When we seek medical attention, we have a reasonable expectation that we’ll receive quality care that conforms with generally accepted standards. Unfortunately, not everyone receives it. Errors, carelessness, and other forms of medical negligence affect far too many people every year, leaving them with adverse outcomes that never should have happened.
Have you suffered injuries or become ill due to problems arising from a medical procedure or the negligence of a doctor or medical facility in or near St. Clair County, Illinois? You may now be paying the price for their carelessness in the form of additional medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and untreated health problems.
You deserve compensation for these losses. Learn more by discussing your case with St. Clair County, Illinois medical malpractice lawyers. At Bartholomew, Shevlin & Flack Law Group, we are committed to helping people like you pursue the compensation they need to rebuild their lives. Call to get started with a free case review.
Medical malpractice occurs when a patient sustains harm because a medical professional failed to meet a certain standard of care. Proving that a medical professional didn’t live up to the applicable standard may require substantial evidence of negligence.
Per Illinois law, when submitting a medical malpractice claim, you must also include an “affidavit of merit” with the complaint. This document states a medical professional with relevant knowledge or expertise agrees that your complaint is justified.
None of this is meant to discourage you from pursuing justice when you’ve sustained harm due to negligent medical professionals. It’s meant to highlight the value of seeking representation from a medical malpractice law firm.
Most of us appreciate that physicians undergo substantial training. We tend to perceive them as experts. Thus, we may not be inclined to assume they make mistakes often.
This assumption could be an error. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, medical malpractice may be the third-leading cause of death in the U.S.
Medical errors occur for many reasons. Sometimes, medical professionals are quite busy. A large workload can result in a doctor being more prone to making mistakes. However, that doesn’t excuse making mistakes that harm patients. If you suspect you were the victim of malpractice, seek legal advice for medical negligence. You have nothing to lose from discussing your case during a free consultation. Bartholomew, Shevlin & Flack, LLP, offers a no-cost and no-obligation means of learning whether you have grounds to take legal action.
Medical malpractice cases take many forms. The following are common examples:
Those aren’t the only ways negligent medical professionals may harm patients or allow them to be harmed. If you’re not sure whether you have grounds to file a medical malpractice or wrongful death claim, schedule a consultation with a legal professional. Our medical malpractice lawyer in Belleville, Illinois, can review your case and determine if you have legal options.
The compensation you can seek through a medical malpractice claim can cover the economic costs of the negligent healthcare as well as its less tangible, non-economic effects.
Economic compensation can cover the cost of additional medical expenses and lost wages from time off work. They can also account for losses you may incur in the future, such as ongoing medical expenses if you need long-term care.
Non-economic losses, like pain and suffering, don’t have exact dollar values. Legal professionals may assign dollar values to them with certain formulas. Doing so allows you to account for these losses when seeking compensation.
The types of evidence you may need to support your claim or lawsuit will depend on the specifics of a medical error.
The above is not a complete list. Medical malpractice lawyers in St. Clair County, Illinois, can review your case and better determine what types of evidence you may need to present when filing medical malpractice claims.
After discovering a medical error, many people wonder if their situation rises to the level of medical malpractice. Determining whether you have a valid claim depends on the answers to a few key questions:
To bring a malpractice claim against a healthcare provider, you must show that the healthcare provider had a duty to provide reasonable, safe, professional medical care. If a doctor-patient relationship existed, so did that duty. The doctor-patient relationship can be established through medical records, appointment logs, or hospital admissions that confirm the provider was responsible for your treatment.
The key issue in most medical malpractice cases centers around whether the healthcare provider acted in a way that fell below applicable medical standards. A breach could mean failing to diagnose a condition, misdiagnosing a condition, performing the wrong procedure, or ignoring obvious symptoms that another similarly trained doctor would have recognized in the same circumstances.
Medical malpractice claims arise when the healthcare provider’s actions caused your injury. You must show that whatever action or inaction occurred when your provider breached their duty of care was the reason you suffered the injury. Without this connection, there can be no medical malpractice claim.
Once you’ve connected your condition to the breached duty of care, you must show that your injury resulted in physical, emotional, and/or financial damage. This means showing how their negligent care led to additional medical problems, financial losses, or lasting pain that would not have occurred otherwise.
If you can answer “yes” to all of these questions, you may have a valid medical malpractice claim. The best way to know for sure is to consult an experienced medical malpractice attorney who can review your medical records, consult experts, and inform you of your legal options.
Even if you have a strong medical malpractice claim, these cases are challenging. They involve unique obstacles that make it critical to work with an experienced law firm when seeking accountability and fair compensation. Some common challenges include:
Hospitals and healthcare providers are backed by large insurance companies and skilled legal teams whose jobs center around fighting malpractice claims aggressively. Attempting to go up against them without skilled legal counsel can be challenging. When insurers use their extensive experience to deflect blame, downplay harm, and drag out the process, your attorney can counter their tactics with substantial evidence and expert testimony.
Proving malpractice requires an in-depth understanding of medicine and the ability to explain complicated medical procedures and outcomes clearly. Without skilled guidance, these details can be confusing and difficult to present convincingly to a jury that likely doesn’t have extensive experience in the medical field.
Making a clear connection between the healthcare provider’s actions and your injuries can be difficult. Insurance companies often argue that adverse outcomes were unavoidable or that your condition would have worsened regardless of the doctor’s care. An experienced attorney can gather the evidence needed to establish the healthcare provider’s liability and hold them accountable.
The evidence required to prove a medical malpractice claim differs from that of a typical personal injury case. You may need hospital protocols and internal reports to reveal healthcare provider errors, electronic health records and imaging to document your treatment, and various medical records and charts to show your diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes. A skilled medical malpractice attorney knows how to preserve, obtain, and present this evidence.
In Illinois, the filing of a medical malpractice case requires an affidavit of merit stating that the lawyer has consulted a healthcare professional who agrees the case has merit. Additionally, medical malpractice cases require testimony from highly qualified medical experts to establish the healthcare provider’s standard of care and show it was breached. Your attorney will work with medical experts to acquire this testimony and build a compelling case for maximum compensation.
Belleville medical malpractice attorneys can assist you by:
You may worry you can’t afford to hire a medical malpractice attorney if you’re already struggling to pay your medical bills. Such concerns aren’t necessary.
Our medical malpractice attorney in St. Clair County doesn’t charge upfront fees for our legal services. We use the contingency fee model when entering into contracts with our clients. With a contingency fee agreement, our fee is a percentage of your settlement or award.
You’re not taking a financial risk when you hire us, because we only get paid if you get paid. Knowing that our payment increases with your compensation also incentivizes us to fight for what you deserve.
Don’t delay in taking legal action when you suspect you have a valid medical malpractice case. Under Illinois law, you have two years from the time you learned of your injuries (or should have learned of them) to file a lawsuit. In addition, the law states that you may not take any legal action more than four years after a medical error occurred. You may be unable to recover any compensation if you miss the deadline.
Have you struggled because a medical professional failed to provide adequate medical care? If so, you may have grounds for a malpractice claim against them. A medical malpractice lawyer in Belleville, Illinois, can help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
At Bartholomew, Shevlin & Flack, LLP, you’ll find a doctor negligence lawyer in Illinois with decades of relevant experience. Learn how what that experience can do for you by contacting us online today or calling us for a free consultation.