Malpractice Lawyers Chicago

Hi Guys, Scott DeSalvo here.

When a doctor or a hospital makes a mistake and it hurts or kills a love one, the sense of betrayal that you feel is huge.

In this video we will talk about the THREE things that are essential for you to know in medical malpractice cases.

You know the people I talk to who have had a medical malpractice case, usually feel betrayed and angry and frustrated.

It’s easy to understand why.

You go to a hospital or a doctor to make you or your loved one better. Not worse.

You certainly don’t go there to make you or your loved one or you worse.

Any medical care can result in a bad outcome.

When a doctor makes an obvious mistake or doesn’t listen to the patient and his or her family, or is rushed and doesn’t seem to be paying attention and then they make a mistake that causes a permanent problem for you or your loved one- well it is hard to be very forgiving under those circumstances.

And the law in Illinois says you don’t have to forgive.

If a doctor or hospital does something that they shouldn’t, fails to do something that they should do, you can bring a medical malpractice case against the doctor or hospital.

There are three things I want to outline for you very quickly. And these are the same three things that I tell people who call me.

First, understand that medical malpractice cases are expensive, complicated and often take a long time to result.

In a medical malpractice case, the harm that the doctor does to you cannot just be a bad outcome.

It has to be a mistake that a reasonably qualified doctor would not make. In order to prove that in court, before we even file a lawsuit, we have to have all your medical records and have them reviewed of the appropriate specialty.

If the reviewing doctor agrees it was malpractice then we can proceed to court. If the reviewing doctor does not agree then we cannot proceed or we need to find another doctor.

A reviewing doctor costs thousands of dollars and sometimes tens of thousand dollars if we want them to be expert doctors in these cases. That means that a medical malpractice case can cost lots of money right at the beginning.

That is why lawyers are very very careful about collecting detailed information in screening these cases to make sure that the case has merit.

Second, you usually need to have a serious permanent injury.

This is sort of related to the first point we just talked about.

Because medical malpractice cases are so time consuming and expensive, we have to make sure that the injury or harm caused by the doctors’ mistake is large enough so that when a jury hears a case, they will award enough money to make economic sense to handle the case.

If the medical mistake kills someone or cripples them or causes them to undergo lots or more medical treatment, then damages are probably big enough to proceed in a medical malpractice case.

On the other hand, a temporary injury that gets better or a close call where you almost have a serious problem because of a medical mistake but you don’t get hurt, is not likely to be awarded enough money in front of a jury to offset all those case costs. Its unfortunate that lots of doctors and hospitals get away with making these kinds of mistakes, but unless the injury is big enough, we can’t proceed on a case.

Third, you must speak with a lawyer.  

Medical malpractice cases are very complicated.

Even your statute of limitations or deadline to file a lawsuit can be different in a medical malpractice case. It is a very bad idea to go at it alone or delay in speaking with a lawyer.

If you suspect that you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice the first thing you should do is obtain your medical records. And the second thing is you should contact a lawyer to review the case for you.

Even if the first lawyer you speak with does not agree to take the case, I always tell people in medical malpractice you should get a second or third opinion if your first lawyer rejects the case.

I offer a free consultation in person or by telephone, your choice.

I can answer all of your questions with no obligation. 888-HURT-318.

If you aren’t ready for that, I’d be happy to send you a copy of my injury DVD video which answers the most common questions injured people have. It can be delivered electronically to you at your e-mail address or if you would like a hard copy/physical copy, I will mail that to you for free.

Providing good information to injured people is the mission of my law office. If I can be of further assistance, please don’t hesitate to call.