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What is medical malpractice?

Health care professionals, from doctors to surgeons to nurses, have an obligation to uphold a standard of care to all patients. If medical professionals or providers are negligent – if their treatment was substandard and caused harm, they may be liable for injuries or loss of life. Medical malpractice is a legal term referring to the professional negligence of a health care provider to uphold the standard of care accepted across the medical community, resulting in injuries or the wrongful death of a patient.

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What are common causes of birth injuries?

  • Common causes of birth injuries include the following:
  • Failure to detect or treat infections in a mother during pregnancy
  • Failure to monitor a child’s heart rate before and during birth
  • Failure to detect umbilical cord prolapse
  • Delay in performing a C-section
  • Performing an unnecessary C-section
  • Mistakes made with equipment, such as forceps, during delivery
  • Injuries leading to cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy

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How can an attorney help?

Proving a medical malpractice case is expensive and difficult, requiring extensive medical and legal knowledge as well as vast resources. If you pursue a claim without a lawyer, you may face significant roadblocks on your path to justice. The medical professionals, hospitals and insurance companies typically will have teams of attorneys working to protect their interests. You may find yourself outmatched. We urge you to call Deratany & Kosner. We have the resources and experience necessary to determine the long-term cost of your injuries, including medical bills and lost wages due to missing work. We can review medical records and hospital data, investigate doctors and other health care officials who you suspect acted negligently, and build a solid, successful legal strategy against hospitals and insurance companies that often deny wrongdoing. Visit our results & verdicts page to learn what we’ve done for other clients.

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Who can be held liable for medical malpractice?

There is no simple answer when assessing liability in a medical malpractice case. Each case is unique. In some cases, the hospital itself may be to blame. In other instances, a doctor, pharmacist, surgeon, technician or nurse may be liable. A medical malpractice claim also may be filed against a dentist, an ophthalmologist, optometrist or some other specialist. If the company that manufactured a particular instrument or surgical tool use to operate on you or a loved one made a production error, you won’t have a medical malpractice claim, but you may be able to pursue a product liability lawsuit. Product liability also extends to dangerous drugs that cause harm or death of a patient.

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How long can I wait before filing a lawsuit?

In accordance with the Illinois Statute of Limitations, injury victims seeking to file a medical malpractice claim have two years from the date of their injuries to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. However, the Statute of Limitations can vary from case to case, depending on the circumstances. Contact an attorney immediately after your injuries are known. This way, your legal team can go to work for you right away, before evidence disappear and memories fade. Your attorney can preserve evidence and medical records necessary to hold negligent parties accountable.

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How much will it cost me to hire a medical malpractice lawyer?

Deratany & Kosner offers a free case evaluation to each prospective client who contacts our firm. We understand you have enough to worry about after being injured. We understand you have questions. How much it costs to hire a malpractice attorney should not be one of them. When handling medical negligence cases, we work on a contingency fee basis. That means you don’t owe us a fee unless we recover compensation on your behalf.

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