Illinois personal injury attorneys

Our children are our most precious resources. Their safety is always our main concern. Parents trying to ensure that their babies are safe are subjected to all kinds of corporate marketing…TV, billboards, magazines and other mass media campaigns that try to convince them to buy products. Products that are, above all, safe for our children. Unfortunately, corporate promises can be misleading, and babies’ health can be in danger as a result.

New Zealand dairy exporter, Fonterra, has recalled baby formula potentially contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, according to several news media sources. The New York Times (8/6, B3, Hutchison, Subscription Publication, 1.68M) reports that Fonterra apologized for the contamination of “an infant milk formula ingredient” with Clostridium botulinum, “traced to a pipe that had not been cleaned properly in one of its…processing plants.” Much of the infant formula was exported to China, where many “consumers prefer to buy imported products because of problems involving domestic brands.” Fonterra officials said the contaminated whey protein batches “were produced in May 2012,” but the company did not discover the contamination until testing was done in Australia in March.

The Wall Street Journal (8/6, B6, Howard, Burkitt, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports that New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, said that the contamination was damaging to both Fonterra and New Zealand, noting questions regarding how long Fonterra took to trace and announce the contamination and announcing that an investigation into the contamination would be conducted. Fonterra said that eight customers were informed about the contaminated whey protein, including three food companies, two beverage companies, and three animal feed manufacturers.
Reuters (8/6, Beckford, Rajagopalan) reports that Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings said bans on Fonterra products had not been imposed by China. Instead, restrictions on whey protein concentrate were put in place. The restrictions are expected to be lifted after Chinese officials receive a report on how the contamination occurred.

According to Fonterra officials, “90 percent of affected products are in warehouses and the company is working to take back the rest from retail stores’”, Bloomberg News (8/6, Lin) reports. Fonterra officials said that around 17 tons of the contaminated whey “was used by customers in Australia and New Zealand to make about 2,100 tons of baby milk powder,” and the remainder “was used by other customers including Coca-Cola (KO) in other products.”

The Wall Street Journal (8/6, Qi, Subscription Publication, 2.29M) reports that US-based Abbott Laboratories Chinese division was asked to recall two infant formula products by China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The General Administration wrote on its website that New Zealand officials had indicated the two formulas produced by Abbott Laboratories Trading (Shanghai) Co, .Ltd., may have been tainted with Clostridium botulinum. And, according to Reuters (8/6, Tajitsu), 80,000 cans of baby formula produced by Cow & Gate has been recalled in Hong Kong and Macau.

If your child or someone you know has consumed contaminated baby formula, you may be able to take action. We can help! Please contact the attorneys at Lane Brown, LLC at 312-332-1400 or visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com.

In continuing coverage, Food Safety News (6/25) reports that the “ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A linked to a frozen berry mix sold at Costco is now known to have sickened 119 people” in five states, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention update. Among those sickened, five of the cases are in children; and although none of the children have been hospitalized, the number of adult hospitalizations has increased from 50 to 53, the CDC data show. The state-by-state case breakdown is “Arizona (16), California (61), Colorado (24), Hawaii (5), New Mexico (5), Nevada (5), and Utah (3).”

If you or a loved one has suffered injury from contaminated food products, 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.

Recently, there has been a string of injuries and wrongful deaths caused by the negligence of private bus and limousine companies. This week, one such case has resulted in the filing of a wrongful death suit being filed against a party bus operator. The Kansas City (MO) Star (6/18, Rizzo, 197K) reports, “A wrongful death lawsuit was filed Tuesday against the operators of a party bus from which a young mother fell to her death in May.” The Star notes that “according to the lawsuits filed by Kansas City attorneys Lynn Johnson and David Morantz, after Midnight Express bought the used vehicle in 2010, it made ‘extensive modifications’ that included removal of some of the vehicle’s safety features.” According to the Star, “in late May, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued an ‘imminent hazard’ order that prohibited the company from continuing to operate until it addressed what the federal order termed an ‘appalling’ disregard for safety.”

If you or someone you know needs assistance after a bus or limousine accident, please contact The Law Offices of Lane Brown, LLC, or call 312-332-1400 or 1-800-LAWYERS.

What to do If You Are In A Car Accident

1. Try to stay calm: Auto accidents can be a pretty scary, stressful time, but it is extremely important that you try not to panic and remain calm, especially if there are other passengers in the vehicle.

2. Immediate Steps After a Car Accident: There are a few steps you should always follow after an accident. First, put the car in park and put on your emergency lights. Do not leave the scene of the accident. Assess any injuries to yourself and/or passengers, and inspect the car for damages.

3. Report the Car Accident: Immediately call 911 and report the accident, giving dispatchers any helpful landmarks or signs that will help them find your location quickly. Let them know how many vehicles are involved, and if you or your passengers have been injured. You should not move your vehicle until the police come and safely guide you to the shoulder or side of the road.

4. File the Car Accident Report: Once the police arrive, file an accident report. Do not discuss the accident with anyone except for the police. When you do talk to the police, be as accurate as possible about any statements that you make, as they will often be stated as either your quotes or statements that are attributed to you in the police report.

5. You should get as much contact information as possible from the drivers and passengers of other vehicles involved in the accident, as well as contact information from any witnesses. Important information such as name, contact numbers, addresses, car make, model, year, color, license plate number, and VIN (Vehicle Identification Number).

You also need their car insurance name and phone number as well, and any policy numbers they might have.

6. It is extremely helpful to try to preserve evidence. If you have a camera or cell phone which has a built-in camera, take photographs of the cars’ damages and the scene of the accident, as well as any visible signs of injury. In photographing the vehicles, take pictures that show all of the damage on all vehicles as well as damage to the surrounding scene that would illustrate what happened and how the accident occurred. If you can, take pictures of the resting positions of the vehicles immediately after the impact, and before they have been moved. If any of the vehicles have already been moved from their resting position, take photos that show the location where each vehicle came to a stop after the collision. Photograph any debris from the vehicles, skid marks and anything else which would help to explain what happened. It is smart and safe practice to either keep a camera in your car, or to use the camera capabilities on cell phones.

7. Contact Your Car Insurance Company: Call your insurance company as soon as possible. Most insurance companies provide you with a wallet-sized reference card with a 1-800 emergency phone number. You can also refer to the copy of your insurance policy (which you should keep in your glove compartment). Be sure to give the insurance company as much information as possible.

8. Whether or not you are able to take photographs after an accident, as soon after the accident as possible, write down everything that happened in the time leading up to the collision, what happened during the accident and what happened immediately following the accident. If you or others in your vehicle have been injured, you should seek immediate medical care, even if you don’t belive that the injuries are serious at the time. It is not unusual for serious injuries to be “hidden” by the trauma of an accident, and many serious injuries can be avoided by prompt medical attention. On the other hand, many serious injuries can turn into tragedies if they are not detected as early as possible.
Auto accidents are never pleasant, but being able follow these steps will ensure that dealing with the aftermath will be a lot less painful.

If you or a loved one has suffered injuries in a car accident, 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.

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.