When you are faced with a life-and-death situation, you trust that the hospital you are rushing your loved one to will be up to the task and do everything in its power to save a life. But inadequate training, equipment failures, and slips of a scalpel are just a few of the reasons why the United States ranks third in the nation for hospital mistakes. The last thing you want are missteps leading to subpar medical care that trigger health complications or worse, death. At Newland & Newland, LLP we are dedicated to helping people receive the compensation they deserve for medical malpractice.

Possible Advantages of Suing a Hospital

The picture is just as gloomy statewide when it comes to hospital errors. Negligence occurs when healthcare professionals fail to uphold their duty of care, and the patient suffers an injury or harm. In Illinois, a hospital can be held responsible for injuries that are caused to a patient as a result of negligence by a hospital employee, even if the doctor is an independent contractor. This includes physicians, nurses, and radiologists, among others.

Hospitals tend to have larger insurance policies than individuals. So, for example, if a surgeon operates on the wrong leg or a nurse fails to clean a wound, and it leads to infection, the patient may be entitled to receive adequate compensation.

Walking down the street instantly gives you less physical protection compared to traveling by car. As a pedestrian, you are one of the most vulnerable users of the road. October happens to be Pedestrian Safety Awareness Month. So whether you are out trick-or-treating or rushing to catch a bus to work in Arlington Heights, if you have sustained a personal injury, you have rights.

Legal Protections for Pedestrians

The number of people struck and killed while walking reached a historic high in 2020. Nationwide, an average of 18 pedestrians were killed every day. In Illinois, pedestrian deaths jumped nearly 14 percent in the first year of the pandemic, with more than 800 fatalities recorded between 2016 and 2020 according to a new report.

Drivers need to learn to share the roads with pedestrians and increase their awareness of people on the streets. There are situations in which a pedestrian has the right of way, meaning that if a car were to strike you, the driver of the vehicle would be at fault for the collision. If you are hit by a car, these are some legal protections in your favor:

Headlines about surgical tools being left in a patient’s body or babies born with birth defects due to a hospital’s negligence are attention-grabbing. However, a quieter and perhaps more deadly type of malpractice is most common: missed diagnosis. If you are not diagnosed with a particular condition—even after seeking medical attention—you cannot get the treatment that your condition requires. In many cases, such a mistake by your doctor can have serious and permanent consequences.

Missed and Delayed Diagnoses

According to a recent study examining “medical malpractice claims against primary care doctors in the United States, Australia, France, and Canada,” the top reason for suing doctors is failure to diagnose a dangerous medical condition. The study determined that between 26 and 63 percent of all claims against doctors were related to missed diagnoses.

Not surprisingly, misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose cancer was the number one reason for the claim: specifically, breast, colon, melanoma, and lung cancer. A failure to diagnose meningitis in children was high on the list, as was a failure to recognize a heart attack in adults.

Getting into a car accident can be one of the most devastating events in a person’s life. A severe car accident that results in serious injuries has an obvious physical impact on a person’s life, but according to WebMD, it can have long-lasting psychological effects as well. It is not only very severe accidents that can result in trauma, either. Long-term anxiety, fears, and phobias about riding in a motor vehicle can result after any accident in which a passenger experienced sudden and severe fear.

Mental Injuries Are Injuries Too

There have been a number of recent studies suggesting that at least 30 percent of all people involved in non-fatal accidents have some sort of mental health condition up to one year after the accident occurred. These conditions include post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), persistent anxiety, depression, or phobias up to one year after the accident occurs. Such psychological conditions can be not only detrimental to your health, but also to your relationships, your professional life, and your long-term mobility as well.

Pain and Suffering

This is why pain and suffering reimbursement exists, and compensation may be available for people who have been the victim of car crashes—even if they were not injured physically. Yet laying the groundwork to ensure that your claim is handled properly must begin immediately following the accident.

 Everyone knows that the right thing to do in the event of a car accident is to stop and share contact information with the other drivers involved. Not only is this the ethical thing to do, but it is also required by law. When a motorist is involved in a collision, he or she must stop his or her vehicle. Failure to stop is considered a “hit-and-run,” and leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in the state of Illinois under most circumstances.

If you were involved in a hit-and-run, you might have suffered severe injuries that incurred significant medical costs in addition to your property damage. You may also be unable to work due to your injuries. You may wonder whether or not you can pursue compensation for these losses through a personal injury lawsuit. Successfully obtaining compensation for a hit-and-run accident can be a challenging process, but it is possible.

Your Next Steps

One of the most crucial steps to take after being involved in a hit-and-run accident is to call the police and get a police report. A police report that describes the details of the accident is an essential element in a personal injury claim and an insurance claim. Furthermore, the sooner you contact the police, the more likely it is that the police will be able to catch the person who hit you. Next, gather information about the accident.