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Hospital Hell

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laroy2000

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? ILLINOIS
My father-in-law had been receiving dialysis treatment for over two years, normally with myself, my wife or my sister-in-law taking him home, this was done do to him being very weak and disoriented after his treatment. On Jan.
23 2001, a close friend of the family was held at the same time of dialysis. My wife and sister-in-law had phoned and talked with the dialysis nurse more than 1/2 dozen times. She assured them that they would get him safely on the City's Handicap Bus and the bus driver would see him into his house, this had been done a few times before. No one helped him to the bus, he fell hit-
ting his head on the bus steps resulting in head,back and neck injuries. After 5 days laying in the hospital,complaining of neck/back pain and being assured by hosp.staff that X-rays show no injuries, he was told his neck was broken and unrepairable. He was told he was bedridden but with dialysis could live another 3/5 yrs. He stated his Dr.(who was outoftown) knew he did not want to live this way and was not going to dialysis. After attending Dr. ordered him to go to dialysis, a 3rd Dr. abritrated. Dr.#3, after talking to father and posi-tive that my father-in-law knew the circumstances, honor his request and no dialysis was given. My father-in-law died 10 days later. The estate lawyer said he would start proceedings against the hospital and wrote a letter to the hospital. We were told by the lawyer(almost a year later and no other action taken) that his daughter-in-law had graduated from school and was hired by the hospital which created a conflict of interest, therefore he was dropping our case. Do we have any recourse or is it too late?
Thank You, Patrick
P.S. We have never received a bill from, or been contacted by, the hospital.
 


ellencee

Senior Member
laroy2000
I believe the best advice I can offer is for you to consult with a different medical malpractice and personal injury attorney in the area of the hospital and the transportion company.

I don't understand how or why a potential medical malpractice claim existed at all. Your father was competent to make decisions, paralysed (whether complete or partial) from the neck down, dependent on dialysis, and your father made the decision not to seek further treatment. Since the law allows for such a decision, I don't understand why or how a medical malpractice claim existed against the hospital and/or a physician.

As for the attorney's dropping the case because of the family's having a conflict of interest, it is not unusual for a medmal claim to be without merit because the patient continued under the care of the same provider or that the spouse of the claimant continued under the care of the same provider. If the provider is considered negligent by the claimant, then why would the claimant or the spouse continue to receive care from the same provider? Either the claimant has no faith/trust in the provider because of its negligence or the claimant has full confidence in the provider; it can't be both ways. I can only assume the attorney believed the claim was inherently damaged by the claimant's daughter's recent employment by the negligent provider.

I don't understand why the transportation provider was not sued for negligence resulting in personal injury. There have been several successful negligence, personal injury suits (in NC) against county owned handicapped transportation providers who failed to assist the handicapped as they exited the bus or van.

Here is a link to the Illinois statutes of limitations regarding medical malpractice and wrongful death:http://www.mcandl.com/illinois.html
You may be able to gain some answers from this site as it is by a lawfirm in Illinois.

Best wishes,
EC
 
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