blog | Lane Brown, LLC

Epilepsy has many different causes and affects individuals with varying degrees of severity. Those suffering with brain disorder know it can significantly affect everyday living. Patients are not the only ones who suffer from the condition—loved ones bear the burden, too.

Many times, epilepsy develops after head trauma sustained in a car wreck or some other type of accident. It does not matter how minor the head trauma seems—epilepsy can develop from any Chicago brain injury. With good medical care, many people are able to manage their epilepsy and go on to lead a normal life. However, the disorder does exact a toll on sufferers including:

Emotional and behavioral problems may be associated with epilepsy and can cause added stress for individuals and their families.
Ongoing medical costs can add up. Medications, special diets, and surgeries may be needed to treat and control seizures.
Service dogs can help those with epilepsy by lying on top of them and holding them still during a seizure. These dogs can cost well over $10,000, and are not typically covered by insurance.
Most states do not allow epileptics to drive until a specific amount of seizure-free time has passed.
Epileptics may be unable to participate in certain recreational activities because they may trigger an epileptic seizure.

If you, or someone you love, have developed epilepsy as a result of a Chicago car wreck or some other accident, the pain and suffering felt may not be limited to the head injury itself. Symptoms of epilepsy may take months to show after a head trauma, so don’t assume your seizure is a coincidence. Contact a caring, and experienced professional Chicago brain injury attorney at Lane Brown today at 312-332-1400. We will take the time to examine your case and help you with your next steps toward seeking compensation for your injuries.

Construction workers have demanding and dangerous jobs. They work out in all kinds of weather and under many unsafe conditions. Construction site accidents are often very serious and can change the life of a worker forever. These accidents can cause physical pain, emotional stress, astronomical medical bills, and lost wages. In addition, construction site accidents can leave a worker with serious long-term medical problems. At the end of the day, it is up to the construction company to ensure safety on the job site. However, workers can protect themselves by following these six tips:

Wear recommended protective gear including hard hats, steel-toed boots, work goggles, protective work gloves, and appropriate attire.
Keep floors cleared of debris and rubble when possible, to guard against trips and slips on the construction site.
Follow all recommended Illinois health and safety regulations for construction sites.
Check your equipment before using it to ensure it is in proper working order.
Report any safety concerns to your site manager.
Use ladders only when necessary—be sure there is little risk of injury before climbing.

Following the tips listed above may help to reduce your chance of being injured at a Chicago construction site. If you have been seriously injured at work—on a construction site or somewhere else—a Chicago workers’ compensation lawyer at Lane Brown can help. Whether your workers’ compensation claim has been denied or you think a third party may be liable for your injuries, our compassionate and experienced attorneys can help. Contact a Chicago construction accident attorney today at 312-332-1400 for a free case evaluation. We will help you to obtain the compensation you deserve.

A battle over whether a highway guardrail system manufactured by Trinity Industries is unsafe is raging in courts across the country. A recently-unsealed whistle blower lawsuit claims that there are hundreds of thousands of defective guard rail heads across America’s highways. The particular danger at issue is the end cap system known as ET-Plus, which was supposed to be designed to collapse and channel the guardrail away from a vehicle which crashes head-on into the end of the guardrail. Instead of channeling the rail away from the vehicle, some tests have shown that the guardrail became a spear and actually penetrated the vehicle like a spear.

Kudos to the American Association for Justice (AAJ)! Today AAJ filed comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on proposed rulemaking governing the regulation of used cars and the installment of event data recorders in cars, respectively.

The proposed rules by the FTC regarding the sale of used motor vehicles raised consumer protection concerns and AAJ’s comments focused on the liability issues expressed during the Regulatory Review Notice comment period. AAJ specifically opposes the creation of a “safe harbor” for car dealers even if they demonstrate compliance with proposed disclosure requirements.

Comments to NHTSA responded to the agency’s proposal that all light vehicles be equipped with event data recorders (EDRs) or “black boxes” by September 2014. AAJ urged NHTSA to strengthen their regulatory framework by enhancing the availability of EDR data as well as ensuring data accuracy. Also, data recorder equipment malfunctions should not bar litigants from fully investigating their cases through formal discovery requests.

The arrival of a newborn is something that parents dream about for nine months. Sadly, however, that dream can quickly turn into devastation when a baby sustains an unnecessary birth injury.

Birth injuries are fairly common—about 7 out of every 1000 live births involve a birth injury. However many birth injuries can be prevented. Following are some important tips that may help protect your unborn child and lower your risk of a Chicago birth injury:

Seek experienced prenatal care – As soon as you find out you are pregnant, find an experienced Illinois family physician or obstetrician/gynecologist to monitor your pregnancy. Ask around and get personal recommendations for a doctor with a pleasant bedside manner. Having a doctor you feel comfortable with can help make your pregnancy less stressful.
Maintain a healthy diet and exercise – Be sure to eat a healthy diet and get moderate exercise—if your doctor recommends it. Your doctor may give you a list of recommended foods as well as a list of foods to avoid during your pregnancy. In addition, your physician will probably prescribe prenatal vitamins to help provide your growing child with nutrients you may be lacking in your diet.
Avoid medications – Many prescription and over-the-counter medications are harmful to developing babies—they may cause birth defects or other health issues. Be sure to check with your doctor before taking any medications.
Be prepared – Decide what hospital to use for your delivery, your preferred birthing method, and your overall your labor and delivery philosophy before you go into labor. This will reduce your overall stress—a contributing factor to prolonged labor.
Pay attention – Decreased baby movement near the end of a pregnancy could be cause for concern. Communication between you and your doctor will help determine whether these concerns require medical attention.
Seek additional medical help in the hospital – If you have concerns, or feel uncomfortable with your nurses or attending doctors, don’t be afraid to speak up. Ask to speak with another doctor, or a Hospital Administrator. This simple step could help avoid potential medical or nursing errors during your labor and delivery.

The tips listed above will help you to have a less stressful pregnancy. In addition, they may help you to avoid prolonged labor, which reduces the risk of a birth injury. In the event your child is seriously injured during labor and delivery, contact an experienced and compassionate Chicago birth injury attorney at Lane Brown. Call today at 312-332-1400 for a free consultation. You do not have to go it alone!

Your parent or other loved one is admitted to a hospital or nursing home because they are ill, or have been injured. They are there because they need assistance or care that they can’t get in their home. Unfortunately, many times patients in hospitals and nursing homes aren’t given the attention they need, and suffer injuries because of malpractice or negligence in their hospital or medical care.

Another common concern for hospitalized patients is posed by the risk of falls. Patients are often disoriented, weak or sedated. Common issues associated with nurses and hospitals are falls due to the lack of the use of rails or supervision during transfers. An elderly confused patient, or a patient narcotized with pain medicine or sedatives, requires full length side rails up so they can’t fall out of bed.

Rails can be important aids in the protection of patients who may be combative, uncooperative or unstable patient. The failure to use rails appropriately may be the basis for a negligence claim. If the nurses’ notes show they did not raise the side rails, or if witnesses establish that the rails were not raised, and the patient falls out of bed and injures himself, those injuries may have been the result of negligence on the part of the hospital and the nurses. Physicians may also be responsible if the doctor was aware that the patient needed the protections afforded by side rails, but failed to order that they be used.

Nurses have an independent duty to ensure the safety of their patients, so you should look to examine the conduct of all three potential causes for the injury: the nurse, the hospital and the doctor. Nurses are trained, and need to be able to determine for themselves whether or not their patients need side rails. If they do, they can and must follow good nursing practice and hospital policy and raise the rails themselves, even without a doctor’s order. In fact, the question of when to use side rails is or should be indicated in the hospital rules of almost every hospital, as set forth by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH). If the hospital accepts elderly Medicare-insured patients, that hospital must be certified by the JCAH, and the JCAH states that with elderly, confused, or drugged patients, side rails must be used.

Were the Nurses Too Busy?

Sometimes, the nurses are just too busy to give their patients the care they need. Consider whether there was an emergency that required their attention to other patients. Maybe their unit was understaffed. Through the litigation process known as “discovery”, we can find this information, and obtain the “nursing orders” in effect for all the patients on that nursing unit (floor or ward) and their diagnoses. If the nursing unit was understaffed by a hospital looking to make higher profits from lower labor costs, it’s often easy to see why patients fail to receive the nursing and hospital care they need.