Safety Violations for Nurses

Chicago Law Firm for Safety Violations for Nurses

Although the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission was designed to make it easier for workers to obtain benefits, it can be as difficult a system to navigate as the civil court system. As a nurse you face numerous risks of acute and chronic injuries on the job. Your workplace should be kept safe to reduce the likelihood of injuries, but unfortunately hospitals and other healthcare providers employers don’t always abide by OSHA and other regulations. Like other workers, nurses give up their rights to bring civil lawsuits in exchange for coverage of medical bills and other workers’ compensation benefits. If you are a nurse who is concerned about obtaining benefits when you were injured as a result of safety violations for nurses, you should discuss your case with an experienced Chicago workers’ compensation lawyer. Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca is an established, AV-rated law firm with more than six decades of experience handling legal claims for compensation and benefits in Illinois. We are proud to represent nurses who have claims arising out of safety violations.

Safety Violations for Nurses

OSHA inspectors conduct worksite checks and investigations. They cite hospitals and other employers for safety standard violations. A hospital or medical practice’s failure to abide by safety standards can result in you facing many different kinds of serious accidents and injuries. These may range from falls to electrocution to slip and falls to crushing to illness. As a nurse who is injured on the job due to your employer’s safety violation, you may be able to obtain workers’ compensation benefits under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act.

Workers’ compensation is a system of no-fault benefits. That means you will not need to establish your employer’s fault for your work-related injuries. Conversely, your employer cannot point to your comparative negligence or other fault to deny your claim or have your compensation reduced. In other words, even if you are partially to blame for the safety violation because of a moment’s carelessness, you can obtain benefits after a work accident.

It’s important to give your employer timely notice of your injuries. While the notification doesn’t need to be in writing under the law, you should be accurate and truthful not only in the notice, but also in any incident report that your employer generates. Under the law, you must give notice to your employer of a work-related accident within 45 days.

In some cases, an insurer starts out paying benefits but stops abruptly. It may investigate the injuries or the accident and find a reason to deny the claim or stop paying benefits. For instance, if your employer heavily disputes the safety violation or the extent of your injuries, the insurer may be primed to look for signs that your injuries were not work-related. It may conduct in-person or social media surveillance of you. For these reasons, it’s important to get an Application for Adjustment of Claim on file even if an insurer starts out by paying benefits. Our attorneys may be able to help and represent you through this intricate and sometimes frustrating process.

Workers’ Compensation Benefits Our Lawyers May Be Able to Obtain For You

Workers’ compensation benefits may include reasonable and necessary medical care for injuries, temporary total or partial disability benefits, permanent total or partial disability benefits, and vocational rehabilitation. The amount and extent of benefits will depend on your particular injuries. For instance, if you are a nurse who slipped and fell due to a safety violation on the job and suffered complex fractures, you may be able to obtain not only emergency care, but also medical treatment, medical equipment, medications and surgeries. In addition, you may be able to obtain temporary total disability benefits, which are calculated as a portion of your average weekly wage.

Third Party Lawsuits

In some cases, third parties are to blame for dangerous safety violations at a hospital or medical practice. If you are a nurse who was injured due to the fault of another, you may be able to recover compensatory damages by bringing a third-party personal injury lawsuit. Different theories of liability may apply to your case, including negligence, premises liability or strict liability. In a lawsuit alleging negligence, our attorneys will need to prove it is more likely than not: (1) you were owed a duty of care, (2) breach of the duty of reasonable care, (3) causation, and (4) actual damages. However, in a third-party lawsuit, unlike a workers’ compensation claim, the defendant may raise the issue of comparative damages, which can result in your damages being reduced.

Hire a Seasoned Chicago Workers’ Compensation Benefits Attorney for Nurses

Most people do not realize that a hospital is one of the most dangerous places to work. The injury rate for nurses in America is high. It is vital to retain an experienced Chicago workers’ compensation firm if you were injured as the result of a safety violation for nurses. Our firm represents nurses in Aurora, Champaign, Rockford, and Quincy, as well as Sangamon, Winnebago, Kane, Cook, and Adams Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.