Our top medical malpractice attorneys have often spoken out against so-called “tort reform.” These “reforms” generally have little to no impact on the costs of medical care or medical malpractice insurance premiums, while simultaneously taking away the rights and remedies of the victims of medical malpractice. We are fiercely opposed to proposals where, in the… Read More
The Nursing Home Care Act Part IV: Enforcing Your Rights
In our continuing series on the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, today the Chicago nursing home injury attorneys of Passen & Powell today take an in-depth look at the various options available to residents of long-term care facilities, and their guardians, for enforcing their rights. In previous articles, we have covered the Act’s applicability and… Read More
The Nursing Home Care Act Part II: Living Conditions
As part of our ongoing series on the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, the Chicago personal injury attorneys of Passen & Powell today look at the living conditions which the Act requires covered facilities to maintain. These requirements cover a variety of topics, but all share a common goal: to ensure that these most vulnerable… Read More
Illinois Nursing Home Residents’ Rights
Among the most vulnerable of Illinois citizens are our elderly. Sadly, these vulnerable individuals are often disadvantaged, neglected, exploited and abused. The nursing home injury lawyers of Passen & Powell are always saddened to hear of elder abuse, but find these stories particularly shocking when it is a nursing home or care facility – the… Read More
Government Ineffective Against Pharmaceutical Misconduct Even When It Imposes Record Fines
Those who follow the news may be impressed by the massive fines they have seen imposed against pharmaceutical companies for their misconduct, including off-label marketing. Periodically, the press reports a fine against one of these companies reaching into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Surely, with such fines imposed, the drug companies and the industry… Read More
Bill Aims to Prevent Personal Injury and Wrongful Death in Nursing Homes
This past week, our lawmakers in Springfield at last took steps to stem the tide of violence and injury in Illinois’ nursing homes. Our Chicago personal injury attorneys applaud the legislature for enacting this important law. Over the past year, this epidemic of injury and death has been brought to light by an investigative series… Read More
Hospital ‘Report Cards’ Show Frequency of Medical Errors
As the debate over medical liability reform continues, an often forgotten statistic is the number of patients injured or killed by medical malpractice. In New Jersey, for example, a story from the Star-Ledger found that doctors and hospitals in that state committed 9,400 “serious errors” in 2007, which were defined as a medical error leading… Read More
Hospital Acquired Infections – Lax Reporting
In the September issue of The Atlantic, David Goldhill, author of “How American Health Care Killed My Father”, talks about how his father entered the hospital with pneumonia, but was killed by a series of infections he picked up while in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. Unfortunately, thousands of families across the… Read More