Our Legal Blog

Far too many patients around the country, including many here in Illinois, have been victims of mistakes made while under the care of medical professionals in the operating room. Surgical errors are a pervasive problem at hospitals throughout the country. One hospital on the West Coast is taking steps to make surgical procedures as…

EHR stands for electronic health record. The system is used in at least 93 percent of the medical facilities in the country — including many here in Illinois — under the pretext that it will reduce the number of hospital errors that occur due to lack of communication and availability of medical records. However,…

Keyless cars sure seem convenient, but are they really safe? Push-button ignition systems with so-called “smart keys” (or key fob) let you start your car with little or no effort. Great, but…  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and automakers are well aware that keyless car ignitions pose the risk of serious injuries…

Many people here in Illinois and elsewhere who file medical malpractice claims expect that the medical personnel and facilities where the mistakes occurred will change their policies and procedures to ensure that the same thing does not happen to someone else. Few people would go as far as one man has in order to…

With the amount of medical malpractice claims that are filed across the country, including many here in Illinois, researchers are attempting to identify the problem areas. A recent study revealed that surgical mistakes happen in nearly half of all procedures, but the surgical mistakes are not coming from surgeons. The anesthesiologists, resident physicians and…

Matthew D. Ports of Pfaff, Gill & Ports, Ltd. recently negotiated a $1.8 million settlement for the wrongful death of a newborn, survived by his loving mother and father. We claimed that the delivering physician and the nurses failed to identify the baby’s deteriorating condition as could be seen on the fetal monitoring strips….

When a child’s health and/or life are in jeopardy, Illinois parents rely on medical personnel to properly diagnose and treat the child. However, there is always the possibility that hospital negligence can occur, which causes more harm to the child. It is then that many parents will explore the possibility of filing a medical…

Each year, numerous people undergo surgical procedures across the United States, just as they do here in Illinois. Many of these procedures are performed without any adverse health consequences for the patients, but many other patients end up becoming the victims of surgical errors. Those mistakes often have serious or fatal results. Many Illinois…

Illinois residents have the right to expect that the medical professionals tending to them are competent and will not make any mistakes — especially ones that leave patients with serious or fatal injuries. The anger, disappointment and confusion people in this situation experience might lead them to the desire to file a hospital negligence…

Illinois patients often rely on doctors to correctly interpret images such as X-rays, MRIs and CAT scans. Most of the time that might be true, but they are human, which means that mistakes can happen. In some cases, those errors cost a patient his or her life. This type of hospital negligence is what…