Nobody is just a name on a file. Here are some stories that best explain our passion:
A maintenance worker suffers a serious injury on the job. The insurance company sends her disability checks whenever they feel like it, despite the fact that her mortgage, car payments and other bills are due on time. On two separate occasions, the insurance adjuster terminated her benefits for reasons not recognized by Illinois law. Eventually, she is sent to be examined by a specialist hired by the insurance company, who determines that her condition is not work related and she is able to return to work. This contradicts her own physicians and she is physically unable to perform the very physical requirements of her job. In addition, many of her medical bills remained unpaid, including surgery costs. Unfortunately, this story is not uncommon in workers' compensation cases. While an insurance company's bad acts cannot always be prevented, injured workers do have a recourse. In this particular case, after a hearing and appeals, we were awarded past and future disability payments, past and future medical bills, penalties and attorney fees. This led to a very significant settlement.
A fetal monitor shows signs that the umbilical cord, often called a life line, is being squeezed, depriving a premature fetus of the oxygen and nutrients it needs to grow and survive. A physician orders continued monitoring, which shows more evidence of the same problem. Nonetheless, the monitor is turned off until the next morning. The problem continues. The monitor is shut off and turned on again in the evening. Now there is evidence that the fetus is suffering. Her heart rate increases – an attempt by the fetus to compensate for the lack of oxygen. The monitor is shut off again. By the next morning, there is little sign of life. Ultrasounds show brain damage. The doctors discuss "do not resuscitate orders" with the family, who are devastated at the unexplained turn of events. Finally, a cesarean section is ordered and a beautiful baby girl is born with severe cerebral palsy. Many years later, she continues to be the pride and joy of her loving family. Her daily needs are much more than an average child, and her life expectancy, much less. She will never see clearly. She will never learn to walk. She will never feed herself. Yet, she smiles beautifully when she hears her daddy's voice. This is not a case about filings, pleadings and hearings; this is a story about a family forced to deal with a tragedy that could have been prevented.
In another case, a woman walks into the emergency room of a hospital with a terrible headache. Her blood pressure is taken by the triage nurse and found to be extremely high. She sat in the waiting room for hours, screaming in pain, but no one came to her assistance. No one rechecked her blood pressure. Although there were policies and procedures in place that should have gotten her immediate attention, it was only hours later, after she began slurring her speech, that she was seen by a doctor. By that time, it was too late. Her family stayed close to her all night. They prayed and asked themselves how this could have happened. Nothing prepared the children for the loss of their mother. Nothing could console her husband.
These tragedies never should have happened, but they did. Every day, regular people like you lose their jobs, their health and sometimes their lives because of someone else's incompetence, carelessness, or worse, because some corporation cut corners it shouldn't have. Through years of legal experience in the practice of Workers Compensation, Personal Injury and Medical Malpractice the law firm's tremendous success is perhaps explained by the desire to form personal relationships with their injured clients and their families. Striving for justice means more than just filing a case; it means helping real people with real problems. Once you've been a victim of the system, you shouldn't be a victim of your lawyer. That's why KBA attorneys believe in personally returning your phone calls, taking the time you need to go over your case and representing you properly.
We strive to be attorneys our clients call friends. Contact us today. The consultation is totally free.
