L. BRADLEY SCHWARTZ

Experienced Trial Attorney,
Multiple Amputee and
Patient Advocate

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For many years I represented insurance companies in courtrooms throughout Illinois. My concentration has always been in personal injury defense and insurance litigation. I tried hundreds of jury cases to verdict.

My personal saga began one afternoon in 2004. I had a headache and just wasn’t feeling right, so I went to my local emergency room. It was a holiday and the doctors and nurses didn’t seem like they wanted to be there. I arrived in the middle of a shift change and since I didn’t look gravely ill or wounded, it took a while for anyone to examine me.

After a few hours in the ER, my condition had worsened.
By that evening I was in the ICU and by midnight I was on life support.

About a month later I awoke from an induced coma to learn that I had meningitis that led to sepsis that caused multi-system organ failure. I also learned that I was going to lose my hands and feet. But I didn’t lose my limbs right away. I stayed in the hospital for six months while the surgeons removed portions of my extremities during more than 20 surgeries. After I was discharged from the hospital I continued with rehabilitation for a year and I slowly began to adjust to this new way of life. I returned to work as a lawyer and I tried three cases during my first year back.

A year or so after I was first hospitalized I started to page through my medical records. I wanted to know what happened to me because my last memory was being rushed into the ICU. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe what I was reading.

The doctors and nurses did not give me antibiotics in time. By Delaying just a few hours, the sepsis overtook my body and my organs shut down.

If the doctors had given me antibiotics earlier, the progression of the disease would have been reversed and I would still have my limbs. I started to carefully examine every word of the medical records in detail and I discovered other troubling entries. I had been a sophisticated and cynical insurance defense lawyer for 15 years but I suddenly found myself the victim of medical malpractice. I knew that I would soon be a plaintiff in a major lawsuit.

Fortunately for me, as a trial lawyer, I already knew the best personal injury and malpractice lawyers in the city. I had gone to trial against many of the most successful big-name lawyers and firms in Chicago. I didn’t have to rely on a friend’s recommendation or a billboard advertisement.

I was lucky because I knew from personal experience which attorney was right for my case.

My lawsuit, like so many others, dragged on through the court system for years before it finally settled. By that time, I had already begun to change the direction of my law practice. I was concentrating less on insurance defense and more on medical negligence, amputee support, meningitis awareness and sepsis prevention. I became involved with amputee research studies and disability rights organizations. I also started volunteering at the Chicago Legal Clinic and I was honored by them with an award in 2014 for providing outstanding legal services to people in need. In 2014 I was elected to the Board of Directors of NAHAC, a national healthcare advocacy association dedicated to improving healthcare and preventing medical errors.

In 2012 I started L. Bradley Law LLC. I want to help amputees and others who have suffered a significant injury or disability. My goal is to make my experiences and resources available to others who are going through what I went through. As a lawyer, I know how to identify medical mistakes and I can assist with all aspects of the recovery process. I’ve experienced the denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance that follow a devastating injury. As a patient, I know what it’s like wake up from a coma only to lay in a hospital bed for half a year.

As an amputee, I understand the frustration of waiting for prosthetic limbs that actually fit and I know all about test sockets, terminal devices and gait training.

Today, I use my experiences as both a lawyer and amputee to advocate for patients and help empower them to find the knowledge and resources that will answer questions and assist in the recovery process. I’m connected with all types of people and organizations and I am always available to offer advice and answer questions on a variety of subjects. I am certified as a peer visitor and I am comfortable meeting patients in any setting.

Please call or email me if you need some advice or would just like to talk. I look forward to the prospect of meeting you. I can be reached at 312.345.0400

Yours Truly,

L. Bradley Schwartz
Attorney At Law