Medical Malpractice

We take on and must overcome many challenges when we accept your Medical Malpractice case.

The 7/26/2000 Journal of American Medical Association (“JAMA”) citing Learn Vest (Demetrius Cheeks, 5/16/13) states: “Medical negligence is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. – right behind heart disease and cancer.” Id. In “Chapter 3: The Moral Climate of Health Care, Section 2: The Statistics, A Shocking Reality,” organized by Sara Cerrone (NCC, 2005), Ms. Cerrone opines: “For every 7.6 injuries that occur within a hospital, due to malpractice, only one malpractice claim is made.” According to another article, entitled “U.S. Drug Safety Monitoring Must be Expanded,” an estimated 1.5 million people require hospitalization and 100,000 die each year because of injuries linked to prescription drugs (https://chiro.org/ChiroZine/ABSTRACTS/US_Drug_Safety_Monitoring.html). “. . . [T]he most shocking statistic is that 783,926 deaths per year are caused by conventional medicine.” Id. In spite of that astounding statistic, it is estimated that only 15% of the personal injury lawsuits filed annually involve medical malpractice claims, and of those, 80% of those suits end with no payment whatsoever to the injured patient or their survivors.” [Learn Vest]

Saying that there are many daunting challenges in the filing and prosecution of a medical malpractice case is an understatement. Unlike other areas of law, this type of case is one that rarely settles until the commencement of trial. Nearly all medical defendants will deny responsibility, and medical malpractice lawyers usually have to prepare this case for trial. Most attorneys don’t want to tell their clients of this fact at the outset because (especially in the Cook County Court system) “discovery” and thereafter preparing a case for trial takes years. Even when the medical malpractice is evident from the outset, Clients must be patient for years before seeing validation of their contention that a medical provider committed malpractice.

If you believe some medical provider has committed some mistake in the treatment you or some loved one received and wish to discuss whether or not you may file a claim, reach out to us for a consultation so we can discuss the particulars of your concern(s) and determine you have a cause of action. We assist clients from Orland Park, Chicago Heights, Frankfort, Matteson, Park Forest and Tinley Park, IL.

WE MEET THIS FIRST CHALLENGE by being totally transparent with you – explaining that we can’t even file your case unless and until we find another doctor (having the same qualifications) who will review ALL your medical records, examine you, and provide us with an opinion (“Report”) stating that the doctor(s) who treated you “deviated from the standard of care” that was due to you. Then, there will be many Court motions, statuses, etc., the lengthiest of which is generally the “discovery” process.

You must be prepared to assist us when needed and commit to being patient throughout this very lengthy process and the many twists and turns of your case. During the “discovery” process, your deposition will be taken by the defendants’ attorneys; we will take deposition(s) of the defendant doctors’(s)’ as well as depositions of all other “fact” witnesses involved, and so on…

During the time period beginning with you retaining our Firm to proceed with your medical malpractice claim to the point of time that the case is set for trial, we will continue working without any payment on this matter for those many months (generally years) required to bring your case to the point of trial, but instead, will be advancing many thousands of our dollars necessary to:

1. File your case
2. Get service on all the medical providers
3. Pay doctors for medical opinions, reports and/or examinations
4. Pay doctors’ fees to get their depositions taken
5. Pay Court Reporters for recording the depositions and transcribing the transcript

There can be further financial requirements based on the circumstances of each individual case—but the aforementioned expenses will most likely have to be paid prior to the conclusion of the case, so we advance these expenses as this case progresses. Remember however that all expenses will have to be paid back out of the proceeds at the time the case concludes.

A law firm accepting a medical malpractice case must be willing to risk significant time and money to initiate and prosecute each medical malpractice case it accepts. Your lawyers must always assess the “risk of losing their money” because there is always a possibility that the jury finds the defendant doctors “not guilty” at the conclusion of the trial. I know one lawyer who lost over $64,000 on one medical malpractice case. Part of the reason for your lawyers’ “risk of loss of money” is that the defendants’ insurance company has a far larger pool of doctors to draw from than any single law firm does, so they can get far more doctors to testify on behalf of the doctor being sued than any law firm can get doctors to testify against the doctor(s) who committed medical malpractice while treating you.

One of our greatest challenges in a medical malpractice case is finding a doctor who is willing to testify AGAINST the doctor who treated you. In order to file your case, we have to find and then pay (approx. $3,500- more if a specialist is needed) for the Report that supports the filing of your medical malpractice case. There are challenges to getting such a Report.

The first challenge (finding a reputable doctor willing to give us an opinion supporting your malpractice claim; then testify on your behalf) is one of the greatest challenges in your case. In many lawyers’ opinions, there seems to be a “conspiracy of silence” among doctors, predisposing them to avoid getting involved in supporting litigation against “one of their own.” One reason for this is that, for the most part, doctors enjoy a collegial relationship and often network with many other doctors. Another reason is that a great majority of doctors in Illinois are insured by an insurance company called “ISMIE.”

ISMIE is considered by many to be affiliated with a very strong political/doctors’ lobby in Springfield and is very conservative in its approach to the defense of medical malpractice claims. ISMIE pledges its doctors that it will “present a strategic, vigorous defense for every claim.” They almost never let their insured doctors admit their malpractice. Since a majority of Illinois doctors are insured by ISMIE and annual costs of malpractice insurance are quite steep, many doctors will refuse to take part in supporting your medical malpractice case against another doctor because ISME can increase doctor’s insurance premiums if ISMIE’s costs to defend cases increases disproportionately in any given year from prior years.

Because of the foregoing, it is a very daunting challenge to find a qualified doctor willing to put into writing that another doctor committed malpractice. WE MEET THIS SECOND CHALLENGE through diligent research and thoroughly searching (sometimes throughout all the United States) for a medical expert having the proper qualifications and experience in the specific field of medicine at the core of your medical malpractice claim. We overcome this difficult challenge by finding such a doctor to support your case!

There are many other challenges involved in the handling of your medical malpractice case, but since it would take a book to give a full account of them all, suffice to say that once we accept the risk and responsibility of handling your medical malpractice case, we then commit ourselves to OVERCOMING ALL CHALLENGES we meet in the process of obtaining a settlement or trial verdict to compensate you for the serious injuries sustained by you as a result of the malpractice. David G. McDermott has had more than forty-one (41) years of legal experience. The field of Medical Malpractice is one of his areas of concentration.