Car accidents are scary and dangerous for everyone involved, but especially for a young child. Young children have a much greater risk of injury in an accident. Car seats are supposed to keep them safer in an accident, but what happens when this safety feature actually makes things more dangerous? In the case of 4 million defective Graco car seats, yes it can. The defective Graco car seats have a buckle that can get stuck, making it very difficult for parents to get their child out of the seat. This becomes a major safety issue when there is an emergency, because the child can’t be gotten out of the seat quickly. In some instances the straps on the seat had to be cut. In some situations this extra time could be the difference between life and death. Much of the outrage over this recall stems from the fact that Graco […]

Motor vehicle manufacturers are required by law to design and manufacture vehicles that meet minimum safety standards as a protection for consumers. Vehicles have hundreds of parts, however, and even with stricter safety regulations, extensive testing and advances in technology, defects and design flaws still occur. In fact, according to the Washington Post, one in five cars produced in 2014 had some type of defect. That number is higher than any other year. Unfortunately, some of these issues can cause serious, and even deadly accidents. When automobiles or automobile parts are discovered to be defective, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issues recalls of the vehicles in question. According to the NHTSA, vehicle recalls play a significant role in keeping America’s roadways safe. It is essential for consumers to pay close attention to any recalls that might apply to their vehicles and have them repaired as soon as possible […]

When two or more vehicles are involved in an accident in Illinois, each driver must notify his or her insurance company to begin the process of filing a claim, determining fault and securing coverage for any damage or personal injury. An injured passenger is in a unique position, though, and their legal rights and options aren’t always clear. The Illinois Department of Transportation announced that statewide traffic-related fatalities haven’t exceeded 1,000 since 2008. However, more than 61,000 accidents caused injuries last year, and 22,000 passengers were among the injured. These passengers may receive insurance compensation in a few different ways. Securing Insurance Coverage If a passenger is related to a driver who shared fault, they will be covered as an “insured person”. If a passenger is unrelated to the driver, they may be covered as an “uninsured person” or file a claim through their own insurance carrier’s medical payment or […]

Americans who are going in for a surgical procedure may leave the operating room with more than they bargained for. A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University found that surgeons leave foreign objects within patients’ surgical sites more than 4,000 times every year. More than two-thirds of all retained foreign objects are gauze-like sponges that surgeons use to control blood loss during surgery. These surgical sponges can cause a significant amount of internal damage and even death to unsuspecting patients, as any medical malpractice attorney Lake County knows. The most common complications associated with these preventable surgical errors include: Digestive damage and dysfunction Sponges left behind from surgical errors may migrate into the lining of a patient’s stomach, causing gastrointestinal bleeding. The exact severity of damage that occurs will vary from one patient to another, depending on each person’s unique characteristics. Weight loss, fever, swelling of the abdomen, nausea, vomiting […]

When Illinois residents place their loved ones in the care of a nursing home facility, they trust that they will be well taken care of. However, a nationwide evaluation of nursing home care rated Illinois as having some of the worst facilities in the country. In some cases, nursing home neglect attorneys Illinois have seen elderly residents who are severely neglected or abused. As people struggle to understand why issues of nursing home abuse and neglect exist in the first place, advocates for the elderly population strive to find a solution to the ongoing problem. A failing grade The study conducted by Families for Better Care, a nonprofit advocacy group for elderly Americans, complied federal inspection data from nursing home complaints, inspections and staffing reports from 2012, and graded them according to the quality of patient care they provided to their residents. According to CBS News, Illinois was not the […]

When people think of distracted driving, they generally think of texting or talking on a cellphone while driving. However, there are many distractive tasks Illinois drivers can engage in while behind the wheel. These activities can be organized into three main types of distractions: manual, visual and cognitive. Manual and visual distractions involve drivers who remove their hands from the steering wheel and take their eyes off of the road. Cognitive distractions, on the other hand, divert a driver’s mental focus from the road, which many Cook County car accident lawyers know can be deadly. A closer look at distracted driving Distracted driving killed approximately 3,328 people in 2012 and injured an additional 421,000 people, according to Distraction.gov. In an attempt to decrease the distracted driving fatality and injury rate, many states, including Illinois, have enacted laws banning drivers from texting or talking on a cellphone. Many people choose to […]

Like any other vehicles, tractor trailers are designed to carry a specific maximum amount of weight. When drivers fail to abide by these weight limits, the safety features of the large commercial vehicles may fail and accidents may be more likely to occur. To help protect motorists and pedestrians from accidents related to overloaded commercial vehicles, Illinois requires drivers to submit their trucks for weight inspections and issues citations when they find overloaded trucks. Truck carrying capacity depends on the vehicle To determine the maximum amount of weight that each tractor trailer can safely carry, Illinois, like other states in the nation, has developed a bridge formula. This formula uses the amount of space between the outer axles on the vehicle and the number of axles that the vehicle would be using to carry the load. An axle is the rod that passes through the center of a wheel or […]

Is robotic surgery error-proof? The medical industry is continuously developing new pharmaceutical drugs, treatment therapies, patient safety protocols and surgical procedures that improve patient outcomes for people in Illinois and elsewhere. In recent years, robotic surgery has picked up in popularity due to its non-invasive methods. Manufacturers have marketed the benefits of robotic surgery as including shorter recovery time, less time in the hospital, less bleeding and a short incision, reducing scarring. Robotic surgery study The Wall Street Journal states that a new study from Columbia University shows robotic surgery is not error-proof. The study revealed that more patients had complications from robotic surgery than patients who underwent procedures conducted by a human surgeon. For example, 2.7 percent of patients suffered complications from traditional cyst removal while 3.7 percent suffered complications after using robotic surgery. Likewise, 6 percent of women who underwent a traditional surgery to remove their ovaries suffered […]