Bail set for alleged ambulance thief.
Robbery suspects charged.
Chicago man charged in beating death of girlfriend.
Former employee of Earth Mover Credit Union charged with theft.
Bus transport marijuana guy nabbed, needs defense lawyer.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Family Law in Chicago, IL
Chicago Family Law
Author: Elle Wood
When dealing with issues involving family law, it is important to find a Chicago family law firm you can trust. Family law involves the making and breaking of family relationships and includes matters such as pre-nuptial agreements, divorce (civil and military), legal separation and accompanying issues such as marital asset division, child custody, child support, visitation and maintenance (alimony). Cases involving domestic violence are also part of family law. In addition, family law attorneys also often handle adoptions and help families in their quest to add members. Family law dockets are often the most crowded dockets in the courthouse and the scope of family law continues to grow as our society changes.
Because of the importance of family relationships, it can be difficult when one has to work with a family law attorney and navigate the legal process. Nevertheless, it is very important to know your options and legal rights. An expert family law attorney can help you be aware of all possible strategies and decisions and help you to choose the path which is best for you, while making sure that the costs involved are reasonable. You need not only to choose a lawyer who specializes in family law, but also someone whom you are comfortable with and whom you feel will provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions. A good family lawyer will be available to answer any and all of your questions during what can be a tough time in your life.
There are many family law firms out there and with so much at stake, you need to feel good about your choice. Many firms have lawyers with special expertise in the specific areas of family law. A knowledgeable, experienced attorney can assist you as you try to make the choices which are right for you. Do not forget to be sure to understand your legal rights under Illinois law as it relates to your family. Take your time and find a Chicago family law firm you can believe in, who will lead you through the potential minefield which is family law.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/breakup-articles/chicago-family-law-2891708.html
About the Author
Elle Wood wishes to help you seek the professional advise in Chicago Family Law. For the best, please contact Chicago Family Law attorneys, Anderson & Boback.
Author: Elle Wood
When dealing with issues involving family law, it is important to find a Chicago family law firm you can trust. Family law involves the making and breaking of family relationships and includes matters such as pre-nuptial agreements, divorce (civil and military), legal separation and accompanying issues such as marital asset division, child custody, child support, visitation and maintenance (alimony). Cases involving domestic violence are also part of family law. In addition, family law attorneys also often handle adoptions and help families in their quest to add members. Family law dockets are often the most crowded dockets in the courthouse and the scope of family law continues to grow as our society changes.
Because of the importance of family relationships, it can be difficult when one has to work with a family law attorney and navigate the legal process. Nevertheless, it is very important to know your options and legal rights. An expert family law attorney can help you be aware of all possible strategies and decisions and help you to choose the path which is best for you, while making sure that the costs involved are reasonable. You need not only to choose a lawyer who specializes in family law, but also someone whom you are comfortable with and whom you feel will provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions. A good family lawyer will be available to answer any and all of your questions during what can be a tough time in your life.
There are many family law firms out there and with so much at stake, you need to feel good about your choice. Many firms have lawyers with special expertise in the specific areas of family law. A knowledgeable, experienced attorney can assist you as you try to make the choices which are right for you. Do not forget to be sure to understand your legal rights under Illinois law as it relates to your family. Take your time and find a Chicago family law firm you can believe in, who will lead you through the potential minefield which is family law.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/breakup-articles/chicago-family-law-2891708.html
About the Author
Elle Wood wishes to help you seek the professional advise in Chicago Family Law. For the best, please contact Chicago Family Law attorneys, Anderson & Boback.
Wrongful Death v. Wrongful Birth in Illinois
Damages Available in Illinois Wrongful Birth Vs. Wrongful Death Cause of Action
Author: Mathew A. Passen
Illinois recognizes a cause of action based on "wrongful birth." However, Illinois personal injury attorneys must be aware that the types of damages available in wrongful birth actions are typically less than in wrongful death actions.
The seminal case dealing with wrongful birth actions is Siemieniec v. Lutheran General Hosp., 117 Ill. 2d 230 (Ill. 1987). In Siemieniec, the parents of a child born with hemophilia sought to recover damages on the basis that they would have aborted the child had the defendants provided an accurate genetic diagnosis.
The Illinois Supreme Court defined "wrongful birth" as a claim for relief of "parents who allege they would have avoided conception or terminated the pregnancy by abortion but for the negligence of those charged with prenatal testing, genetic prognosticating, or counseling parents as to the likelihood of giving birth to a physically or mentally impaired child." 117 Ill. 2d at 235.
In discussing "what elements of damages may be recovered by the parents" in wrongful birth actions, the Court first noted the "general rule" of damages in tort actions -- that the wrongdoer is liable for all injuries resulting directly from the wrongful acts, provided that the damages are the "legal and natural consequences of the wrongful act" and "might reasonably have been anticipated." However, the Court noted that "few if any jurisdictions appear ready to apply this traditional rule of damages with full vigor in wrongful birth cases." Id. at 259.
Rather, the Supreme Court held that parents in wrongful birth actions may only recover the "extraordinary expenses - medical, hospital, institutional, educational and otherwise - which are necessary to properly manage and treat the congenital or genetic disorder." Id. at 260; see also Goldberg v. Ruskin, 128 Ill. App. 3d 1029, 1039 (3d Dist. 1984) (holding that plaintiffs in wrongful birth action may recover "medical and other expenses reasonably necessary for the care and treatment of the impairment"). Such extraordinary expenses relate to the care and treatment of the afflicted child, and "do not include the expenses associated with the raising of a normal, healthy child." Id. at 259; see also Cockrum v. Baumgartner, 85 Ill. 2d 193 (Ill. 1983).
Furthermore, the Court held that parents failed to state a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The Court applied the Illinois "zone-of-danger rule" to bar recovery of such damages. In doing so, the Court "likened the parents to bystanders who were witnessing the effects of the hemophilia on their child" and suffered emotional distress as a consequence. Corgan v. Muehling, 143 Ill. 2d 296, 305 (ill. 1991).
Under the zone-of-danger rule, "before a plaintiff can recover for negligently caused emotional distress, he must have himself, been endangered by the negligence, and he must have suffered physical injury or illness as a result of the emotional distress caused by the defendant's negligence." Siemieniec, 117 Ill. 2d at 261. Because there were no allegations that the defendants' alleged negligence (in failing to diagnose and inform the parents of a genetic defect in the fetus) in any way endangered the parents of the impaired child, the Court barred recovery for emotional damages.
The zone-of-danger rule does not apply to "direct" victims of negligent infliction of emotional distress. See Corgan, 143 Ill. 2d at 306. However, Siemieniec makes it difficult, if not impossible, for parents to claim they are direct victims, rather than mere bystanders. Id. ("Siemieniec, therefore, simply applied the zone-of-danger rule to a bystander case, as the parents suffered emotional distress because of their child's disease").
This is not to say that top-ranked Chicago personal injury lawyers should not pursue wrongful birth actions on behalf of their clients. In wrongful birth cases where a child is born with severe genetic defects and requires significant medical care and treatment over the course of his or her life, Illinois law provides for the recovery of those "extraordinary expenses," which may be significant. Courts may even permit recovery of those expenses incurred "after the child has reached the age of majority." See Siemieniec, 117 Ill. 2d at 260.
However, cases where a child is "wrongfully" born and, because of the genetic defect, dies shortly after delivery, seem to allow for minimal damages recovery. In such cases, any "extraordinary" costs of raising the afflicted child are minimal. Furthermore, parents are precluded from recovering emotional damages as a result of the wrongful birth.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-injury-articles/damages-available-in-illinois-wrongful-birth-vs-wrongful-death-cause-of-action-723737.html
About the Author
Matthew A. Passen is an experienced Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer with Passen Law Group. Mr. Passen concentrates in all areas of Illinois personal injury law, including truck accidents, auto accidents, wrongful death, brain injury, birth injury, construction accidents, and medical malpractice in the Chicago area.
Prior to joining Passen Law Group, Mr. Passen was an associate in the litigation department of Jenner & Block LLP.
Mr. Passen received his B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Bete Kappa, in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2002. Mr. Passen obtained his law degree, summa cum laude, from DePaul University College of Law in 2006, where he graduated Order of the Coif. During law school, Mr. Passen was as a member of the DePaul Law Review.
During the 2003-04 academic year, Mr. Passen clerked for the Honorable Ronald A. Guzman, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also spent the following semester clerking at the United States Attorney\'s Office, Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Passen is a member of the Illinois Bar. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice. Mr. Passen also works with elementary teachers and students in Chicago-area public schools, as a volunteer in the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago\'s \"Lawyers in the Classroom\" program.
Author: Mathew A. Passen
Illinois recognizes a cause of action based on "wrongful birth." However, Illinois personal injury attorneys must be aware that the types of damages available in wrongful birth actions are typically less than in wrongful death actions.
The seminal case dealing with wrongful birth actions is Siemieniec v. Lutheran General Hosp., 117 Ill. 2d 230 (Ill. 1987). In Siemieniec, the parents of a child born with hemophilia sought to recover damages on the basis that they would have aborted the child had the defendants provided an accurate genetic diagnosis.
The Illinois Supreme Court defined "wrongful birth" as a claim for relief of "parents who allege they would have avoided conception or terminated the pregnancy by abortion but for the negligence of those charged with prenatal testing, genetic prognosticating, or counseling parents as to the likelihood of giving birth to a physically or mentally impaired child." 117 Ill. 2d at 235.
In discussing "what elements of damages may be recovered by the parents" in wrongful birth actions, the Court first noted the "general rule" of damages in tort actions -- that the wrongdoer is liable for all injuries resulting directly from the wrongful acts, provided that the damages are the "legal and natural consequences of the wrongful act" and "might reasonably have been anticipated." However, the Court noted that "few if any jurisdictions appear ready to apply this traditional rule of damages with full vigor in wrongful birth cases." Id. at 259.
Rather, the Supreme Court held that parents in wrongful birth actions may only recover the "extraordinary expenses - medical, hospital, institutional, educational and otherwise - which are necessary to properly manage and treat the congenital or genetic disorder." Id. at 260; see also Goldberg v. Ruskin, 128 Ill. App. 3d 1029, 1039 (3d Dist. 1984) (holding that plaintiffs in wrongful birth action may recover "medical and other expenses reasonably necessary for the care and treatment of the impairment"). Such extraordinary expenses relate to the care and treatment of the afflicted child, and "do not include the expenses associated with the raising of a normal, healthy child." Id. at 259; see also Cockrum v. Baumgartner, 85 Ill. 2d 193 (Ill. 1983).
Furthermore, the Court held that parents failed to state a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The Court applied the Illinois "zone-of-danger rule" to bar recovery of such damages. In doing so, the Court "likened the parents to bystanders who were witnessing the effects of the hemophilia on their child" and suffered emotional distress as a consequence. Corgan v. Muehling, 143 Ill. 2d 296, 305 (ill. 1991).
Under the zone-of-danger rule, "before a plaintiff can recover for negligently caused emotional distress, he must have himself, been endangered by the negligence, and he must have suffered physical injury or illness as a result of the emotional distress caused by the defendant's negligence." Siemieniec, 117 Ill. 2d at 261. Because there were no allegations that the defendants' alleged negligence (in failing to diagnose and inform the parents of a genetic defect in the fetus) in any way endangered the parents of the impaired child, the Court barred recovery for emotional damages.
The zone-of-danger rule does not apply to "direct" victims of negligent infliction of emotional distress. See Corgan, 143 Ill. 2d at 306. However, Siemieniec makes it difficult, if not impossible, for parents to claim they are direct victims, rather than mere bystanders. Id. ("Siemieniec, therefore, simply applied the zone-of-danger rule to a bystander case, as the parents suffered emotional distress because of their child's disease").
This is not to say that top-ranked Chicago personal injury lawyers should not pursue wrongful birth actions on behalf of their clients. In wrongful birth cases where a child is born with severe genetic defects and requires significant medical care and treatment over the course of his or her life, Illinois law provides for the recovery of those "extraordinary expenses," which may be significant. Courts may even permit recovery of those expenses incurred "after the child has reached the age of majority." See Siemieniec, 117 Ill. 2d at 260.
However, cases where a child is "wrongfully" born and, because of the genetic defect, dies shortly after delivery, seem to allow for minimal damages recovery. In such cases, any "extraordinary" costs of raising the afflicted child are minimal. Furthermore, parents are precluded from recovering emotional damages as a result of the wrongful birth.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/personal-injury-articles/damages-available-in-illinois-wrongful-birth-vs-wrongful-death-cause-of-action-723737.html
About the Author
Matthew A. Passen is an experienced Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer with Passen Law Group. Mr. Passen concentrates in all areas of Illinois personal injury law, including truck accidents, auto accidents, wrongful death, brain injury, birth injury, construction accidents, and medical malpractice in the Chicago area.
Prior to joining Passen Law Group, Mr. Passen was an associate in the litigation department of Jenner & Block LLP.
Mr. Passen received his B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Bete Kappa, in Economics from the University of Michigan in 2002. Mr. Passen obtained his law degree, summa cum laude, from DePaul University College of Law in 2006, where he graduated Order of the Coif. During law school, Mr. Passen was as a member of the DePaul Law Review.
During the 2003-04 academic year, Mr. Passen clerked for the Honorable Ronald A. Guzman, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He also spent the following semester clerking at the United States Attorney\'s Office, Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Passen is a member of the Illinois Bar. He is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and the American Association for Justice. Mr. Passen also works with elementary teachers and students in Chicago-area public schools, as a volunteer in the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago\'s \"Lawyers in the Classroom\" program.
Medical Malpractice
Jury Verdicts in Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Author: Emily Gleason
Recently in Illinois, an infant was rushed to an emergency room by his parents for incessant crying and vomiting that prevented him from nursing. The emergency room physician diagnosed the infant with a gastrointestinal colic and sent the family home with instructions on how to cope with the colic. The next day, the infant suffered a painful death, due to a rare heart defect that the doctor could have discovered by ordering a standard chest x-ray. When the infant's parents hired Chicago medical malpractice lawyers and sued both the hospital and the emergency room physician, a jury found both defendants liable for $2,250,000.
Multi-million dollar medical malpractice verdicts beg the question of how juries arrive at such numbers. What is the just measure of punishment for a doctor's error that can adequately compensate the loss of grieving parents? Obviously no amount of money could ever compensate parents or make them whole after the loss of a child. Even if such a number could be reached, is it really fair to make doctors liable?
In every profession or line of work, people, even licensed professionals, make mistakes. Unfortunately for medical professionals, every day mistakes can lead to medical malpractice lawsuits involving unfathomable tragedies such as brain damage, birth injuries, quadriplegia, amputations, and death.
The Illinois legal system has guidelines for striking the most appropriate balance between protecting both patients and doctors through (1) restrictions on filing cases, (2) caps on certain types of damages, and (3) comparative negligence testing.
Filing an Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
An Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, in most instances, needs to be filed within a 2 year statute of limitations period from the date that malpractice could have been reasonably discovered, but no more than 4 years from the date of treatment. This means that some patients are given a slightly extended period of time after medical treatment until they reasonably discover medical malpractice.
For instance, when a woman undergoes surgery to prevent future pregnancies and winds up pregnant three years later, she still has one year to file a lawsuit, because she could not have reasonably discovered the malpractice until she became pregnant three years after surgery. Despite the extension given for the discovery of malpractice, all cases are subject to a four year limitation. Thus, if the woman became pregnant 5 years later, she would no longer be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
The Illinois medical malpractice statute of limitations exists to protect doctors against stale claims. As time passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to formulate a defense against acts committed in the past. Furthermore, the statute of limitations exists so that doctors are not forced to worry about their mistakes for an unlimited amount of time. The statute of limitations can be longer in cases involving minors or shorter against government entities.
Once it is established that a case satisfies the statute of limitations, a lawsuit can only be filed if a patient's medical malpractice lawyer finds an expert who is willing to testify about a breach of standard care.
In every medical malpractice lawsuit, the overarching question is whether a doctor breached the standard of care in his or her field of practice. Standard care requirements are different for each area of medicine so medical malpractice expert witnesses must be doctors who practice in the area of medicine involved in a particular lawsuit. In order to show that there has been a breach of the standard care in a medical field, there must be an expert witness who is willing to testify for the plaintiff and say that the doctor in question failed to meet the standard of care requirements in the industry. Without expert testimony, medical malpractice cases cannot even be filed.
Illinois Medical Malpractice Damages
There are three types of damages that are generally available in Illinois law: economic damages, non-economic damages and punitive damages. As the name suggests, punitive damages are used as a form of punishment, and are not available in medical malpractice. The reasoning behind no punitive damages is that medical malpractice is a form of negligence, which is a non-intentional tort that society generally does not punish.
Economic damages include all of the medical bills and expenses that arise from malpractice, which can range from hospital bills, prescriptions and transportation costs involved. There are no caps, or limitations to the amount of medical malpractice economic damages that juries can award. Anything that a patient is billed for as a result of malpractice is an economic damage that doctors and hospitals are liable for.
Non-economic damages involve payment for all of the intangible expenses that patents endure, such as pain and suffering or even loss of relationships. As of August of 2005, non-economic damages are limited to $500,000.00 against individual doctors and $1,000,000.00 against hospitals. Thus, an Illinois jury's decision for the total amount of damages owed to a patient is limited to the medical costs associated with the malpractice, plus a maximum of $1.5 million for non-economic damages.
Comparative Negligence in Illinois Medical Malpractice
Once a conclusion is reached for the amount of damages that were incurred by a patient, juries are asked to deduct from those damages a percentage of the patient's own comparative fault. Damages can be deducted as far as 50%, but once a patient's fault is recognized as more than half, damages for the plaintiff are removed entirely.
The 50/50 comparative negligence test in Illinois only allows medical malpractice recovery against doctors when patients are 50% or less at fault. For example, if a patient is released from a hospital, and instructed by a doctor not to drive for one week while on antibiotics, but ignores the instructions, crashes a car and is severely injured, a jury would probably find that although the antibiotic may have caused the accident, the patient was more than 50% at fault for ignoring the doctor's instructions, and thus barred from recovery against the doctor who ordered the prescription.
On the other hand, in closer cases, juries can determine that patients are less than 50% at fault. In a recent case, a patient was rushed to a hospital for severe allergies that were aggravated by his smoking habits. The patient died when doctors administered a food supplement through his feeding tube that contained milk, which he was also allergic to. The jury found that the patient was 38% at fault, because it was his smoking that contributed to the patient's weakened condition that led to his death. Because the patient was less than 50% at fault, doctors were responsible for paying the patient's estate according to their share of the blame, which was 62%.
The calculation of damages, and comparative negligence along with restrictions such as the statute of limitations and requirements of expert testimony regarding standard care helps juries arrive at fair verdicts in extremely difficult cases. The downside to the extremely involved process is that it results in long lawsuits that can last for years and involve expensive legal fees. Nevertheless, the Illinois legal system strives to strike an appropriate balance between protecting both patients and doctors.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/jury-verdicts-in-illinois-medical-malpractice-lawsuits-38234.html
About the Author
Emily Gleason is a law student at John Marshall in Chicago. For more information about Illinois medical malpractice laws, please visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/HotTopics/MedicalMalpractice.htm a leading resource for referrals to Illinois medical malpractice lawyers and Illinois medical malpractice information.
Author: Emily Gleason
Recently in Illinois, an infant was rushed to an emergency room by his parents for incessant crying and vomiting that prevented him from nursing. The emergency room physician diagnosed the infant with a gastrointestinal colic and sent the family home with instructions on how to cope with the colic. The next day, the infant suffered a painful death, due to a rare heart defect that the doctor could have discovered by ordering a standard chest x-ray. When the infant's parents hired Chicago medical malpractice lawyers and sued both the hospital and the emergency room physician, a jury found both defendants liable for $2,250,000.
Multi-million dollar medical malpractice verdicts beg the question of how juries arrive at such numbers. What is the just measure of punishment for a doctor's error that can adequately compensate the loss of grieving parents? Obviously no amount of money could ever compensate parents or make them whole after the loss of a child. Even if such a number could be reached, is it really fair to make doctors liable?
In every profession or line of work, people, even licensed professionals, make mistakes. Unfortunately for medical professionals, every day mistakes can lead to medical malpractice lawsuits involving unfathomable tragedies such as brain damage, birth injuries, quadriplegia, amputations, and death.
The Illinois legal system has guidelines for striking the most appropriate balance between protecting both patients and doctors through (1) restrictions on filing cases, (2) caps on certain types of damages, and (3) comparative negligence testing.
Filing an Illinois Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
An Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit, in most instances, needs to be filed within a 2 year statute of limitations period from the date that malpractice could have been reasonably discovered, but no more than 4 years from the date of treatment. This means that some patients are given a slightly extended period of time after medical treatment until they reasonably discover medical malpractice.
For instance, when a woman undergoes surgery to prevent future pregnancies and winds up pregnant three years later, she still has one year to file a lawsuit, because she could not have reasonably discovered the malpractice until she became pregnant three years after surgery. Despite the extension given for the discovery of malpractice, all cases are subject to a four year limitation. Thus, if the woman became pregnant 5 years later, she would no longer be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.
The Illinois medical malpractice statute of limitations exists to protect doctors against stale claims. As time passes, it becomes increasingly difficult to formulate a defense against acts committed in the past. Furthermore, the statute of limitations exists so that doctors are not forced to worry about their mistakes for an unlimited amount of time. The statute of limitations can be longer in cases involving minors or shorter against government entities.
Once it is established that a case satisfies the statute of limitations, a lawsuit can only be filed if a patient's medical malpractice lawyer finds an expert who is willing to testify about a breach of standard care.
In every medical malpractice lawsuit, the overarching question is whether a doctor breached the standard of care in his or her field of practice. Standard care requirements are different for each area of medicine so medical malpractice expert witnesses must be doctors who practice in the area of medicine involved in a particular lawsuit. In order to show that there has been a breach of the standard care in a medical field, there must be an expert witness who is willing to testify for the plaintiff and say that the doctor in question failed to meet the standard of care requirements in the industry. Without expert testimony, medical malpractice cases cannot even be filed.
Illinois Medical Malpractice Damages
There are three types of damages that are generally available in Illinois law: economic damages, non-economic damages and punitive damages. As the name suggests, punitive damages are used as a form of punishment, and are not available in medical malpractice. The reasoning behind no punitive damages is that medical malpractice is a form of negligence, which is a non-intentional tort that society generally does not punish.
Economic damages include all of the medical bills and expenses that arise from malpractice, which can range from hospital bills, prescriptions and transportation costs involved. There are no caps, or limitations to the amount of medical malpractice economic damages that juries can award. Anything that a patient is billed for as a result of malpractice is an economic damage that doctors and hospitals are liable for.
Non-economic damages involve payment for all of the intangible expenses that patents endure, such as pain and suffering or even loss of relationships. As of August of 2005, non-economic damages are limited to $500,000.00 against individual doctors and $1,000,000.00 against hospitals. Thus, an Illinois jury's decision for the total amount of damages owed to a patient is limited to the medical costs associated with the malpractice, plus a maximum of $1.5 million for non-economic damages.
Comparative Negligence in Illinois Medical Malpractice
Once a conclusion is reached for the amount of damages that were incurred by a patient, juries are asked to deduct from those damages a percentage of the patient's own comparative fault. Damages can be deducted as far as 50%, but once a patient's fault is recognized as more than half, damages for the plaintiff are removed entirely.
The 50/50 comparative negligence test in Illinois only allows medical malpractice recovery against doctors when patients are 50% or less at fault. For example, if a patient is released from a hospital, and instructed by a doctor not to drive for one week while on antibiotics, but ignores the instructions, crashes a car and is severely injured, a jury would probably find that although the antibiotic may have caused the accident, the patient was more than 50% at fault for ignoring the doctor's instructions, and thus barred from recovery against the doctor who ordered the prescription.
On the other hand, in closer cases, juries can determine that patients are less than 50% at fault. In a recent case, a patient was rushed to a hospital for severe allergies that were aggravated by his smoking habits. The patient died when doctors administered a food supplement through his feeding tube that contained milk, which he was also allergic to. The jury found that the patient was 38% at fault, because it was his smoking that contributed to the patient's weakened condition that led to his death. Because the patient was less than 50% at fault, doctors were responsible for paying the patient's estate according to their share of the blame, which was 62%.
The calculation of damages, and comparative negligence along with restrictions such as the statute of limitations and requirements of expert testimony regarding standard care helps juries arrive at fair verdicts in extremely difficult cases. The downside to the extremely involved process is that it results in long lawsuits that can last for years and involve expensive legal fees. Nevertheless, the Illinois legal system strives to strike an appropriate balance between protecting both patients and doctors.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/jury-verdicts-in-illinois-medical-malpractice-lawsuits-38234.html
About the Author
Emily Gleason is a law student at John Marshall in Chicago. For more information about Illinois medical malpractice laws, please visit http://www.findgreatlawyers.com/HotTopics/MedicalMalpractice.htm a leading resource for referrals to Illinois medical malpractice lawyers and Illinois medical malpractice information.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
DNA Evidence May Prove Father Innocent of Daughter's Murder
Jerry Hobbs was convicted for the murders of his 8-year-old daughter and her 9-year-old friend. Now, new DNA evidence links another man to the crime. Nevertheless, Hobbs will remain in jail, at least for the time being. The State's Attorney told the Court that they need more time to investigate. Hobb's lawyer agreed to a two-week delay but informed the Court that he believes his client should be released now.
From the Chicago Tribune, Lisa Black reporting:
Read full story
From the Chicago Tribune, Lisa Black reporting:
Prosecutors told a Lake County judge this morning they want more time to investigate the evidence. Judge Fred Foreman agreed and set a hearing for July 21 to discuss how to proceed. In the meantime, he ordered the state's attorney's office to keep Hobbs' lawyers apprised of their findings.
"We hope that everybody makes this the No. 1 priority over the next two weeks," Foreman said. He kept intact an Oct. 6 trial date for Hobbs.
Hobbs, flanked by two guards, appeared in court in a blue jump suit. He did not speak or show any emotion during today's hearing.
"The investigation is still ongoing," said Michael Mermel, assistant state's attorney. "We advised the judge that we have this new information. It was the state's efforts that got this new evidence to happen."
The public defender representing Hobbs agreed to the two-week period for further investigation, with reservations.
"We would prefer that he be let out now," said Greg Ticsay, assistant public defender.
"We asked that he be released a year ago. You heard about the evidence. It is substantial."
On Tuesday, officials confirmed that a DNA sample found on Hobbs' daughter Laura has been linked to another man who's in custody in Virginia.
Read full story
Jackson Never Considered for Appointment by Blago
The attorney for former Governor Robert Blagojevich, had the opportunity to cross examine Rajinder Bedi about a meeting he had with Blago on October 28, 2008. Apparently, Bedi had just come from a meeting with U.S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr. who was greatly interested in Barack Obama's Senate seat. The crux of the testimony was that Blagojevich made it very clear that he would never appoint Jackson to the seat.
Read the Chicago Tribune article here
Read the Chicago Tribune article here
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