Personal Injury Law

Illinois Veteran?s Hospital Aims to Lessen Medical Malpractice

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

The Commercial News is reporting that Illiana Healthcare, a Danville, Illinois Veterans Affairs healthcare system, has changed its level of impatient surgeries it will offer in order to reduce the risk of medical errors and to protect patient safety. Instead of performing intermediate procedures, such as colon resections or joint replacements, the hospital will only perform standard procedures, such as foot surgery or ear, nose and throat surgery. If a veteran has to receive an intermediate surgery, he or she must be transferred to the VA hospital in Indianapolis or another facility. This comes after the VA announced a new initiative to designate which veteran's hospitals will perform certain levels of surgeries. The goal is to perform each surgery under the safest possible conditions at facilities that have the resources to support them. The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti commend the VA for its efforts to decrease medical error. Learn more about the changes to the Illinois hospital system by clicking on the link.

Despite the efforts to decrease medical errors in VA hospitals, medical malpractice still occurs. The Federal Tort Claims Act governs medical malpractice lawsuits against veteran?s hospitals. Before your Chicago medical malpractice attorney can sue, he or she must make an administrative claim against the hospital for the full damages. Once that administrative claim is filed, the VA only has six months to review and investigate it. Then they are given the choice to accept and pay, settle the claim for less, or reject the medical malpractice claim. The statute of limitations under the FTCA is a standard two years after discovering your medical injury; however you have to factor in the six month timeframe for administrative claims when filing. To learn more about these FTCA claims, please check out this link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on May 20, 2010 (boomark / email).