The American Hospital Association (AHA) has established new guidelines for managing patients who are suspected of having suffered a stroke. Eligible patients presenting to the hospital with ischemic stroke should receive recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rTPA) within 60 minutes of arrival, according to the new ischemic stroke guidelines.
Published in Stroke, the guidelines include the following new or revised recommendations:
• Patients with suspected stroke should be quickly taken to the closest certified primary stroke center or comprehensive stroke center. If no such centers exist, they should be taken to the most appropriate institution that provides emergency stroke care.
• In community hospitals without onsite stroke expertise, telestroke consultation with stroke education and training for clinicians could help increase use of rTPA.
• Intravenous fibrinolysis may be considered in patients with mild stroke deficits, rapidly improving stroke symptoms, major surgery in the prior 3 months, and recent myocardial infarction.
• Efforts should be made to reduce the time from symptom onset to reperfusion with intra-arterial therapies.
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Enlisting the help of an experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney is one of the best ways to ensure fair compensation for injuries resulting from a doctor or hospital’s mistake.
Not only will the attorney be able to handle all correspondence with the doctor’s malpractice insurance company, but the attorney will also manage the ordering of medical records relating to the injuries, as well as the corresponding medical bills.
There will, however, come a point in the medical malpractice claim where you will be asked to provide information to the firm. This request could come in the form of a document that needs your signature, a synopsis of what happened, or even a list of all medical providers you have seen over the years.
Whatever it is that your attorney needs, it is imperative that you make the effort to get him the information he needs as quickly as possible.
In Illinois, there is a limited timeframe to bring a claim against a doctor or hospital for medical malpractice. Referred to as the statute of limitations, the law states that a lawsuit for medical malpractice must generally be filed within two years from the date that the victim knew, or should have known, about the malpractice. If you or your attorney fails to file the lawsuit in time, you may be forever barred from bringing suit against the at-fault party, even if the claim had merit and had a good chance of being won.
In order to help your attorney do everything he can to avoid reaching that statute of limitations, make sure to provide any and all documentation the lawyer requests.
For more information on how the importance of promptly providing information on your claim, contact the experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Lane Brown by calling 312-332-1400, or by filling out the secure online form. Call or click today.
Pinpointing whether or not your medical ailments are a result of Illinois medical malpractice can be difficult.
It may seem like the pain and complications you are experiencing are just a side effect of the original medical problems you were facing, or that the injuries were a risk that you unfortunately were victim to.
That is why the Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Lane Brown want to discuss two commonly overlooked medical malpractice injuries, in order to help readers better recognize them and hopefully prevent them from happening.
Commonly overlooked medical malpractice injuries include:
- Problems with anesthesia. If an anesthesiologist does not correctly administer the anesthetics according to a patient’s height, weight, age, and allergies, there can be devastating consequences. In addition to the patient potentially waking up during the middle of the surgery or procedure and feeling excruciating pain, there is also the risk that the patient could be given too much anesthesia and pass away.
- Surgical mistakes. These mistakes include everything from operating on the wrong limb to accidentally cutting an artery. There have also been serious cases that involved surgical teams mistakenly leaving behind foreign objects, like gauze or tools, inside the body before stitching up the surgical site. This can cause a serious infection, sometimes leading to death.
The reputable attorneys at Lane Brown would be happy to sit down with you and your family—for free—to confidentially discuss your situation if you feel that you are a victim of Illinois medical malpractice. Simply call 312-332-1400, or fill out the online form and an attorney will get back with you shortly. Call or click today.
Before You Speak With an Insurance Adjuster in Illinois…
Shortly after a person is injured in a Chicago motor vehicle accident, it is very common for the at-fault party’s insurance company to contact the victim in order to gather information.
The adjuster will most likely ask to confirm the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of all victims. The adjuster will also need to know the vehicles’ makes and models, where the accident occurred, and what type of injuries were sustained.
Chances are the adjuster will want the victim to provide the answers to these questions during a recorded call. It is very important to not allow the call to be recorded unless you have first spoken with an attorney.
The adjuster will probably also tell the victim that in order for the medical bills to be paid, the insurance company must order all of the corresponding records that relate to the accident. For these records to be ordered, a medical authorization must be signed, giving the insurance company permission to contact the doctor or hospital where those records are housed. While this may seem logical, and necessary in order for the bills to be paid, it is actually an extremely bad idea to sign a medical authorization provided by the insurance company.
This is because the insurance company will take the opportunity to use that release to order medical records that have nothing to do with the accident itself. Instead, they will order your complete medical chart, in hopes of finding something that is private in nature and potentially detrimental to the case.
While it is true that the records do in fact need to be ordered, make sure that it is done by an attorney you trust, and who has your best interests in mind.
Before you speak with any insurance adjusters, talk with one of the experienced and trusted attorneys at Lane Brown (888-529-9377). We offer a free consultation to discuss your case. Call today and learn how we can get you the compensation you deserve.
Stroke victims, their families and attorneys should be aware that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a common disorder found after stroke or major traumas, and may play a significant role in impeding recovery. Frequently a consequence of acute life-threatening events, including acute coronary syndrome (ACS), cancer, and stroke, PTSD is estimated to affect up to 18% of stroke survivors. PTSD has been shown to impair stoke victims’ reliable adherence to medication regimens, according to new research.
Investigators at Columbia University Medical Center in New York found that 65% of stroke survivors with PTSD failed to adhere to treatment vs 33% of their counterparts without PTSD. They also found that concerns about medications were a primary barrier to treatment adherence.
Stroke survivors should be assessed for concerns about medications and PTSD symptoms, so that interventions may be introduced as early as possible to get patients back on track to avoid future stroke events. The study was published online on January 7th in the British Journal of Health Psychology.
In survivors of strokes and transient ischaemic attacks…adherence to risk-reducing medications, including antiplatelet agents, antihypertensive agents, and statins, is especially important for preventing subsequent strokes.
When dealing with the pain and aftermath of a serious Chicago personal injury claim, the last thing you want to do is take photos of the accident scene. Unfortunately, those photos could end up being the difference between winning and losing your case.
Taking photos is just one part of the extremely important task of documenting everything after any type of personal injury.
Other forms of documentation are critically important to your case:
- Medical records and bills relating to your injuries.
- Any correspondence, written or recorded, between you and insurance companies, medical personnel, and emergency responders (police, firefighters, etc.).
- Police report from the scene of the accident.
- Eyewitness accounts, usually in writing, of the accident.
Make sure to keep all this information in one place, so that it is readily available when it comes time to speak with your attorney.
If you are having trouble gathering this information on your own, like photographs of the accident scene or pictures of the injuries sustained to your body, enlisting the help of an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer is the best route to go. That is what they are here for – to handle as much of the claim as possible, so that you can focus on regaining your health.
Let the compassionate and trusted lawyers at Lane Brown, LLC, be the ones to help you through this daunting process. Simply call 312-332-1400, or fill out the online form. We offer a free consultation to discuss your case.
