blog | Lane Brown, LLC

Stories of so-called “Patient Dumping” have been in the news lately. Over the last year, several Chicago hospitals have been in the spotlight for alleged patient dumping schemes. Patient dumping is the practice of transporting patients to another facility without first providing adequate medical treatment or medical screening. Following are some of the things you need to know about patient dumping:

Hospitals that are fully capable of providing medical treatment to patients are turning patients away or simply transferring them to other medical care facilities.
Often, high medical care costs and a patient’s perceived inability to pay are the primary contributing factors to patient dumping. Hospitals face significant loss when they care for uninsured or underinsured patients. In anticipation of these costs, patients may be denied treatment or prematurely discharged from the hospital.
Patients with mental illness are frequently transported to other facilities like psychiatric centers, other hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, or even jails.
Hospitals that knowingly, willingly, or negligently fail to comply with legislation against this practice face penalties and the possible suspension of their Medicare Provider agreements.

Patient dumping is not only discriminatory toward the patients in need of medical care, but it is also extremely dangerous. Patients have suffered severe injuries and even death due to the practice.

If you have suffered a severe injury due to patient dumping or a medical error, contact a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer at Lane Brown for help. Our knowledgeable and compassionate attorneys will fight to obtain the compensation you deserve for your injuries. Contact our office today at 312-332-1400 to schedule your free consultation. We are standing by to help.

The National Transportation Safety Board voted to recommend to states that they lower the blood-alcohol content that constitutes drunk driving.

Currently, all 50 states have set a BAC level of .08, reflecting the percentage of alcohol, by volume, in the blood. If a driver is found to have a BAC level of .08 or above, he or she is subject to arrest and prosecution.

The NTSB recommends dropping that to a BAC level of .05.

Each year, nearly 10,000 people die in alcohol-related traffic accidents and 170,000 are injured, according to the NTSB. While that’s a big improvement from the 20,000 who died in alcohol-related accidents 30 years ago, it remains a consistent threat to public safety. Studies show that each year, roughly 4 million people admit to driving while under the influence of alcohol.

The recommendation prompted immediate criticism from restaurant trade groups. “This recommendation is ludicrous,” said Sarah Longwell, managing director of American Beverage Institute. “Moving from 0.08 to 0.05 would criminalize perfectly responsible behavior. Other comments included: “Further restricting the moderate consumption of alcohol by responsible adults prior to driving does nothing to stop hardcore drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel.”

The United States, Canada and Iraq are among a small handful of countries that have set the BAC level at .08. Most countries in Europe, including Russia, most of South America and Australia, have set BAC levels at .05 to constitute drunken driving. The lowering of blood-alcohol levels to .05 has worked where it’s been tried. When Australia dropped its BAC level from .08 to .05, provinces reported a 5-18 percent drop in traffic fatalities.

Even the lowered levels have been shown to cause drivers’ impairment. The NTSB reports that at .05 BAC, some drivers begin having difficulties with depth perception and other visual functions. At .07, cognitive abilities become impaired. At .05 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by 39 percent. At .08 BAC, the risk of having an accident increases by more than 100 percent.

The NTSB believes that if all 50 states changed their standard to .05, nearly 1,000 lives could be saved each year. It is also considering other steps to help bring down the death rates on America’s roads.

The NTSB is an investigative agency that advocates on behalf of safety issues. It has no legal authority to order any change to state or federal law. It would be up to individual states whether to accept the NTSB’s recommendation, and up to the Department of Transportation whether to endorse the recommendations.

The last move from .10 to .08 BAC levels took 21 years for each state to implement.

If you or someone you know was injured in an alcohol or drug-related accident, the lawyers at Lane Brown, LLC will work with you as a team help you recover. Please contact us by calling Lane Brown at 312-332-1400, or on our website, at lanebrownlaw.com. We can help!

Getting sick with food poisoning can be a terrible experience, leaving victims stuck in bed for a few days. Unfortunately, people do not always realize that they have food poisoning. Instead, they attribute the symptoms to the stomach flu or a “24-hour bug.” In severe cases, food poisoning can be quite dangerous or even deadly.

People most at risk of severe harm from food poisoning include infants, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems. Certain strains of bacterial food poisoning can be more dangerous for these individuals since their immune systems are not able to fight off infection as well as older children and young adults can.

Following are some of the common symptoms of food poisoning:

Fever
Nausea
Abdominal cramps
Diarrhea
Vision problems
Dehydration
Headaches

In severe cases of food poisoning, kidney failure can occur. Guillain-Barre syndrome, a condition where the immune system attacks the body’s nerves, could also develop, potentially causing paralysis or death.

Following are some tips to help reduce your risk of food poisoning:

Make sure your food is cooked to proper temperature.
Be sure that kitchen knives and cutting surfaces are properly cleaned to avoid cross-contamination.
Check restaurant reviews and look for health inspection reports before going to a new restaurant. If you walk into a restaurant, and it appears dirty or unsanitary, walk out.
Pay attention to food recalls—never ingest any food that is on a recall list. If you own a recalled food item, return it to your grocery story immediately.

If you have suffered severe health problems due to food poisoning or some other serious accident, contact a Chicago product liability attorney at Lane Brown for legal help. We will take the time to examine all of the facts related to your case, answer your questions, and help you to understand your legal options. Give us a call today at 312-332-1400 to schedule your free case review. We are here to help.

A growing number of hospitals in Chicago and throughout the rest of the country have taken to advertising their emergency room wait times on television, billboards, phone apps, websites, Facebook, and Twitter. They hope to draw in patients who need medical care and do not know where to go.

Most people do not enjoy waiting. When a broken leg, nausea, or other severe malady accompanies that waiting, time can seem to stand still. Naturally, it makes sense for patients to look for a hospital that can get them in and out quickly, right? Well, the answer may be more complicated than that. There are both advantages and disadvantages to advertising short emergency room wait times.

Following are some of the advantages of advertising short emergency room wait times:

Short emergency room wait time goals are an attempt to ensure that patients are seen quickly and have the best possible experience while in the emergency room.
Short emergency room wait time goals can help ensure that hospital emergency room staff members are using their time efficiently.
Short emergency room wait time goals can help increase the volume of patients a hospital sees.

These benefits sound like positives for both patients and hospitals. However, there are also problems with advertising short emergency wait times. These disadvantages include the following:

Patients expecting short emergency room wait times can overcrowd hospitals. If this happens, hospitals may not have the staffing or physical space to stay true to that estimate.
Patients believe that emergency rooms work on a first come, first serve basis. However, this is not the case—the sickest patient always receives care first. You could walk into an empty waiting room with a headache, but if someone comes in after you with a broken leg, you may still have to wait.
Advertising short emergency room wait times serves as a method to woo patients to the hospital, but may leave them with false expectations concerning their emergency room experience.

Emergency room injuries happen every day. Diagnostic mistakes, improper patient intake, and patient file mix-ups, are just a few of the common hospital errors that can cause serious injuries. Emergency room overcrowding can increase the risk of a medical error.

If you think that you have been the victim of an emergency room accident or some other medical error, contact a Chicago medical malpractice attorney at Lane Brown, LLC today. We have the experience, commitment, and knowledge necessary to fight for the justice you deserve. Contact our office at 312-332-1400 to schedule your free consultation. We are standing by to help.

Food allergies can result in serious and even deadly injuries if ignored. Recently, as a result of a recent settlement between the federal Department of Justice and Lesley University in Massachusetts, students with serious food allergies may now qualify for accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act. By applying ADA to food allergies, the Department of Justice has turned food into an access issue… access to an education in this case. This decision will likely impact both higher education as well as the primary and secondary levels. The Lesley University case involved a student who had celiac disease, and because of that, required a gluten-free diet. This was not available as part of the mandatory meal plan that the University required the student to participate in. The Department of Justice responded to a complaint from the student, entered into a settlement with the university in which Lesley University agreed to make dietary accommodations for students with special dietary needs. The implications of this settlement are likely to be far reaching and require significant changes for all levels of education in order to avoid charges of discrimination against students with special dietary needs.

Foods which are mislabeled, restaurants which ignore customers’ requests for food information because of allergies and other vendors may negligently cause catastrophic, and completely avoidable, injuries to consumers by failing to take known allergic sensitivities into account.

If you or a loved one has suffered serious injuries as a result of food product mislabeling or misrepresentations, you may be able to take action. Please contact the attorneys of Lane Brown, LLC, or call us at 312-332-1400 to speak with us about your options. We can help. To learn more about Lane Brown, please visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com.

When asked if they would consider driving at or above the adult legal limit of .08 for blood alcohol, teens almost always say they would not.

But when asked if they would consider texting or talking on the cell phone while driving, many honestly say they would. Studies indicating that the risk of an accident is similar for talking on a cell phone and driving at the .08 limit are eye-opening for many teens.

If you or a loved one has suffered personal injuries as a result of the negligence of a drunk driver or a distracted driver, you may be able to take action. Please contact the attorneys of Lane Brown, LLC, or call us at 312-332-1400 to speak with us about your options. We can help. To learn more about Lane Brown, please visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com.