyer.
