State Failed to Investigate Most Hospital Complaints

A recent article in the Chicago Tribune Sunday highlighted why it is sometimes necessary to have an attorney to protect your rights.

The story highlighted how the State of Illinois failed to investigate 85% of hospital complaints.

Most of us presume that if something goes wrong in a hospital, there has to be some regulatory agency that will make sure this doesn't happen again.  We also tend to trust the government entities that regulate many agencies and industries to make sure we are safe.

Unfortunately, in our State, for a variety of reasons, including lacking a budget that would allow adequate investigations, often these complaints go unregulated and uninvestigated.

While the recent Hot Coffee documentary did and excellent job of demonstrating that "trial lawyers" are not the evil force they have often been portrayed, the public at large often feels that personal injury and medical malpractice lawyers are unnecessary.

In fact, in this day and age where so many government agencies without resources to keep us safe, it is essential that consumers have someone to fight for them.

If you think you've been injured, harmed, or wronged, you should contact a lawyer rather than trust the government or the entity that harmed you to "fix" the damage.  As much as the litigation process can be combative and costly (often as a direct result of insurance companies trying to make it expensive and costly for plaintiffs), it is sometimes the ONLY WAY to repair a harm and make someone whole again who has been damaged or injured due to another person's or entity's negligence.

Even better, most plaintiff's personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee arrangement, meaning that there is no fee unless a settlement or verdict is achieved on your behalf and initial consultations are also almost always free.

After reading the Tribune article, it kind of makes you wonder if anyone is watching over those who need monitoring.