If a person suffers harm as a result of improper medical care in the state of Illinois and it can be proven that the harm was the result of a negligent act on the part of the facility, the doctor or any other medical provider, that individual or entity can be sued for medical malpractice. As there are certain rules that affect cases of this nature it is important that the injured party be represented by Chicago medical malpractice lawyers.
The Illinois statute of limitations:
The statute of limitations is the deadline that must be met if a person wishes to sue a health care provider for medical malpractice. Medical malpractice cases are extremely complex and to make it worse, the statute of limitations for this type of case is short and the rules are difficult.
The plaintiff often has to fulfill requirements that would not be required in other tort cases, failure to take these special requirements into account can result in missing the deadline, furthermore, it is actually hard to determine when the meter started to run, therefore, it is equally difficult to determine what the actual deadline is.
In Illinois, you have two years in which you can hire Chicago medical malpractice lawyers and institute a lawsuit. The two years starts when you first became aware of the malpractice. There is a four year cap from the date the malpractice actually occurred. If evidence of malpractice should show up after four years you will not have a case.
No cap on damages:
If you meet the prerequisites you can pursue a case. Prior to 2010 the state of Illinois capped the damages that could be awarded. In 2010 this was struck down as being unconstitutional so as the law reads now, there is no limit on the amount of damages that can be sued for. Visit us at Shea Law Group for more details.