in 2013 i called 911 because i can't breathe they took me to a hospital in Chicago i was suffering from pulmonary edema the doctors did a tracheotomy so i can breathe again after 3 month of being in coma when i woke up my left was almost paralyzed and i can't feel anything and when someone touch my arm and my hand i feel like electricity i asked the doctors what happen to my arm they didn't answer i called i told them to do a test they didn't want so in another hospital found me that my radial nerve was total damaged. and in the same hospital never changed me o clean me the dressing of my tracheotomy for months and my family complaint why my neck smell so bad and was with puss and i got infections and my arm was totally fine and the hospital damaged it can i file a malpractice case?
tephen Laurence HoffmanPersonal Injury LawyerChicago, IL ·
There is no way to know if you can do this without a review of your medical records by a medical expert. That is a requirement before any malpractice lawsuit may even be filed in this state.
A good place to begin is to obtain all your records from this event and contact a medical malpractice lawyer.
Usually, I will review the history with the potential client and the records and see if there is something worth having an expert review. If so, they are sent out to the expert. If, in his or her opinion, malpractice occurred, then a case may be initiated.
This happened in 2013, so you should be obtaining records and calling lawyers today.
It sounds like you should speak with an attorney about this. Gather your medical records and consult with a lawyer. In Illinois, a medical professional needs to first review the potential claim for merit before a lawsuit can be filed. A lawyer can help with this. Usually the statute of limitations is two years for these cases but in some instances it's shorter, so don't delay.
You may very well have a basis to bring a claim, but, as others have suggested, you need to have the complete records reviewed by a competent physician and attorney. It's always proved to be helpful to get a color copy of the records, as ordinary photocopies may hide entries that may have been altered or added, and sometimes that can be seen more easily with color copies, as you can see where different inks were used. You should make your request in writing, and be able to establish the date the providers received the request (via certified mail, for example). Under Illinois law, you're entitled to get the records within a certain time after a written request has been received. If the provider violates that, you might be entitled to attorneys' fees and costs.
As to the actual merits of your case, I suggest that if you haven't already done so, you should see a doctor who is independent of the hospital and doctors who we're caring for you when this happened. There are many great ones in the Chicago area, and any attorney who handles medical malpractice cases on a regular basis can help you find good doctors and hospitals to help you. While your doctors have told you that there's nerve damage, you haven't said if they'd told you how that damage occurred. Again, this is something a competent and experienced med Mal attorney can help you with. In order to be successful in proving your case, the burden is on you to prove there was negligence in your care, and that it was thT negligence which was a cause of your injuries. Again, you will need a good, competent and experienced attorney to help you, and I urge you to retain one as soon as possible to make sure that your best evidence is gathered and preserved and that your interests are protected.
