Generally, if your loved one was killed due to medical malpractice, you may be able to sue the hospital where the victim was treated and which employed the doctors or staff that committed the medical malpractice. However, if the hospital is a public hospital run by either the state or county, then there may be some limitations on your ability to pursue a wrongful death claim. Typically, government-run entities are given some protection from lawsuits, known as tort immunity. Because the government funds these entities, they are thus essentially financed by the taxpayer, creating an interest to protect such entities from lawsuits in many cases.
When filing a lawsuit against a public hospital, you will be suing the county or state itself, rather than the hospital, and these claims will be filed in the Court of Claims if against the state. In contrast, lawsuits against any individual doctors will be filed in regular civil court. However, Illinois law does provide that the usual one-year statute of limitations for lawsuits against public agencies does not apply when the hospital is sued for a “patient care” injury, in which case you will have two years to file your lawsuit, similar to other personal injury claims.
Wrongful death claims may often be very complicated, especially as the compensation you are seeking is different from other personal injury claims and because you are pursuing compensation for an accident that happened to your loved one rather than an accident that happened to you. You should contact Michael J. Brennan to take advantage of his years of experience in helping the families of other victims pursue the compensation they may be entitled to after their loved one has been killed in an accident as a result of another party’s negligence.
