Recent Case Results
If you are the victim of a personal injury accident, such as an auto accident or medical malpractice, you have legal rights to recover for medical expenses, lost wages, and other damages. If you are an undocumented worker or an illegal immigrant, you may wonder how you can pursue these legal rights. It is essential to consult with knowledgeable personal injury attorneys in order to understand your legal rights and how to proceed in order to protect those rights.
The Chicago personal injury lawyers at Steinberg Goodman & Kalish have significant experience representing clients in complex personal injury matters, including auto accidents, medical malpractice, wrongful death, product liability, and slip and fall accidents. If you are an illegal immigrant and have been injured in an accident, do not hesitate to contact our office to learn more about you legal rights to recover for your injuries and damages.
Victims of personal injury accidents are often confused about whether they are entitled to recover for his or her damages, and if so, the amount of the recovery that may be available. It is important that all personal injury victims – including undocumented workers and illegal immigrants – understand the personal injury lawsuit process before making any important legal decisions. Accordingly, it is essential to consult with a knowledgeable personal injury attorney, like those at the Chicago personal injury law firm of Steinberg Goodman & Kalish, and there are a number of factors to consider when consulting with an attorney. If you are an illegal immigrant, it is also important to hire a personal injury attorney who is sensitive to your immigration status.
It is essential that any personal injury attorney representing a plaintiff that is an illegal immigrant attempt to prevent the introduction of any prejudicial evidence in advance of the trial. Attorneys can help to prevent the introduction of prejudicial evidence by filing motions in limine to bar any evidence or arguments regarding the immigration status of the plaintiff, or any other witness in the case.
Victims of personal injury accidents may be eligible to receive compensation for medical bills, loss of income, permanent disability, emotional distress, pain and suffering, property damages, and other injuries. Although personal injury victims are generally entitled to recover lost wages, but in the case of illegal immigrant plaintiffs, the recovery of past lost wages may be difficult to obtain. Future lost wages may be recoverable, however, since an undocumented worked could obtain legal status or return to his or her own country to work if not for the injury.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Tort reform initiatives are gaining momentum. As we have reported, several states are currently considering various tort reform initiatives that would cap the amount of damages that plaintiffs can recover in certain personal injury lawsuits, such as those involving allegations of medical malpractice. The latest state to introduce tort reform legislation is Pennsylvania. The proposed Pennsylvania legislation specifically targets Philadelphia, which has been has long been maligned by defendants in the personal injury lawsuits.
Currently, plaintiffs are allowed to litigate their claims in Philadelphia from anywhere in the state, but under the proposed bill, Pennsylvania’s local courts could only hear personal injury cases when the plaintiff is a resident, a corporation is locally headquartered, or the incident occurred in that district.
Pennsylvania is also seeking to reform the way the state handles joint and several liability in personal injury actions. In June 2011, Pennsylvania limited joint and several liability damages to a defendant’s share of the verdict if the defendant was less than 60% liable. Previously, plaintiffs were allowed to recover for 100% of their award from any defendant, even those who were minimally liable.
Other state governments that are considering tort reform include Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and Texas. For instance, Texas governor Rick Perry wants to limit non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, at $250,000 in medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors and $750,000 for medical malpractice lawsuits against hospitals. Proponents of tort reform believe that limiting recovery in medical malpractice cases will help the nation’s health care system by reducing malpractice insurance costs for doctors and health care providers. Gov. Perry’s personal injury reform initiatives in Texas began in 2003 with the passage of legislation that limited the amount of money a plaintiff could receive in a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Tort reform initiatives, such as those that seek to impose damage caps, face a number of hurdles, however. Caps on damages may be deemed unconstitutional since the Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a trial by jury in civil cases based on common law, which imposes no caps on civil trial damage awards by juries. Moreover, medical malpractice tort reform undoubtedly hurts patients and the public by failing to hold doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals financially responsible for their injuries or deaths that they have caused. As we recently reported, the vast majority of personal injury lawsuits are not frivolous. In fact, a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health analyzing more than 1,400 medical malpractice claims concluded that the majority of medical malpractice claims were meritorious and involved “injuries due to error,” with 80% involving death or serious injury.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Doctor report cards will soon be available through the Medicare claims database. On December 5, 2011, the federal government announced that its extensive Medicare claims database will be available to employers, consumer groups and insurance companies by late 2012.
The Medicare claims database includes comprehensive information on individual physicians, but does not include information regarding the patients that a doctor has treated. Medicare will allow individual doctors to see the information on their performance before it is publicly released and will also allow doctors 60 days to challenge any information included in the database.
Medicare acting administrator Marilyn Tavenner called the new policy “a giant step forward in making our health care system more transparent and promoting increased competition, accountability, quality and lower costs.”
The American Medical Association has expressed concerns that the information included in the database may be misleading in certain circumstances. Medicare plans to screen the analytical methods of groups that request access to the Medicare claims data, by requiring requesting organizations to pay for access to the Medicare claims information and requiring them to meet certain qualifications, such as access to their own claims data of their own.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Source: “Medicare to open database for ratings of doctors, hospitals,” Chicago Tribune
Doctor report cards will soon be available through the Medicare claims database. On December 5, 2011, the federal government announced that its extensive Medicare claims database will be available to employers, consumer groups and insurance companies by late 2012.
The Medicare claims database includes comprehensive information on individual physicians [http://www.sgklawyers.com/Personal-Injury-Overview/Medical-Malpractice.shtml], but does not include information regarding the patients that a doctor has treated. Medicare will allow individual doctors to see the information on their performance [http://www.sgklawyers.com/Personal-Injury-Overview/Medical-Malpractice.shtml] before it is publicly released and will also allow doctors 60 days to challenge any information included in the database.
Medicare acting administrator Marilyn Tavenner called the new policy “a giant step forward in making our health care system more transparent and promoting increased competition, accountability, quality and lower costs.”
The American Medical Association [http://www.ama-assn.org/] has expressed concerns that the information included in the database may be misleading in certain circumstances. Medicare plans to screen the analytical methods of groups that request access to the Medicare claims data, by requiring requesting organizations to pay for access to the Medicare claims information and requiring them to meet certain qualifications, such as access to their own claims data of their own.
Source: “Medicare to open database for ratings of doctors, hospitals,” Chicago Tribune [http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-medicare-to-open-data-for-ratings-of-doctors-hospitals-20111205,0,5577580.story]
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
If you have been injured in a personal injury incident, such as an auto accident, trucking accident or medical malpractice, you are likely angry and confused. You are facing mounting medical bills and perhaps even a loss of income due to the inability to work. You want justice for the pain, injuries and damages you have suffered due to the negligence of another person, but you may be apprehensive about the legal process for seeking compensation. The following is a brief summary of the basics of a personal injury lawsuit and how victims can obtain the compensation that they need and deserve.
Hiring an Attorney
Personal injury lawsuits involve an area of law called “tort law,” which includes complex legal issues such as negligence, strict liability, product liability, and premises liability. Tort laws vary from state to state so it is important to hire an attorney that understands the laws of the state in which the lawsuit will be filed. At Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish, we are well-versed in the various tort laws of Illinois and we have considerable experience representing clients in complex personal injury lawsuits, including those involving medical malpractice, brain injuries, nursing home abuse, wrongful death, serious automobile accidents and commercial trucking accidents.
Filing a Complaint
After you have hired an experienced Illinois personal injury lawyer, the first step in initiating a legal procedure is to file a complaint. The complaint is the first document filed with the court and it identifies the parties involved in the lawsuit, explains the basis for jurisdiction, lists the legal claims of the plaintiff, and describes the facts giving rise to the lawsuit. The complaint will also include a section in which the plaintiff will specify the type of relief he or she is seeking and the amount of damages requested.
It is important to file a timely complaint since there are time limitations, called statutes of limitations, on when a lawsuit can be filed following an accident. The applicable statute of limitations varies depending on the specifics of the lawsuit and a knowledgeable personal injury attorney can help to ensure that your lawsuit is filed in a timely manner.
Defendant’s Answer
After the plaintiff has filed a complaint, the defendant must file an answer within a specified time period. The answer is the defendant’s opportunity to respond to each of the specific claims set forth in the complaint. The defendant may also include counterclaims (claims the defendant asserts against the plaintiff) or affirmative defenses (legal reasons why the defendant should not be held liable for the injury or damages suffered by the plaintiff) in the answer.
If he or she fails to file an answer, the plaintiff will receive a summary judgment, in which the court will award the plaintiff the relief that he or she requested.
Fact Discovery
After the initial court documents are filed, either party may request that the case be dismissed for a variety of reasons. If the case is not dismissed or the parties do not settle their dispute, the lawsuit will enter the discovery phase of litigation. During the discovery phase, each party has an opportunity to question the parties and witnesses of the other side. The parties may also request documents and other information regarding the accident or incident giving rise to the lawsuit.
Settlement or Trial
Oftentimes parties will settle their dispute during the discovery phase of the lawsuit, but if they are unable to reach a settlement, the case will proceed to trial. Because a personal injury trial is a complex legal proceeding, it is crucial to have a skilled and experienced personal injury attorney in your corner. The Chicago, Illinois personal injury attorneys at Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish have represented countless clients in complex personal injury lawsuits and we have the experience necessary to pursue your personal injury lawsuit through trial, if necessary.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Detailed information regarding doctors, including malpractice judgments and settlements, will soon be available online as part of the Patient Right to Know Act, which was signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn in August 2011. The law reinstates a popular internet tool that had been in available in Illinois for two years before Illinois was forced to remove the website following a Supreme Court decision in 2010 that declared a medical malpractice reform law unconstitutional. The online database is expected to go live in mid-October, following a 60-day period in which doctors, are allowed to review the information to be available their profiles.
With the passage of the law, the online database found at http://idfpr.com/ will allow users to find information on more than 46,000 licensed, practicing doctors. Each doctor’s profile will include the following information:
- Doctor’s name
- A description of any criminal convictions for felonies and Class A misdemeanors within the past five years
- A description of any disciplinary actions in the previous five years
- A description of revocation or involuntary restriction of hospital privileges for reasons related to competence or character
- All medical malpractice judgments, arbitration awards or settlements within the previous five years (If a doctor is appealing a court judgment, his or her profile will indicate so.)
- Information on medical school attended
- Any specialty board certification
- Number of years in practice
- Names of hospitals where doctor has privileges
- Information on medical school faculty appointments, peer-reviewed publications, and professional/community service awards
- Indication of whether doctor participates in the Medicaid program and whether the doctor’s practice offers translation services
Brent Adams, head of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulations, the agency that administers the database, said the tool had been "extremely popular," drawing more than 150,000 hits each week. Other states, including California, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington, have similar website databases.
The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Steinberg, Goodman & Kalish are dedicated to protecting victims of personal injury, medical malpractice and product liability claims. If you would like more information on the doctor database or medical malpractice, contact one of our skilled Illinois personal injury attorneys at (800) 784-0150.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
The Tennessee legislature approved comprehensive medical malpractice tort reform last month. While the legislation is designed to curb frivolous lawsuits and promote job growth by removing the fear of litigation and insurance costs, the tort reform legislation merely kowtows to pro-business advocates at the expense of the victims of negligence and tortious wrongdoing and their families. By capping damages for medical malpractice and other negligent conduct, the legislation removes accountability from the medical profession and limits the rights of victims of medical malpractice to obtain adequate compensation as determined by a jury of their peers.
Among other things, the tort reform legislation:
- Limits non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, to $750,000 in most cases;
- Limits non-economic damages to $1 million for cases in which the plaintiff becomes a paraplegic or quadriplegic because of spinal cord injury, sustains third degree burns over 40% or more of his or her body or face, or has a hand or foot amputated;
- Requires that punitive damages be proven by clear and convincing evidence;
- Caps punitive damages to two times compensatory damage or $500,000, whichever is greater, unless the defendant intended to injure the plaintiff, was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or intentionally falsified records to avoid liability;
- Prohibits punitive damages in products liability actions, unless the seller had substantial control over the design or manufacturing of the defective product or had actual knowledge of the defect in the product at the time it was sold.
There is no cap on the amount of economic damages that can be recovered. The Tennessee House of Representatives reluctantly agreed to approve the legislation even though the Senate deleted a provision that would have excluded convicted felons from protection against unlimited non-economic damages.
As Tennessee Sen. Eric Stewart said in a statement, the legislative reforms “put a price on the life of the weak, the paralyzed, the neglected — all under the guise of economic development.”
If approved by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, as is expected, the bill would take effect October 1, 2011.
Steinberg Goodman & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Medical malpractice reform, including proposed legislation that would cap the amount of damages that can be received in medical malpractice cases, has been causing much debate recently. Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that can be brought when a healthcare provider fails to meet their obligation to provide adequate and appropriate medical treatment. When a healthcare provider fails to provide the appropriate treatment, and the patient suffers injury or death as a result, the healthcare provider may be held liable for medical costs, non-economic damages (pain and suffering, loss earning potential) and other expenses that the victim has incurred.
Several states, including North Carolina and Virginia, have voted on proposed medical malpractice legislation. Earlier this year, the North Carolina Senate approved a tort reform bill that would cap non-economic damages at $500,000 and require the plaintiff to prove gross negligence, rather than ordinary negligence, in order to sustain a medical malpractice claim against emergency room doctors.
Contrary to the North Carolina bill, Virginia’s medical malpractice legislation proposed to raise the cap on damages in medical malpractice cases from $2 million to $3 million and would increase the amount by $50,000 every year until 2031. Despite the fact that the bill was supported by both trial lawyers and doctors, and had been approved by the Virginia legislature, the governor vetoed the bill on March 31, 2011. Given the overwhelming support for the bill in Virginia’s legislature, however, it seems almost certain that Governor McDonnell’s veto will be overridden and the law will pass.
Many believe that the governor’s motivation for vetoing the bill, which was unanimously passed by the Virginia Senate and by a vote of 89-7 in the House, is largely due to future political aspirations. Critics suspect that Governor McDonnell has presidential or vice-presidential aspirations for 2012 and wants to be able to tout the fact that he vetoed medical malpractice legislation that would increase caps on damages and hurt doctors and hospitals.
In blocking the legislation, however, Governor McDonnell has only succeeded in hurting patients. Not only do caps on medical malpractice damages hurt victims of medical malpractice and their families, but caps on damages may also be unconstitutional. The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a trial by jury in civil cases based on common law, which imposes no caps on civil trial damage awards by juries. Nonetheless, regardless of whether medical malpractice damage caps are constitutional or not, they undoubtedly hurt patients and the general public by failing to hold doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals financially responsible for their injuries or deaths that they have caused.
Steinberg, Goodman, & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (800) 784-0150 or (312) 782-1386.
Recently there has been a renewed push for medical malpractice reform – both at the state and federal level – in an attempt to save the struggling health care system. However, medical malpractice reform measures alone will fail to help the healthcare system and will only hurt patients by facilitating a culture that lacks accountability.
Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that can be brought when a healthcare provider fails to meet their obligation to provide adequate and appropriate medical treatment. When a healthcare provider fails to provide the appropriate treatment, and the patient suffers injury as a result, the healthcare provider may be held liable for medical costs, non-economic damages (pain and suffering, loss earning potential) and other expenses that the victim has incurred.
Most recently, the North Carolina Senate approved a tort reform bill that would cap non-economic damages at $500,000 and require gross negligence, rather than ordinary negligence, in order to sustain a medical malpractice claim against emergency room doctors.
The reforms could have devastating and unintended effects, however, and could potentially violate state law. For instance, some tort reform measures seek to eliminate the plaintiff’s right to a jury trial – a right that is guaranteed under most state constitutions. Limits on damages, such as North Carolina’s proposed cap on non-economic damages, fail to account for lost earning potential for measurable injuries like paralysis, brain damage or death.
Contrary to the tort reformers’ beliefs, the vast majority of medical malpractice lawsuits are not frivolous. In fact, a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health analyzing more than 1,400 medical malpractice claims concluded that the majority of medical malpractice claims were meritorious and involved “injuries due to error,” with 80% involving death or serious injury. Moreover, medical malpractice claims are not the cause of rising health care costs, nor are they the reason for doctors’ increased insurance rates increase.
Steinberg, Goodman, & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (888) 325-7299.
Hospital staff members are increasingly more overburdened, and patients and their family members must remember to be proactive and act as their own best medical advocate. An article published by the Boston Globe last year confirmed that federal investigators concluded that “alarm fatigue’’ suffered by nurses contributed to the death of a heart patient at Massachusetts General Hospital in January 2010. “Alarm fatigue” is the desensitization to the sound of beeping monitors and alarms due to constantly sounding machines.
The federal investigators said that the nurses on duty the morning of the patient’s death did not recall hearing the beeping monitors or seeing scrolling tickertape messages that would have alerted them of the fact that the patient’s heart rate was decreasing and eventually stopped. In addition, the investigators confirmed that the volume for a separate crisis alarm on the patient’s bedside monitor was turned off the night before “by an unknown person.” During their investigation, federal investigators found additional problems, including video screens in which visitors could see patients being monitored in their rooms.
Although Massachusetts General has taken steps to correct the deficiencies, patient safety advocates are concerned about the number of recent deaths that have been reported due to alarm fatigue, or because monitors are accidentally turned off or purposely disabled by staff members who no longer want to hear the constantly beeping machines. According to the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit medical device research and consulting organization, alarms on patient monitoring devices were “number two on its top 10 list of health technology hazards [in 2009].”
In light of the results of this investigation, as well as the fact that a recent report published in the Archives of Surgery in October 2010 revealing a “persisting high frequency of surgical ‘never events,” (i.e. surgical errors that are entirely preventable and should never occur), patients and their families are reminded to be diligent and proactive with respect to their medical care. Patients and their families should ask questions, expect informative and responsive answers, and consider themselves part of their own medical team. Patients and their families should understand what functions monitors and other equipment serve, as well as what they should do in the case of an emergency.
Legal remedies are available to victims of medical negligence, such as alarm fatigue or surgical errors, typically in the form of a lawsuit for medical malpractice or wrongful death. Contact the skilled Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Steinberg, Goodman, & Kalish if you or a family member has been the victim of medical malpractice.
Steinberg, Goodman, & Kalish (www.sgklawyers.com) is dedicated to protecting victims and their families. We handle medical malpractice, product liability, personal injury, wrongful death, auto accidents, professional negligence, birth trauma, and railroad law matters. Contact us at (888) 325-7299.
