When another party’s negligence, recklessness, or wrongdoing causes someone to be injured, the negligent party may be liable for damages. This means that the injured person is entitled to compensation for the losses they sustained. Financial compensation may be available for the actual expenses incurred by the injury as well as the non-financial losses like pain and suffering. The amount of compensation available in a personal injury claim varies significantly from case to case, but the same basic factors are typically used to determine the compensation awarded.  

The Severity of Your Injuries Will Impact the Value of Your Case

As anyone who has ever received a hospital bill can attest, the cost of medical treatment in the United States can be astronomical. Even seemingly minor injuries such as a laceration or a small fracture can incur steep medical bills. Compensation for past medical bills as well as future medical expenses may be available in a personal injury claim. If your injuries require multiple surgeries, ongoing rehabilitative care such as physical therapy, and other costly treatment, this will increase the potential value of your claim.

Driving a commercial truck across the country is a challenging profession. Truck drivers must contend with long days, unpredictable work schedules, and erratic sleeping patterns. Fatigue can have a considerable impact on a person’s ability to drive – especially when people are maneuvering a large commercial truck. Sleepiness causes lowered reaction times, impaired decision-making, tunnel vision, and memory problems. Drivers who are extremely sleep deprived may even fall asleep at the wheel. Federal law has instituted restrictions designed to curb the frequency of fatigued driver truck accidents. Unfortunately, truck accidents caused by sleepiness or falling asleep at the wheel are still alarmingly common.  

Hours of Service Rules Are Intended to Prevent Fatigued Driving

Adults are supposed to get at least seven hours of sleep each night. The less sleep an individual gets at night, the greater their chances of being involved in a car accident the next day. In fact, a study published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that missing as little as one or two hours of sleep nearly doubles the chances of being involved in a collision. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has enacted certain restrictions on the number of hours that commercial truck drivers may drive consecutively without stopping for a rest break. For example, truck drivers carrying property may drive for a maximum of 11 hours after being off duty for 10 consecutive hours. However, these regulations were recently loosened in order to provide truck drivers greater flexibility while dealing with increased demand due to COVID-19.

Few would argue that healthcare professionals have a very challenging occupation. Doctors and other medical professionals are expected to interpret vast amounts of medical data and patient information and use this information to make educated decisions about patient treatment plans. Although medical professionals are fallible just like everyone else, they are held to an exceptionally high standard regarding patient care. A mistake in the diagnosis or treatment of a medical condition can cause severe patient suffering or even death. If you or a loved one has experienced a negative surgical or healthcare outcome or received substandard medical care, you may wonder if you were the victim of medical malpractice.

When Does a Medical Mistake Cross the Line into Medical Negligence?

The majority of medical malpractice claims are founded upon the legal concept of negligence. Medical negligence occurs when a medical professional acts in a way that deviates from the accepted medical practice. Of course, understanding when a healthcare worker’s actions deviate from the accepted medical practice is not always easy – especially for someone who has no medical training. Proving that a medical worker acted negligently is often the first step in a medical malpractice claim.

Losing someone in an accident caused by another person’s reckless actions is heartbreaking. If you have lost a close relative in a drunk driving car accident, you may be facing tremendous grief as well as burdensome financial problems. Illinois law gives surviving loved ones the right to bring a wrongful death claim against a party when that party’s reckless, illegal, or intentionally harmful conduct causes someone’s death. If your loved one was killed in a drunk driving crash, a wrongful death claim may help you hold the negligent driver accountable for the death as well as recover compensation for your financial losses.

What Is Considered a Wrongful Death in Illinois?

A wrongful death claim can be thought of as an injury claim that is brought on a deceased person’s behalf. According to Illinois statute, a successful wrongful death claim is possible when:

When you go to the doctor, you expect him or her to listen to your concerns with compassion and make thoughtful diagnoses and recommendations. You also probably expect that when you get admitted to the hospital or get surgery, you are in the capable hands of a devoted staff of medical professionals.

Unfortunately, this is not always the experience people have. Too often, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals are burned out and fail to provide a standard level of care.