Since the first successful kidney transplant in the 1950s, organ donation has given many patients a new lease on life. In the US alone, over 100,000 people are currently waiting for an organ donation, with a new person being added to the list every ten minutes. However, the biggest barrier…
Doctors are relying more and more on narcotic medications to treat patients’ increased complaints of chronic pain. However, while this might mean that more patients’ pain is being treated in the short-term, it has some potentially harmful long-term consequences. The longer patients remain on opiate medications, the less effective they…
As surgical techniques become more advanced, more Americans are undergoing minor surgical procedures. And while many times these surgical procedures result in seemingly miraculous results, with the prior symptoms disappearing completely, some may also result in unanticipated side effects. A recent Cook County lawsuit serves as an example of some…
A Lake County jury entered a verdict in favor of a woman who was sustained a head injury after falling from a surgical table. While the original medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against both the hospital where the fall occurred and the anesthesiologist who administered an epidural prior to the…
In a Cook County medical malpractice lawsuit, the Illinois Appellate Court recently ruled that a hospital could not be held liable for the potential negligence of one of its independent contractors in Lamb-Rosenfeldt v. Burke Medical Group, 2012 IL App (1st), 101558. The case was brought by the decedent’s daughter,…
For many medical diseases, early detection can drastically improve a patient’s outcome. Therefore, doctors are always working to find new ways to predict who might be at risk for certain diseases, or to prevent people from developing certain diseases. A new study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examines…
As part of an effort to reform Illinois nursing homes, government agencies are attempting to increase their oversight of potential nursing home violations. When the Department of Public Health went to investigate potential nursing home policy violation at an Illinois facility, the Illinois nursing home facility accused the health agency…
In TV and movie trial dramas, we are always shown a jury hotly debating over the case facts, with one or two jurors holding out against the rest of the jury. However, in Illinois, in order for a jury verdict to stand it needs to be unanimous. This means that…
As patients, we entrust our health and well-being to our physicians and rely on their expertise to make us well. Perhaps this trust is nowhere more obvious than in Intensive Care Units (ICU), where most patients’ lives are hanging in the balance. The wrongful death lawsuit of Estate of Tyrone…
Jury instructions are invaluable in helping jurors make decisions that are in accordance with the law. It is through jury instructions that jurors are able to understand what questions they need to answer and how. Yet when a jury is given incorrect jury instructions it can bias its opinion and…