Medical Negligence

Meet Jim Coogan Managing Partner & Trial Attorney Who is Jim Coogan? I am native to the Chicagoland area. Both sides of my family were from the South side of Chicago and the Southwest Suburbs. I grew up in Oak Brook and always thought I would call the Chicago area my home. There’s just something […]

What Is A Diagnostic Error? Medical Care Requires an Accurate Diagnosis for Treatment “Where does it Hurt?” Studies have shown that there are over 440,000 fatal medical errors that occur each year in the United States. Often, the problem begins right from the beginning. This is because the course of proper medical care always begins […]

COVID-19 AND NURSING HOMES – What Residents and Family Need to Know: COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, is known to be particularly lethal to older adults with underlying health conditions, and can spread more easily through congregate facilities, where many people live in a confined environment and workers move from room to room. […]

A GREATER HARM RECENT STUDIES CONFIRM THAT PATIENTS INJURED FROM MEDICAL ERRORS SUFFER MORE THAN PHYSICALLY In the United States, medical errors are estimated to be the third-leading cause of death. Indeed, a study in the Journal of Patient Safety published in 2013 criticized outdated estimates, and put the number at approximately 440,000 annual deaths […]

Laws Capping Damages Hurt the Injured Patients, Consumers, and Victims pay the price when Juries are Capped. It is one of the most difficult questions for an injury lawyer to answer: “what is my case worth?”  So, if lawyers who do this work on a daily basis cannot answer it, how is a jury of […]

Doctors Interrupt Patients Too Quickly in Office Visits   Journal of General Internal Medicine Study: Doctors Interrupt Patients After Just 11 Seconds Doctors cannot treat patients unless they listen.  It is that simple.  And doctors know it.  Patients know it.  However, a recent study by the Journal of General Internal Medicine reveals that doctors may […]

ITLA launches women’s caucus to foster leaders Photo provided by Rebecca E. Neubauer The newly formed women’s caucus of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association at the state Capitol in Springfield last month. Front and center is caucus chair Margaret P. Battersby Black, partner at Levin & Perconti; to her left, caucus co-vice chair Sarah F. […]

What images come to mind when you hear the words “nursing home”? Nursing Homes–For many, the image will be of a gentle environment–soft sunlight coming through bright windows, shining on clean floors and furniture with smiling elderly residents.  Others may conjure images of hospital beds and long hallways bustling with nurses and food carts.  The […]

“We are so proud of our founding partner Patrick Dwyer II, who was today conferred with the title of “Distinguished Counselor” by Justice Russell Hartigan and The Illinois State Bar Association. Pat is recognized as a distinguished counselor for his more than FIFTY years of service as a lawyer. Today he continues his interest in […]

The United States Department of Health and Human Resources is in charge of overseeing the administration of health care in the U.S.  It distributes funds for patient care to healthcare facilities, including Nursing Homes through Medicare payments (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, otherwise known as “CMS”).  As part of its oversight, it monitors […]

PATIENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT TREATMENT A new Survey released by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (in conjunction with NORC at University of Chicago) reveals that 21% of Americans experienced medical errors personally. Beyond that 31% of respondents reported that someone whose medical care they were personally involved with experienced a medical […]

AND TOO MANY SENIORS AND PATIENTS ARE NOT GETTING ADEQUATE CARE The Nursing Home Tragedy In Hollywood, Florida Reminds Us of the Risks In the wake of a devastating Hurricane Season in the Caribbean and in Florida, Americans are left with lots of messes to clean up as well as questions: about storm safety and […]