Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Illinois?

In Illinois, the law limits who can file wrongful death lawsuits to certain categories of people holding different relationships with the decedents. It is important for family members to understand who can file a lawsuit when their loved ones have died as the result of someone else’s negligent or wrongful acts. If lawsuits are filed by the wrong plaintiffs, the correct ones must substitute into the lawsuits in order for them to proceed. If a rightful plaintiff does not substitute himself or herself in the lawsuit, the claim may be dismissed. Wrongful death lawyers may help families to determine who the rightful plaintiffs are before filing the lawsuits in order to avoid potential problems.

Who Can Sue For Wrongful Death?

In Illinois, only the personal representative of the decedent’s estate is allowed to file a wrongful death claim. The personal representative is allowed to be the spouse of the deceased person, a deceased minor’s parent, an adult child of the deceased person or another next of kin. If a personal representative was not named by the deceased victim in a will, then the court may appoint someone to serve as the personal representative of the estate. It is that person’s responsibility to manage the estate and to also file the wrongful death claim. If another family member files a lawsuit, the personal representative must step into the case or it may be dismissed. If the personal representative fails to file a wrongful death claim within the statute of limitations, the ability to recover damages for the decedent’s death may be permanently barred.

Statute of Limitations

Wrongful death lawsuits must be filed no later than one year after the victim’s death or according to the statute of limitations for the underlying claim. If the incident that happened involved a personal injury claim, the statute of limitations could be up to two years from the injury date. Because the underlying statute of limitations begins to run from the date of the injury, it is possible for the claim period to run out before the person succumbs. In this case, the personal representatives may not be able to file claims if the decedent lived for a few years before succumbing but never filed a personal injury lawsuit. Wrongful death lawyers advise families to file claims as soon as possible to avoid statutes of limitations problems so that their abilities to recover damages will remain.

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When Defective Products Kill

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that defective products have caused about 29.5 million injuries, with hundreds of thousands occurring each year, and they claim the lives of approximately 22,000 innocent victims every year in the United States. Product manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their products are free from defects that could cause these injuries and deaths. When they fail to do so, they can be held liable for the damages that are incurred.

Common Product Defects that Cause Wrongful Death

Wrongful death lawyers in Illinois see a wide variety of cases that involve defective products that kill. Some of the most common types include:

  • Defective Auto Parts: Motor vehicles are equipped with various types of equipment that can be defective and potentially deadly. Malfunctioning safety equipment, poor design, bad tires, and brake issues are some of the most noteworthy.
  • Toys: There have been numerous deaths caused by defective or poorly designed toys in the United States in recent years. In fact, the CPSC has recalled more than 450 children’s toys in just the last ten years. Many of these toys were removed from the market because they carried a risk for children drowning, the toy exploding or catching fire, kids choking, or even causing a user to be drugged.
  • Sporting Goods and Safety Gear: While sports equipment sometimes causes serious injuries and deaths, the safety gear that is often used to protect participants while they play can be just as deadly. Defective helmets fail to protect football players, bicyclists and motor cycle riders on a regular basis. And just recently, country music singer Craig Morgan’s teenage son lost his life while wearing a life vest that wasn’t sufficient to keep him afloat when he was knocked unconscious in the water.
  • Medical Devices: Sometimes the life-saving devices people depend on in a medical setting ultimately take their lives. Defective surgical devices and dangerous drugs seem to top the list.

When Defective Products Lead to Death

When a victim suffers fatal injuries that are caused by defective products, the surviving family members can file a wrongful death lawsuit to hold the responsible manufacturer and even the retailer responsible. If the lawsuit is successful the parties may be able to recover medical expenses incurred before death, lost wages and future income, and financial compensation for loss of consortium and other damages.

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Chiropractic Adjustment Causes Fatal Stroke for Playboy Model

In February 2016, Katie May, a Playboy model, died three days after visiting a chiropractor for a neck adjustment after a slip-and-fall injury. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed by family members with wrongful death lawyers against the chiropractor.

Chiropractic Adjustments Can Cause a Stroke

One of the most common and severe injuries sustained by patients as the result of chiropractic treatment is a stroke. A chiropractic-induced stroke occurs when blood flow through a major artery is blocked to the brain as the result of a neck adjustment. Strokes caused by this type of chiropractic treatment can result in temporary or permanent paralysis, and even death. Other less serious injuries that result from neck adjustments include: spinal stenosis; facial paralysis; pinched nerves and arteries; numbness and/or tingling in the limbs; tinnitus; frequent headaches; and vertigo.

Numerous cases of patients who suffered strokes after chiropractic treatments have been documented. Known by medical professionals as a cervical artery dissection (CD), injury typically occurs from a small tear in the arterial walls. Blocked blood vessels in the brain and blood clots can cause a stroke within hours or days after treatment, A 2010 study of deaths after chiropractic neck adjustments found 26 published cases, and seven unpublished cases, caused by dissection of a vertebral artery. A 2013 study of the previous 10 years found over 700 incidents of stroke associated with chiropractic cervical spinal ma­nipu­la­tion treatments.

Wrongful Death Damages in Illinois

In Illinois, when a person dies from injuries caused by negligence or wrongful acts of another person, the family of the deceased can file a wrongful death civil lawsuit with wrongful death lawyers to recover damages. Illinois has no caps on damages in wrongful death claims. Compensation for pecuniary injuries can be recovered by surviving spouses or next of kin.

The Illinois Wrongful Death Act allows damages for pecuniary injuries which include goods, services, and monetary losses that are incurred by the decedents’ family members. Damages may include:

  • Lost earnings of the deceased person
  • Lost services that the deceased person provided
  • Reasonable funeral and burial expenses incurred by family members
  • Medical expenses incurred by the deceased person before death from injuries

A surviving spouse may recover damages for the loss of consortium, grief, and mental anguish. Surviving children may recover damages based on the value of the deceased parent’s lost companionship, moral guidance, and instruction that would have been provided if he/she was still alive.

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Medical Mistakes the 3rd Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.

Medical mistakes are a much larger issue than many people realize. According to a study published by the Journal of Patient Safety, it is estimated that between 210,000 and 440,000 Americans lose their lives to medical errors each year. Alarmingly, this makes medical mistakes, (errors by doctors, hospitals and other health care professionals) the third leading cause of death in the United States. Only heart disease and cancer cause more annual deaths.

While hospitals and other health care facilities are making advances in identifying and correcting errors that cause patient fatalities, safety esperts suggest that progress is still too slow. According to Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog– an independent agency that assigns hospital safety scores to approximately 2,500 general hospitals throughout the United States, “We are burying a population the size of Miami every year from medical errors that can be prevented.” Key findings of their 2013 study revealed that:

  • With the exception of the use of Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) being implemented, hospitals have shown no improvement in their reported performance evaluated in the scores. The increasing adoption of CPOE, however, reveals that federal efforts to improve safety technology in U.S. hospitals has been somewhat successful.
  • Of the 2,539 hospitals throughout the nation that were evaluated, only 813 scored an ‘A’, while 661 received a ‘B’, 893 scored a ‘C’, 150 earned a ‘D’ and the remaining 22 received a ‘F’.
  • Only approximately 3.5 percent of hospitals demonstrated significant improvements which moved their positions 2 or more score levels.
  • Of the 117 Illinois hospitals that were scored, only 43.6 percent (51) received an ‘A’.
  • Each year, 1 out of every 25 patients develops a preventable infection while in the hospital.
  • Approximately 1,000 individuals lose their lives to hospital errors each day.

 

Reducing the Risk for Wrongful Death Caused from Hospital Errors

Fortunately, there are a number of things patients and their families can do to reduce the risk of these deadly errors. Individuals should:

  • Be informed about their condition or that of their loved one.
  • Inform health care providers of any allergies. Be sure to include allergies to medications, foods, and other products (latex, etc.) that the patient may come into contact with.
  • Have a family member or other loved one on hand to take notes and be prepared to step in if issues arise.
  • Report any concerns to health care professionals or onsite counselors as soon as possible.

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