Medical Malpractice | Lane Brown, LLC

If you are like the millions of Americans who have a loved one living in a nursing home, you might be wondering what can be done to help prevent your elderly loved one from becoming the victim of nursing home negligence.

With about 1,200 long-term care facilities in Illinois, over 100,000 residents are estimated to be receiving care in nursing home facilities. When Illinois nursing home negligence occurs, residents can become helpless victims, unaware of the severity of the situation, or unable to speak up for themselves due to deteriorating mental and physical health.

As a family member of a nursing home resident, there are some things that you can look for if your elderly loved one is typically bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound. With proper medical attention and care, your loved one should not develop painful bedsores, which can become deadly.

Preventing Bedsores from Nursing Home Negligence: A Checklist

Do the nurses and aides frequently help your loved one to change positions? If your family member is in a wheelchair, she should be assisted to change positions every 15 minutes, and those in beds should be moved every two hours to prevent bedsores from developing. Check to see if the nursing home offers pressure-reducing mattresses for the residents.
Are the staff members changing bandages daily? Ask the staff and administration their policies on bandage and wound care. Skin damage and foul odors are signs that bedsores are present.
Are they providing proper nutrition to patients? A balanced diet can help prevent bedsores from developing. Watch your loved one’s weight and outward appearance, to ensure she is receiving nutritious foods to eat.
Does the nursing home offer physical therapy, occupational therapy, or other physical activities to allow residents to receive Explosion of e-cigarette battery in car causes injuries.necessary, and appropriate, exercise? This movement helps reduce a sedentary lifestyle that causes bedsores.

There are laws established to guarantee the safety and proper treatment of residents in nursing homes. Sadly, many nursing homes do not measure up to the safe practice standards set for them. If you believe that your loved one has been the victim of nursing home negligence in Chicago, an experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney may be able to help. If your elderly family member developed explosion of e-cigarette battery in car causes injuries, painful bedsores, she may have had her legal rights violated as well.

Call our personal injury law offices at Lane Brown, LLC today to discuss your case with a skilled Chicago medical malpractice lawyer. One simple call to 1-312-332-1400 can help you receive the justice your loved one deserves.

Labels: Chicago medical malpractice attorney Illinois nursing home negligence nursing home negligence in Chicago preventing bedsores from nursing home negligence

A recent Cook County case has held that a hospital has no responsibility to a patient for the negligence of a doctor on its staff where the fine-print consent form provided by the hospital stated that its physicians were not employees of the hospital. The patient had not read the form before signing it because, as he testified, he was in too much pain. In this case, the Appellate Court protected the hospital, even though its physicians negligently treated the patient, and allowing him to suffer a ruptured aneurysm because its consent form stated: “I have been informed and understand that physicians providing services to me at Ingalls, such as my personal physician, Emergency Department and Urgent Aid physicians, radiologists, pathologists, anesthesiologists, on-call physicians, consulting physicians, surgeons, and allied health care providers working with those physicians are not employees, agents or apparent agents of Ingalls but are independent medical practitioners who have been permitted to use Ingalls’ facilities for the care and treatment of their patients. I further understand that each physician will bill me separately for their services. Frezados v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital, 2013 IL App (1st) 121835 (June 5, 2013).

If you or a loved one has been injured by a doctor’s or hospital’s negligence, we may be able to help.

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.

We found this video on a hospital website. We thought it was well done and will be adding it to our website. Considering that strokes kill almost 130,000 Americans a year (1 in every 19 deaths) and that strokes affect 795,000 people in the US every year….we thought it would be worthy of sharing. Not only will it be informative for the lay person, but it has a catchy tune.

If you or a family member suffers stroke-like symptoms….Remember to act FAST!

If you or a loved one has suffered serious injuries as a result of an improperly managed stroke, we may be able to help. Contact the attorneys at Lane Brown, LLC now.

Can you imagine taking a trip to the emergency room to have some tingling in your arm or leg checked out and leaving several days later after having that limb amputated? Now, imagine that this sudden amputation was due to your birth control pill. Medical evidence shows the popular birth control pills Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella, and Beyaz have been linked to severe blood clots, which can have devastating effects on the body.

Patients who suffered injuries due to their birth control medication reported feeling extreme pain in affected limbs as well as a barely-detectable pulse. In some circumstances, very little can be done to save the affected limb once symptoms progress to a noticeable stage. A Chicago injury lawyer shares some of the dangerous side effects of Yaz, Yasmin, and other birth control pills:

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) – A blood clot that forms in the veins deep within the body-typically within the legs
Limb Ischaemia– A sudden lack of blood flow to a limb, which gradually causes limb death
Stroke – A rapid loss of brain function due to disruption of the blood supply to the brain
Pulmonary Embolism (PE) – A blood clot in the lungs, commonly resulting from DVT in the legs or pelvis
Heart Attack – Occurs when a section of the heart muscle doesn’t receive the proper blood supply due to blockage
Leg Ulcers – May occur as a result of limb ischaemia and become severely infected or gangrenous

All of these birth control pill complications can be potentially deadly—especially because typical birth control users have no reason to suspect these injuries might occur. If you have suffered an injury due to birth control pills, a medical error, or some other serious accident, a Chicago medical malpractice attorney at Lane Brown can help. Our compassionate and skilled attorneys will take the time to understand your injury, answer your questions, and advise you on your next legal steps—all during a free case consultation. Contact our office today at 312-332-1400. Our attorneys are standing by to help.

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A Chicago medical malpractice lawyer recently learned of a cross infection scare at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, dental office. Cross infection, the transfer of infection from one patient to another, can occur when healthcare workers fail to follow proper sanitation procedures. The attorneys at Lane Brown wanted to offer some tips to help you avoid contracting an infection the next time you go to the dentist.

As patients, we know very little about what goes on behind the scenes at our dentist’s office. After all, we cannot see much aside from the waiting room, the exam room, and the path between the two. The issue of cross-contamination is an invisible risk—your safety is entirely up to the dental professionals that you choose to trust. However, you are not powerless. You can help prevent a Chicago Dental Office Injury from happening to you. Following are five tips to help you discover just how clean your dentist’s office is:

Look around the office – Is it clean and organized? A cluttered and disorganized office could be an indication of the dentist’s sanitation practices.
Watch for gloves – Gloves are the first defense against infection. Every dentist and hygienist should wear them, changing gloves between each patient. Were the gloves taken from a dispenser? What surfaces did they touch prior to your mouth?
Check out the dental instruments – Instruments should be sterilized before use. Were they taken from sealed bags, evidence of sterilization in an autoclave? Were they sitting on a sterile tray or a dirty countertop? Do not be afraid to ask about the sterilization process.
Ask about autoclave validation report –Periodically, a third party sends the dental practice a batch of difficult-to-kill bacteria. The dental staff sterilizes the bacteria in the autoclave and sends the sample back to the third party to verify that the autoclave is working properly. A good dentist should be willing to show you the test results.
Ask questions – Dentists with strong infection control protocols should be more than willing to answer any questions you have about their procedures.

If you contracted a serious infection or suffered some other injury after a visit to the dentist, you may be entitled to compensation for your injuries. An experienced Chicago medical malpractice attorney at Lane Brown will examine the facts of 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 consultation. We are standing by to help.

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.