Health care providers should be the safest people to entrust a loved one’s care to. When a doctor or nurse makes a serious mistake that leads to the death of a patient, he or she can be held financially responsible for that mistake in a wrongful death lawsuit. However, wrongful death cases based on medical malpractice can be challenging to prove. In some cases, the surviving family initially has very little information about how their close relative died. It may not be clear whether this was a medical error, an inevitable death caused by a medical condition or injury, or a mishap that was not the result of negligence on the hospital’s part. A medical corporation is very rarely willing to acknowledge that a patient’s death was caused by malpractice if the family has not already become suspicious. You will need a highly experienced Joliet, IL medical malpractice attorney to help you obtain the evidence you will need to prove your case.
Determining Whether Medical Negligence Was a Factor in Your Family Member’s Death A surgeon who has made a serious error or an emergency room doctor who has failed to provide appropriate care is unlikely to tell you in plain terms that his or her mistake is what caused your close family member’s death. It may not always be apparent to surviving family members that their relative’s death was anything but an unpreventable tragedy.
Evidence suggesting that there was medical malpractice may not be available until the coroner’s report is completed and available. If you suspect that your loved one could have survived if the medical staff charged with his or her care had acted responsibly, you should ask an attorney to review these records. You may wish to avoid viewing potentially upsetting medical evidence yourself, at least until an attorney has reviewed your case.
In other cases, it is immediately obvious that there has been a medical error. For example, if your family member’s doctor repeatedly told her not to worry about her symptoms before she abruptly died of cancer, you will likely know from the beginning that medical malpractice was a factor.
Accessing Medical Records While it is somewhat true that "the dead have no privacy," you may still face hurdles in getting the hospital or doctor that was caring for your family member to turn over the evidence you will need. An attorney may need a court order to access certain types of records that are not readily available to the public.
Contact a Joliet, IL Wrongful Death Attorney Rathbun, Cservenyak & Kozol LLC will do all it can to help you receive justice for your family member. Our dedicated Kendall County, IL medical malpractice lawyers can handle every aspect of your case while you focus on your surviving family’s needs. Contact us at 815-730-1977 for a free consultation.