Becoming the victim of medical malpractice in Illinois is a tragic situation that we all hope to avoid, but doctors are only human and every so often the unfortunate does indeed happen. Fortunately the victims of malpractice can reach out to a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer for representation in order to seek out a jury award to help offset the cost of their medical bills and lost wages, but for others no such hope lies ahead. The problem for these individuals is that the costs associated with taking a malpractice case to court are prohibitive for them to pursue justice, even if they are obviously in the right.

While this seems like a gross injustice there are several sound, if unfortunate, reasons why this takes place. The biggest reason is simply economic: if you have been the victim of minor medical malpractice it is unlikely that you will receive a significant jury award to cover your medical bills and court costs. In most circumstances an attorney needs to pay for expenses ahead of time in anticipation of the jury award, and those expenses are usually quite steep. Since many malpractice cases are unsuccessful this makes taking on minor malpractice cases a risky proposition that could easily cost the attorney a great deal for very little return.

The second practical consideration is simply that juries and judges tend to be less sympathetic to a minor malpractice case than a major one. Every Chicago medical malpractice lawyer has a story or two about a case where the victim was obviously wronged, but the jury had sympathy for the doctor and chooses an adverse resolution to the case. If the victim has suffered egregious or long lasting injuries that is one thing, but juries and judges understand that doctors are people, too, and that medicine is a risky business. As a result of this many attorneys seek out “slam dunk” cases rather than the justified cases that are hard to win in court. However that does not mean that any given case stands no chance at all; it is always possible to go to another attorney or to find alternative means of resolution. But it does mean that any given malpractice case, despite how obvious the situation may be, will probably face difficulty in court before the situation is resolved.