Cook County Wrongful Death Law Blog

Legal protections are available for victims of nursing home negligence and their families. A judge in Illinois recently upheld a jury award of $4.1 million to the family of a nursing home resident that was not given her anti-clotting medication, suffered a stroke and later died. The judge also added $1.5 million in attorney's fees to be paid by the nursing home to the woman's family. Representatives for the victim's family noted that the award of damages was a record under the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act. Representatives for the nursing home noted they intend to appeal the award of damages and are requesting a new trial.

According to newspaper reports, the woman entered the nursing home for physical therapy after she fractured her left hip. The woman was taking the blood thinner medication Coumadin, however, records revealed that she did not receive her blood thinner medication for two weeks. She suffered a stroke the following month and died four years later. The jury found that the stroke contributed to her death and that the stroke impacted her ability to enjoy her life.

Whenever a patient visits a doctor, they are placing their trust in the medical care and treatment they expect to receive. When there has been a failed or erroneous diagnosis, it can cause serious consequences for the victim and, potentially, for the victim's family. If there has been a missed diagnosis or delayed diagnosis that has caused harm, medical professionals may be liable to the victim and their family for the damages suffered.

It is important for doctors and other medical professionals not to dismiss important considerations, such as symptoms or the patient's complaints, when diagnosing the patient's medical condition. If the medical professional does not act as a reasonably prudent medical professional should under the circumstances, they may be considered negligent and the victim may have a claim for medical malpractice. Medical malpractice refers to a variety of different types of negligence and medical mistakes, including a failure to diagnose, a delayed diagnosis or an erroneous diagnosis.

Legal options are available to victims of truck accidents to protect them from the unexpected damages they may suffer. Truck accidents can result in serious harm and damages greater than those suffered in a passenger vehicle accident. While the consequences of a passenger vehicle accident can be serious, a truck accident have a higher likelihood of resulting in catastrophic injuries and damages.

Truck accidents can cause serious harm to victims and their families, as commercial vehicles can weigh 25 times what the typical passenger vehicle weighs. To help with the physical, financial and emotional damages victims and their families oftentimes suffer following a truck accident, different parties may be responsible to compensate victims for their damages through a personal injury or wrongful death claim.

Previous posts on this blog have discussed tragedies in which a construction worker or other workers in the Chicago area get seriously hurt or even die because of a motor vehicle accident in or around a construction zone. Many times, these accidents involve an inattentive motorist hitting a worker who is simply doing their job close to the road. These types of construction accidents are relatively common and are among the most common causes of work-related deaths at construction sites.

These cases are complicated in part because a worker may have to pursue compensation from more than one source in order to cover all of their losses. For instance, the worker, or, in the case of a fatality, the worker's family, will no doubt want to request workers' compensation benefits. This is a good start, especially when it comes to medical bills and lost wages, but it may not cover everything.