A conversation with a senior citizen can be revealing. Medicare typically covers 80% of hospital costs, not including the first day of the stay. Medicare also carefully reviews hospital charge, and often refuses to pay certain charges it deems to be inappropriate. At that point, the hospital will attempt to collect from the patient. A… Read More
Civil Liability in the Penn State Scandal
There are no words to describe the terrible tragedy that has come to light at Penn State University of the course of the last few weeks. Countless lives have been ruined – indeed, we may never know the full scope of the abuse that occurred, or exactly how many young men were abused. For the… Read More
Patients’ Right to Know Act Takes Effect
The medical malpractice attorneys of Passen & Powell have frequently written about the legislative efforts to return physician profiles to the public domain after more than a decade of absence. We have lobbied for this important public access, and lent our support to the Patients’ Right to Know Act as it wound its way through… Read More
Elder Healthcare Abuse
Experts estimate that tens of thousands of elderly Americans suffer abuse each year – in their own homes, in the homes of relatives, and in nursing homes or other facilities designed to provide elder care. In fact there are over 500,000 reported cases of elder abuse each year in the U.S., and this figure does… Read More
Patients’ Right to Know Act Passes IL Legislature
In a major victory for Illinois patients and advocates for patients’ rights, such as the experienced Illinois medical malpractice lawyers of Passen & Powell, the Illinois Patients’ Right to Know Act has now passed both houses of the state legislature and is now on its way to the Governor’s desk. If, as expected, Governor Pat… Read More
Misinformation Key to Tort Reformers
Our medical malpractice attorneys in Chicago have often written about the falsehoods and misinformation behind the movement for so-called “tort reform.” One area of misinformation has gotten some play recently: the idea of “defensive medicine.” Defensive medicine is a term coined by proponents of “tort reform” to describe the supposed overuse of unnecessary or unjustified… Read More
Dangerous Doctors go Unreported, Undisciplined
The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys of Passen & Powell have often written on the failure of state regulators to adequately discipline and remove from practice doctors who have committed ethical violations or engaged in dangerous conduct towards their patients. Today, we examine another facet of this pervasive problem: government regulators have no chance of taking… Read More
Competing Bills on Physician Sexual Abuse
Our top Chicago medical malpractice attorneys have recently written on the problem of physician sexual abuse in Illinois. As the law presently stands, physicians in our state who are convicted of sexual abuse of patients are not subject to any automatic discipline by the state government – indeed, they do not even automatically have their… Read More
Public Denied Access to Physician Malpractice History, Criminal Background
The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys of Passen & Powell believe that one way to reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of physician misconduct or medical malpractice is to have access to a doctor’s malpractice history. In Illinois, until recently patients could access, at a minimum, some of the necessary information about potential physicians directly… Read More
Study Finds Alcohol is Deadliest Drug
When many people think of deadly recreational drugs, what most often comes to mind are things like heroin, crack cocaine, and methamphetamines. But is something we encounter every day – alcohol – actually more deadly than these frightening substances? Our Chicago accident lawyers have long suspected that the answer is “yes.” Now, researchers in Britain… Read More