Posted on August 23, 2019 in Truck Accidents

Many jobs across the country require their workers to perform on tight deadlines. Truck drivers, especially, have their own deadlines for delivering goods to a destination. This is why sometimes drivers travel for too long and can become drowsy while still behind the wheel. Drowsy driving may be considered a negligent act by the truck operator because it can lead to serious accidents that often involve other people on the road.

The Reality of Drowsy Driving

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2013, drowsy driving accounted for about 72,000 crashes, 40,000 injuries, and 800 deaths. Truck drivers were included in the list of most likely to fall asleep at the wheel due to long shifts.

Truck drivers are allowed to drive a maximum of 11 hours in one day so long as they had at least 10 hours of non-driving time before the shift began, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. If drivers operate their vehicle for longer periods of time or just feel tired, but continue to drive, their senses and reaction time become impaired. Thus, they will be unable to react quick enough if they start to veer off the road or come into close contact with other drivers.

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 Posted on August 15, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

Every parent hopes for just one thing when they prepare for the birth of a child: a healthy baby. So, in cases where a baby is born with broken bones or another ailment, the special day can turn into a nightmare for the parents.

Birth injuries such as broken bones sustained during labor can leave a baby in a lot of pain and even the possibility of long-term disability. Unfortunately, the injury is commonly a result of medical negligence in which a doctor does not notice that a baby is too big to pass through the birth canal without injury. In such a case, the doctor should order for a cesarean birth to make the process easier for both mother and baby.

How do I Know if My Baby Was Born with a Broken Bone?

Babies can feel the pain of a broken bone just as easily as an adult can, but they cannot tell their parents or the doctor what is the source of their pain. According to the Birth Injury Guide, a clavicle (collarbone) break is the most common injury after a complicated delivery. It can be the result of not enough room for the baby to pass through the birth canal or too hard of a pull from the person delivering the baby.

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 Posted on August 07, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

When you go to a doctor or other medical professional, you hope that they will be able to accurately diagnosis and treat your aliment. An inaccurate diagnosis can result in a sick patient not getting essential treatment or receiving unneeded medical treatment which worsens their condition.

While no medical professional is perfect, there are some instances of misdiagnosis which are so egregious they are considered medical negligence. If you suffered due to a misdiagnosis or a loved one passed away because of complications related to a misdiagnosis, you may have a valid personal injury claim.

What Makes a Misdiagnosis an Example of Medical Malpractice?

Doctors, nurses, specialists, and other medical professionals cannot always immediately know what is wrong with a patient. The human body is unbelievably complex, and it is understandable that a doctor may consider several diagnoses before arriving at a conclusion. A diagnostic mistake by itself is therefore not enough to sustain a medical negligence claim. In order to bring a successful medical malpractice claim, patients must prove the following:

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 Posted on July 31, 2019 in Personal Injury

Any property owner, whether they own a residential home or a large-scale business, is required to keep that property reasonably safe. Any visitor to the property should not feel in danger of harm due to poor property maintenance or unorganized conditions, perhaps even a dog bite. If you have suffered an injury on someone else’s property, you may have a case under the Illinois Premises Liability Act. Premises liability law affects both property owners and those who become injured.

Invitees vs. Licensees

Prior to the 1995 amendment to the Illinois Premises Liability Act, those who would visit a property were defined separately as either invitees or licensees:

• Invitee: a person who visits the property for the benefit of the owner of that property (e.g. guests were invited over for party)
• Licensee: guests are visiting the property for their own amusement (e.g. patrons of an arcade)

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 Posted on July 30, 2019 in Personal Injury

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics operates a program called the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, often referred to simply as CFOI. This program helps to compile statistics on the deaths that occur in the workplace such as:

• Where the fatal injury took place;
• What job the person was performing;
• What industry the person worked in; and
• Other details that can help determine new laws and regulations to make the workplace safer for all employees.

In Illinois, the CFOI program has noted a significant drop in the number of deaths in the workplace in 2017, the most recent year for which data has been compiled, from 2010. While this is a step in the right direction, any death in the workplace is a tragedy that can leave a family in an emotional and financial mess.

Types of Injuries Sustained

Over half of the workplace fatalities in Illinois that occurred in 2017 were due to either slips, falls, and trips or those involving transportation. Slips and falls are usually, but not always, due to a dangerous work environment whether something was not cleaned up promptly or properly, or even due to equipment being left out where it can cause someone to trip.

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 Posted on July 22, 2019 in Truck Accidents

The number of commercial truck accidents has climbed substantially over the past few years. Could drug use among commercial truck drivers have been a contributing factor? A recent survey of truck driver applicants by the Trucking Alliance suggests that the answer to that question is, “yes.” 

The Trucking Alliance survey compared the results of urine testing alone versus a combination of urine plus hair testing, and they found a dramatic difference. Urinalysis alone failed to identify nine out of 10 illegal drug users. A combination of urine testing and hair testing was substantially more accurate in weeding out illegal drug users.

Based on these findings, the Trucking Alliance estimates that 300,000 commercial truck drivers on the roads today are illegal drug users whose drug usage was not revealed by the current urine-only drug-screening process.

Why Hair Testing Is Needed for Commercial Truck Drivers

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 Posted on July 09, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

When a child is born with a brachial plexus injury, it is natural to wonder if medical errors or negligence contributed to the injury. Such injuries can happen when a baby’s shoulders are large relative to the size of the mother. When the baby gets wedged in the birth canal during the delivery process, the baby’s brachial plexus nerves can stretch or tear.

Types of Brachial Plexus Nerve Injuries

The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that control shoulder, arm, and hand movement. There are essentially four types of nerve injuries:

• A stretching of a nerve, akin to a mild muscle strain, which usually heals on its own within a few months.

• A stretching of a nerve that not only damages the nerve fibers but results in the development of scar tissue that presses on other nerves. This can result in permanent loss of some or all function in the affected arm.

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 Posted on June 25, 2019 in Personal Injury

When you think of someone being injured in a semi-truck accident, you probably think of the truck colliding with a car or motorcycle. However, not all trucking accidents and injuries involve vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. Trucks can also seriously injure people as a result of improperly loaded cargo that spills onto a roadway.

Toxic Chemical Exposure from Truck Accident

In April 2019 in a northern suburb of Chicago, a farm tractor pulling two 1,000-gallon tanks of fertilizer leaked significant amounts of anhydrous ammonia into the air. The tanker leak created a suffocating cloud of ammonia gas that looked like fog. Anyone who drove through it instantly felt their lungs burning. Exposure to the toxic gas sent about 40 people to the hospital, seven of whom required treatment in the intensive care unit. Injuries included chemical burns to the lungs, which could leave permanent damage, as well as vision and speech impairments.

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 Posted on June 18, 2019 in Birth Injuries

If your baby suffered a birth injury as a result of medical errors in treating meconium aspiration, you may want to seek malpractice compensation in order to provide proper lifetime care for your child.

What Is Meconium Aspiration Syndrome (MAS)?

In the womb, a baby does not use its lungs to breathe in oxygen. It cannot, since the baby is surrounded by amniotic fluid in the uterus. Instead, a baby receives oxygen through the umbilical cord. However, a baby in the womb will take “practice breaths” that harmlessly draw clean amniotic fluid into its lungs.

Meconium refers to a baby’s feces that may be excreted just before or during birth into the amniotic fluid. If the baby inhales, or aspirates, meconium, it can become trapped in the baby’s airways and impede breathing when the baby is born.

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 Posted on June 11, 2019 in Car Accidents

Motorcycle accidents generally result in more severe injuries than car accidents. If you have been seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, you may be facing a significant loss of income and expenses not covered by health insurance. Your ability to obtain compensation for those losses will depend on who was at fault for the accident. If you can point to another driver on the road whose careless, reckless, or negligent behavior led to your crash and injuries, you could file a claim for compensation against that driver and their insurance company. If a member of your immediate family was killed in a tragic crash, you could obtain compensation for your loss by filing a wrongful death claim.

Impact of Helmet Wearing on Motorcycle Accident Claims

Illinois does not have a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets. However, it is common knowledge that wearing a helmet reduces your risk of head injuries. Therefore, if you are not wearing a helmet at the time of an accident, this can be held against you in a lawsuit for damages.

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