Chicago Brain Injury Lawyer Blog

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys just learned about a lawsuit in which a woman has sued the car company that manufactured the car she was driving when she got into an accident that left her with a brain injury. According to the brain injury lawsuit, the woman was driving her car the posted speed limit and was wearing her seat belt on a rainy evening, when another driver lost control of their vehicle and slammed into the woman’s car. While the car accident itself was caused by the other driver that slammed into the woman’s car, the brain injury lawsuit alleges that due to the car company’s negligence and design defects, the car did not properly protect the woman driver after the driver slammed into the woman’s car.

The brain injury lawsuit alleges that the woman’s car airbag did deploy, but that the design of the airbag and protection to the driver was insufficient to fully protect her in an accident. The woman’s head struck the side of the car and she suffered brain damage as a result of this hit. According to The Southeast Texas Record, the reason the lawsuit is against the car company is that the woman believes that the overall design of the car was negligently designed and manufactured and that because of this improper design, the woman suffered from the brain injury. The lawsuit seeks damages not only for the medical bills associated with the head injury but also for the woman’s pain and suffering and the mental damage that occurred due to the car’s design.

This type of brain injury lawsuit is a good example of how many accidents and brain injuries are not just the result of one person’s negligence or actions, but may be the combined result of several people’s actions. When your personal injuries are caused by several people, a personal injury lawsuit based on negligence may be able to be filed against all people that are responsible. In this case, the woman driver may have also sued the driver of the car that hit her for the driver’s negligence in failing to keep a proper lookout or failure to control his vehicle.

Sometimes when a person is injured in an accident that was caused by another person’s negligence, the victim unfortunately may be further injured when treated for their injury if the doctor or hospital staff acts negligently. If you or a loved one were involved in an accident that left you with a brain injury, and there were multiple people who were responsible for the full extent of your injuries, there may be multiple people who should be sued to recover damages for what you have suffered as a result of their negligent actions. Our personal injury law firm has helped out victims all over the state of Illinois figure out what options the victim has available to them and what steps need to be taken. Please call our brain injury attorneys today to discuss what has happened to you or to your loved one and to see what options are available to you.

Brain injuries can occur from a large variety of events and may result from an incident where the victim suffers a blow to the head, but also may result from an incident where the victim is injured but the injury is not to the head itself but the overall damage to the victim causes brain damage. Our Chicago brain injury attorneys have helped out victims, and their families, of all types of brain injury receive compensation for these brain injuries when they were caused by the negligence of another. The person causing the injury could have been a doctor that failed to act appropriately given the situation, could be a stranger to the victim that caused an accident in which the victim was injured, could be an employer that allowed conditions to get to a point where the victim was injured on the job, or could be anyone else that acted in a way where their negligence led to the victim’s injury.

One specific type of brain injury is referred to as a traumatic brain injury. This encompasses brain injuries that the victim acquires during their life (not ones they are born with) and refers to those injuries where either an object pierces the skull and enters into the brain, or where the victim’s head strikes or is stricken by an object. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s website, the term traumatic brain injury does not only refer to severe and permanent brain injuries that were caused by a piercing or a striking, but also refers to minor injuries associated with this type of injury.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury to your head and maintained consciousness, or felt that the symptoms were not severe enough to worry about, you may still have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Other symptoms may include headaches, confusions, dizziness, lethargy, memory problems, blurred vision, as well as a range of other similar symptoms. So even if you feel that your injury may not be too severe, if you are experiencing these symptoms it is best to see a doctor to check you out and make sure that you are okay. Often times with traumatic brain injuries the victim will need surgery to remove ruptured blood vessels or bruised brain tissue, so please check with your doctor if you think you may have suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Often times, a brain injury lawsuit will not only seek damages for the medical expenses that resulted from the incident but will also ask for pain and suffering damages when the victim’s life and lifestyle have been affected in a way where they are no longer able to enjoy life in the same way that they did before the injury. Our Illinois personal injury law firm has helped out victims of traumatic brain injuries, that resulted from another person’s negligence, all over the state of Illinois. Our Illinois brain injury attorneys have seen all types of brain injuries (traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries) and are here to help you or your loved one receive just compensation for all that you have suffered through as a result of the brain injury.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys recently read about a new study that showed that girls have a higher risk for developing a traumatic brain injury than boys. The study showed that girls are more likely to develop a concussion (a shaking of the brain against the skull following a hit to the head) than boys, even when there was the same type of hit to the head. According to Third Age, the study showed that in specific sports such as soccer and basketball that the number of concussions received by student athletes playing these sports were significantly higher for girls than they were for boys. The study does not cover what the exact reasons for the discrepancy in concussions between boys and girls playing the same sports is, but it is believed by many medical professionals that the difference may be due to the fact that girls tend to have smaller heads than boys and girls neck muscles are typically less developed than boys of the same age.

The reason that the difference in the number of concussions between boys and girls is connected to the frequency of traumatic brain injuries is because recent evidence has shown that repetitive concussions can lead to serious brain damage over time. Given the fact that girls are more likely to suffer from concussions, it makes sense that girls would also be more likely to suffer from traumatic brain injuries.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk among student athletes, coaches, school staff, and parents in respect to letting kids back on the playing field following a concussion. Now that evidence shows the high level of danger in repeated concussions and the danger in letting a person with a concussion immediately go back on the field before being thoroughly checked out by a doctor, more and more people are concerned with traumatic brain injuries that may result from years of hits to the head on the playing field.

Our brain injury attorneys encourage all coaches, schools, and parents to make sure that, following a concussion, student athletes are not let back on the field to play until they have been fully examined and cleared by a doctor. The time needed to return to play after each concussion may vary by person and because of this a doctor should always be the one to clear the student athlete. The study also suggested that girls are more prone to traumatic brain injuries than boys because generally girls seem to take longer to recover after a concussion than boys and may require more time off the field to be considered safe to play that a boy would need.

If you feel that your child, who was a student athlete, suffered a brain injury as a result of their school or coach forcing them to go back on the field after suffering from concussions, please contact our personal injury law firm today. Schools and coaches should always keep the children's safety first and make sure not to let any child go back on the field after being hit in the head without being cleared by a doctor.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys just learned of a lawsuit in which an energy company was sued after one of their employees unintentionally hit another employee with power tongs in June of this year. Power tongs are a type of hydraulic equipment used on many industrial sites, which are used to help the workers move large objects around and maneuver around the work site. The employee that filed the lawsuit and was injured by the other employee when he was struck with the power tongs causing him to be thrown headfirst into other equipment that was on the work site and as a result suffered from severe injuries to the head including fractured sinuses and a brain injury. The brain injury lawsuit is against the company that the two men worked at and alleges that the company was negligent in allowing this type of injury to be able to occur while employees were on the job. The lawsuit claims that the worker that stuck the victim was using the control lever on a piece of equipment and hit the wrong lever, which was the one that struck the victim in the face.

Brain injuries are often caused by slips, falls, pushes, and a number of other ways in which the head is hit so severely that the brain is injured as a result. Many of these brain injuries are the result of another’s (other than the victim) actions, like in the case discussed here. When the injury occurs at the victim’s place of work, the victim may have the option of suing the company if the negligence occurred while the people involved were on the job. Because companies may be liable for the negligence of their workers, or negligence while on the job, it is very important that all companies make sure to try to keep the job site as safe as possible and that they hire employees that they believe will act very safe and make safety their greatest priority while on the job.

A personal injury lawsuit is an appropriate option for someone that has suffered a brain injury as the result of another’s negligent actions. These type of lawsuits are a way in which to try to make the person responsible for your injury accountable for their actions and to receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages resulting from the injury, pain and suffering, as well as other damages that occurred. In this particular lawsuit the victim asked for compensation for his medical bills as well as for some other damages suffered as a result of the incident where he was injured.

If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury on the job and it was due to the negligence of another employee or by negligence on the part of the company, you may have a personal injury lawsuit against the company where the injury occurred. Our Illinois brain injury attorneys have helped clients all over the state with their personal injury lawsuits and are here to listen to what has happened to you and discuss what options are available to you.

Our Illinois brain injury attorneys recently learned of a case in which the parents of a young man who was severely injured when he was run over by a boat are suing the driver of the boat that caused the serious and permanent injuries. The terrible incident occurred a little over two years ago while the boy was out kayaking with his father. While the boy was paddling out towards his father and wearing a bright orange life jacket, the driver of the speedboat was not paying full attention and hit the young man, severely injuring him. The boat ran over the boy cutting his body in multiple places. Because of the negligence of the boat driver, the young man suffered severe physical injuries including a ruptured spleen and a collapsed lung as well as permanent traumatic brain injuries. According to The News Tribune, the boat driver did help the injured boy get to shore following the accident but did not immediately admit that it was his boat that had struck the boy causing his severe injuries. No charges were filed against the driver but he was fined for operating his boat negligently.

The family of the injured young man alleges in their civil personal injury lawsuit against the driver of the speedboat that he was operating the boat in an unsafe manner and that he was driving too fast and not properly watching where he was headed when he crashed into their son. Following the incident the young man was hospitalized for several months and then was in a rehabilitation center for many more months. Now, more than two years later, he still requires a great deal of medical care and is permanently physically and mentally disabled as a result of being hit by the boat. The traumatic brain injury that the young man suffered as a result of the crash was so damaging that he will require lifetime rehabilitation and he will never be back to the way that he was prior to the accident.

The lawsuit against the boat driver does not only cover the costs associated with the medical bills and the boy’s long term medical care, but also aims to try to compensate the family in some way for all the emotional and long-term damage they have and continue to suffer as a result of their son’s lifetime injuries. When someone acts negligently and their actions cause serious injury to another party, the victim and their family should be held liable for these actions and personal injury lawsuits are a way in which the victims may be able to be compensated in some way for these injuries.

If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, please contact our Illinois brain injury attorneys today to talk to them about what options are available to you and your family, and how the person responsible may be held accountable for their negligence. Our personal injury law firm has helped victims all over Illinois recover for their injuries that were caused at the hands of another and are here to listen to your story.

Our Illinois brain injury attorneys were happy to see that the state of Arizona just became the first state that required that all student athletes enroll in and complete a concussion education program and pass a test making sure that they understand what they have learned about concussions before they are allowed to play in that state. According to the PR News Wire, the association that fought for this law to take effect said that they recognized how serious and dangerous traumatic brain injuries can be and that recurring concussions often lead to this type of serious permanent damage to athletes.

While twenty-eight states have laws that require some level of concussion education, this program is the first and only program currently in place that is directed specifically at student athletes, and the only current program that require the athletes to complete a test on what they have learned before the athlete is cleared to play within the state. The program is an online educational program, which is intended and designed to appeal more to the younger generation, so that the athletes will pay more attention to what they are learning and realize how important it is to learn about and how potentially dangerous concussions may be if they are not treated in the appropriate way.

The reason that concussion education is so important in connection with sporting injuries is that players need to be aware that if they ignore concussions and are not fully checked out before going back on the field, they may risk serious long term brain injuries caused by repetitive concussions. By educating athletes of the danger of concussions and teaching them about how to prevent concussions, hopefully the number of concussion related brain injuries will reduce in the sporting world. While this is just one state that has enacted this full educational program, the hope is that this will inspire other states and teams to enact similar programs that aim at concussion prevention.

Many players and their families have not been educated about the dangers of concussions and of continuing to play immediately following a concussion, but recently more and more doctors, sporting associations and teams are realizing how important this issue is and that many sporting related brain injuries are preventable. When the proper precautions are taken on the field or the proper steps are taken following a concussion or other type of hit to the head while playing sports, many brain injuries may be prevented. Whether it is through educating the players and their families, making sure that all helmets are up to the necessary standards, assuring that once a player is hit they are not sent back on the field until they have been thoroughly checked out by a doctor, being aware of the danger of head injuries in sports is very important for everyone involved.

Coaches and sporting associations owe their players a duty of care and should always disclose any information they have available regarding dangers to their players and are acting negligently if they decided to withhold this information from their athletes. If you or a loved one suffered a brain injury that resulted from years of head trauma from sports, and were never taught about the dangers of repetitive concussions, please contact our Illinois personal injury attorneys today to discuss your options.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys were happy to hear that the nationwide company that refurbishes old football helmets for use by schools will no longer accept helmets that are older than ten years old for reconditioning. All helmets used in schools are supposed to be sent out to be reconditioned after every season in order to help make sure that the helmets will continue to protect the players. The reason for this limit on how old of helmets the company will accept is that in light of all the newer data on what increased concussions can do to a player long term, the company does not feel that it is safe to recondition helmets that are over ten years old.

According to STL Today, this new policy has been received both positively and negatively by school officials and coaches at schools. Many coaches recognize the importance of not using helmets that are too old, in that they may not offer the same protection to the players as newer helmets can offer in terms of safety. Also school representatives feel that this new policy is good for schools from a legal standpoint. Schools have a duty to act responsibly in supervising their students and athletes and need to make decisions to best protect and keep the students safe. If the school fails to act in this manner they may face a brain injury lawsuit if a player gets hurt on their watch. Given all the wear and tear that a helmet can go through in ten years, advocates of the change in policy feel like this is absolutely the best decision to make in order to hopefully reduce the number of head and brain injuries to athletes.

However, there are also school officials and coaches that do not feel like this policy is necessary to keep students safe. While the school officials and coaches do agree that safety is the number one issue, they also argue that this policy change is not the least restrictive way to achieve safety for the student athletes. One issue they raise is that not all helmets are used all the time for the ten year period, and often times helmets that are a unique size or have other unique characteristics may be rarely used. The argument here is that the proponents think that requiring that all helmets may not be used after ten years, as oppose to just ones that were regularly used, is a waste of money to schools.

Another worry about the new policy is whether schools that lack the money to purchase new helmets once the ten years have run on others will continue to use the old helmets without them being reconditioned. This would defeat the purpose of what the new policy is trying to accomplish and would likely place student athletes at a much more serious risk of head trauma and increase the brain injuries we see as a result of sports related head injuries.

So while it is extremely important to make sure that all athletes have helmets that are up to standard and can protect the student athletes from personal injuries while on the field, these safety measures will not work unless the schools and coaches are also committed to the player's safety.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys just read an article about a high school student who filed a lawsuit against the town she lives in, and against the school board in the same town, for brain injuries that she suffered while playing a tennis/baseball game in her gym class. The brain injury lawsuit alleges that the student was injured when she was hit by a tennis ball and has suffered a traumatic brain injury and memory loss as a result of the hit by the ball. The injury occurred while the students were playing a combination of tennis and baseball indoors, which was a game that the gym teacher required the students to play. The tennis ball was hit by another student as hard as he could with a tennis racket and hit the girl directly in the head.

According to The CT Post, the young girl’s doctor says that she suffered permanent brain damage to the right side of her brain and is suffering from persistent post-concussion syndrome. She is also having difficulty remembering things and in turn having trouble at school. She has to use memory aids to help her remember her school assignments. She also used to play field hockey and was a dancer but is currently having trouble with those activities because her spatial reasoning has been altered. This type of injury and problems are common with this type of traumatic brain injury.

The main issue that is addressed in this lawsuit is whether or not the gym teacher and school were negligent in allowing students to engage in this kind of game in such a small indoor space. The tennis ball was being hit as hard as students could hit it with a tennis racket in an indoor gym filled with twenty five students, and the brain injury lawsuit alleges that the negligence in allowing this activity is what led to the young girl’s permanent brain injuries. The girl’s father is suing on the young girl’s behalf and is seeking over $15,000 in damages to cover her medical expenses, her hospital expenses, and her therapy expenses.

Anytime someone is in a position to exert control and has responsibility over others, it is very important that that person exercises a great deal of care. This situation is common in school settings, and it is crucial for teachers to choose activities that will not put students in danger of being harmed. When the person in charge does act negligently and puts children at risk of injury, that person may be held liable.

Continue reading " Student Files Lawsuit Against School Board for Brain Injury " »

A new Illinois law requires that movable soccer goals must be properly anchored and checked to make sure that they will not tip over while kids are playing soccer. Our Illinois brain injury attorneys are happy to see this new law as it comes as a response to multiple deaths and severe head and brain injuries that have resulted from movable soccer goals tipping over and landing on young children. The law is known as “Zach’s Law” and is named after a young Illinois boy who was killed eight years ago by a goal that tipped over and landed on top of him. There have been three other incidents in Illinois where children have been injured by these movable goals. The new law is aimed to make people aware of how avoidable this type of injury is as long as the goal is anchored properly and the time is taken to make sure that the goal is stable and safe for kids to play around. The goals must be removed and stored in a specific way and only park employees are authorized to remove and install any goals that are owned by the district. The reason for this is to try to make sure that the people that are in charge of installing and removing the goals have the proper training and that they will exercise the most care possible in handling the goals. Aside from just requiring the proper inspection of the goals, the new law also bans the manufacture or sale of any new soccer goals that are not tip-resistant.

The family of the young boy who the law is named after started a non-profit group named Anchored for Safety with a goal of promoting soccer goal safety and pushing for legislation to deal with soccer goal safety. While it did take time, the family is happy that Illinois responded and enacted a soccer goal safety law. The Illinois law comes shortly after several other states have enacted laws that are similar to this one, aiming at protecting child from death or brain injury from movable soccer goals that were not properly anchored. This law is very important because it is a way to help keep children safe from death or serious brain injury. Any time there are measures that can be taken to protect people and keep avoidable injuries from happening, these measures should always be taken to help protect people from serious personal injury.

Continue reading " Illinois Passes Soccer Goal Safety Law to Prevent Brain Injuries " »

A medical malpractice case went to trial recently alleging that a neurosurgeon who performed a brain biopsy on an elderly man acted negligently and did not exercise due care in his treatment of the patient. Our Chicago brain injury attorneys found this case particularly interesting because an Illinois brain injury expert testified that the kind of mistake that the defendant physician made was such a basic and common issue that he believed that a person with no medical training could have made the proper decision. According the The Duluth News Tribune, the defendant physician performed a brain biopsy, which is the appropriate procedure when there is evidence of a tumor, when all of the man’s symptoms pointed to the fact that he had a stroke and there was no evidence of a tumor. Performing the brain biopsy turned a small brain stroke into a major brain bleed causing the patient a severe amount of brain damage that was all a result of the doctor’s negligence. The elderly man is now suffering from multiple cognitive defects, is having trouble speaking, and can no longer walk.

The brain injury lawsuit seeks over one million dollars in damages that include medical costs, as well as damage for lost wages and the loss of the quality of life that the man could have expected without the negligent operation. The lawsuit also alleges that not only should the doctor have realized that the symptoms likely were caused by a stroke, but also that he should have required that more MRI and CT scans were performed on the patient before making such a major decision to open up his head. The doctor’s attorneys argue that the patient had the information necessary and the consented to the procedure, knowing both the risks associated with the procedure and the alternate option available to him. However, the injured man’s attorneys argue that because of his stroke that he was not aware of what he was agreeing to and that the decision was not actually an informed one.

It is crucial that when dealing with an area of the body like the brain that a doctor takes steps to exercise the most care possible to avoid unnecessary procedures because of how sensitive the brain can be to injury. It is especially sad to see a physician trained in neurosurgery make this type of error in a case that other doctors agree is one in which a little more care and attention would have made it clear that the procedure was not the appropriate given his symptoms.

Continue reading " Doctor Performs Brain Operation When Symptoms Show Different Problem " »

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys, Steven Levin and Margaret Battersby, recently reached a $17.7 million settlement on behalf of a client who suffered severe brain damage as a patient at a Chicago hospital. The client is a former police officer who was in the hospital as a result of an injury that he suffered while on the job. The client was hospitalized in the neurosurgical unit of the hospital for his head injuries, and because of negligent nursing care while in the unit he suffered further serious brain damage that caused him to suffer from quadriplegia.

The brain injury lawsuit alleged negligence on the part of the nurses who were in charge of caring for our client. Hospital staff did not properly monitor our client’s intracranial pressure during a test of a drain that was in place to drain the excess fluid build-up following his stroke from his initial injury. As a result of this failure, his intracranial pressure rose to dangerous levels, but his physician was not notified by the nurses of the increase in pressure until the damage had already been done. As a result of this delay, he suffered an irreparable brain injury.

The brain injury lawsuit was filed in 2005. Our Chicago personal injury attorneys reached a settlement days before this case went to trial. With this brain injury settlement although the victim will never be fully compensated for what has been done to him, the compensation will allow him to receive lifetime medical care and will enable his family to purchase advanced assistive technology to help him communicate.

Continue reading " Levin & Perconti Recover $17.7 M for Client in Brain Injury/Medical Malpractice Case " »

A recent Illinois law was just passed that requires that all student athletes in Illinois that suffer from a concussion get approval from a doctor before they are allowed to play again. Our Illinois brain injury attorneys are so happy to hear about this new law, especially because of all the professional athletes that have suffered severe brain injuries after years of suffering concussions and going right back out on the field. According to the Courthouse News Service, the law will take effect immediately and was enacted after legislators saw all the dangers that were associated with allowing National Football League (NFL) players to keep playing without much medical attention after suffering concussions. In addition to requiring medical approval before being allowed to play again, the law will also require that coaches, parents, referees and all players receive more education about concussions so everyone involved is aware of the potential dangers and can better make informed decisions.

This issue has recently been very controversial, in light of former players from the NFL realizing that many of them have permanent brain damage as a result of years of hits to the head and going back on the field after concussions. The NFL did not warn the players of the dangers of repetitive concussions until just recently, and there is currently a major lawsuit against the NFL that was brought by former players. The NFL lawsuit alleges that the NFL knew of the dangers to the players long before they began warning them and that they were negligent and had a duty to warn the players of any dangers they were aware of that was associated with the sport.

The reason that it is so important to be aware of the dangers of multiple concussions and always be fully checked out by a doctor after receiving a concussion is that if a person suffers from multiple concussions they run the risk of incurring permanent brain injuries. A concussion is a shaking of the brain against the skull, which often times does not cause serious or permanent damage when it occur once but can cause long term damage if the injury is continuous. Having a doctor check out a patient immediately after a concussion and before they are allowed to be back out on the field is very important so that if the injury is more serious, the injured person takes the appropriate time necessary to recover and does not risk more severe injury.

Our Illinois personal injury law firm is happy to see that the Illinois legislature is taking action to try and help with this growing problem and to ensure that all Illinois child athletes are receiving the proper medical attention and care that they all deserve if they suffer an injury while playing sports. While it is unfortunate that it took something as terrible as many former players being seriously injured to make a change, hopefully this new law will help protect athletes and reduce the number of brain injuries that result from sports.

Our Illinois brain injury attorneys recently read about a lawsuit in which a man who suffered brain injuries after falling while trying to help out a police officer recovered a little over a million dollars in connection with his injuries. The man was working at a pet store nearly three years ago when he helped a local police officer investigate the burglary of a bunch of puppies from the pet store in which he worked. According to Mercury News, while he was helping the officer he was on the roof of the store and fell through the skylight on the roof and fell 15 feet to the ground below. The fall caused the man to suffer a skull fracture, which led to severe brain injury as well as other physical injuries. The lawsuit is against the police officer the man was assisting, the city in which the incident happened, and the owner of the complex in which the store was located. The lawsuit sought damages for the permanent brain injuries the man suffered as a result of the fall. He must take anti-seizure medication for the rest of his life because of the damage to his head. The personal injury lawsuit was settled shortly before it was scheduled to go to trial, and the man injured will receive a total of $1.1 million dollars, part from the city and part from the complex in which the pet store was located.

This type of permanent brain injury is an open brain injury in which the skull was cracked, and in this particular case is resulted in permanent damage and the patient will need to take medication for the rest of his life. It is likely that the reason that the man has to take medication for the rest of his life is to make sure that the brain does not swell and that the cranial pressure does not become more damaging to his head. This type of injury is common with a blow to the head, which can occur when a person falls a long distance, like the man did in this lawsuit. A closed head injury, as oppose to this type of open head injury, occurs when there is a brain injury but the skull is not cracked open.

The victim of the head injury recovered damages not only for the medical bills and costs associated with the accident itself, but also for the pain and suffering and damages that he will continue to suffer as a result of having to deal with a permanent head injury for the rest of his life. This type of compensation is often available to victims of brain injuries that suffered their injury at least partially because of the negligence of another, and is a way in which to try to help make the person feel as close to whole again after their injury.

If you or a loved one was injured in a fall and feel that the fall was at least possibly caused by the negligence of another, please contact our Chicago brain injury attorneys today. Our Illinois personal injury law firm is here to help you recover the compensation you deserve and have helped out victims of brain injuries all over the state of Illinois.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys recently learned of a lawsuit that was filed against a company that makes a certain type of alcohol prep pads that were used on a baby that likely left the baby with severe brain damage. According to About Lawsuits, the brain injury lawsuit alleges that one of the family’s twin boys developed cerebral palsy as a result of bacteria that was on the alcohol prep pads that were used when the baby was born and placed in the neonatal unit after birth. The baby developed a severe brain injury and he is not able to eat, walk or talk. The family was not originally aware of what had caused the brain injury that led to cerebral palsy, and because of this they filed the lawsuit against the hospital for malpractice leading to the baby developing cerebral palsy and the lawsuit did not originally name the company that produced the prep pads as a defendant.

While it was clear that the baby developed cerebral palsy from some sort of infection, the family, the hospital, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention could not figure out where the newborn was exposed to the bacteria. It was not until the prep pad company recalled the pads very recently that everyone involved realized that it was likely that is where the baby developed the infection. While there is no direct evidence that the contaminated pads were used on the baby, the hospital was using the same pads that were recently recalled by the company at the time the baby developed the infection. However, while both babies were in the neonatal unit at the same time, only one of the twins developed the brain infection while in the hospital. It is unknown if the same pads were used on both of the newborns.

The bacteria caused the portions of the newborn baby’s brain to be seriously damaged, which led him to develop cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is a broad term that encompasses many types of brain injuries to the motor control centers of the brain, which can lead to very severe and permanent developmental disabilities. While cerebral palsy brain injuries can occur without negligence on the part of anyone, it is also terrible when it develops as a result of someone’s or of a company’s negligence. In this case, the company seems to have acted negligently in some part of the manufacturing process, as a large number of their alcohol prep pads were contaminated with this dangerous bacteria. While all companies need to be cautious and thorough in their testing, it is especially important that companies producing medical supplies make sure that they use extreme caution when they test their products so they do not end up exposing the people using their products to further injury.

If you or a loved one was injured as a result of the negligence on the part of a company whose product you used, or believe that the product may have led to your injury please call our Illinois personal injury law firm to discuss your case and what options may be available.

Our Illinois personal injury attorneys were sad to hear about an Illinois motorcycle accident, which left one passenger dead and two others seriously injured. The motorcycle accident occurred this past weekend when one motorcycle attempted to make a u-turn and struck another motorcycle that was heading in the other direction. The drivers of both motorcycles were injured, and the passenger of the motorcycle suffered serious brain injuries. According to the State Journal-Register, none of the riders were wearing helmets at the time of the motorcycle accident and the young woman that died as a result of her injuries suffered severe head injuries after she was thrown of the motorcycle during the accident.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys strongly encourage all motorcycle drivers and riders to always wear a helmet whenever they are on a motorcycle. Given the danger of severe head injuries in a motorcycle accident, the importance of wearing a helmet is very high, and wearing a helmet will hopefully keep tragedies like this from occurring again. Though the state of Illinois unfortunately does not require helmets when driving or riding on a motorcycle, it is something that each motorcycle driver or passenger should definitely choose to do themselves anytime they get on a motorcycle. While you or a loved one may feel that you are very safe on a motorcycle and will not get into an accident and therefore do not need a helmet, it is important to realize that not everyone else out there on the road may be as careful, cautious, and skilled of a driver and could cause an accident that you may be unable to avoid.

Unfortunately, the overall usage of helmets has been decreasing greatly in recent years and a 2010 study showed that only 54% of drivers and passengers wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle. This incredibly low percentage of helmet usage even includes those states where wearing a helmet is required to ride a motorcycle. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as of 2010 only 20 states and the District of Columbia required helmets on motorcyclists. It is upsetting that so many states do not require helmets, because helmets can offer so much protection when a person is thrown off of a motorcycle and can protect against traumatic brain injuries and even against fatalities.

So even if the law does not require it and you feel that you are a safe motorcycle driver, please remember that others may cause an accident and that a helmet can make the difference between life and death. If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury as a result of another driver’s negligence and feel that you may have a case against that person, please do not hesitate to contact our Chicago personal injury lawyers today to discuss what has happened to you or your loved one and what options may be available to you.

A lawsuit was recently filed after a police officer ran an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) into two pedestrians that were walking along the beach in Florida, one of which suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the accident. Our Chicago brain injury attorneys found this lawsuit particularly interesting because the lawsuit alleges that the police officer responsible was on-duty at the time of the accident and had been served alcohol all night at a local hotel. According to Fox News, the lawsuit names both the hotel and the officer as defendants and the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the victim who is still in serious condition and is likely to require years of rehabilitation.

The police department fired the cop responsible for the accident immediately following the accident and the officer also faces criminal charges for driving under the influence as his blood alcohol count was reported to over the legal driving limit for Florida even five hours after the accident. The police department also stated that they will look into whether police officers are being served while on duty regularly and try to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. The lawsuit also alleges that the hotel that was named as defendant was known to serve on duty police officers. The hotel will not discuss the lawsuit other than to say that they did not serve any alcohol to the officer while he was on duty that night. The representative of the victim says that they plan to sue the City of Miami Beach as well, but state law requires a six month waiting period to sue the city so that lawsuit has not yet been filed.

One victim of the accident suffered only minor physical injuries, but the woman who the lawsuit is filed on behalf of suffered physical injuries as well as a traumatic brain injury. The brain injury has left her with memory loss, trouble concentrating, partial paralysis and difficulty speaking. These types of injuries are common with a brain injury, and often require years and years of painful recovery and can end up costing millions in damages. Since our brains control who we are, brain injuries can often be as devastating long term, and sometimes even more devastating, to a family than physical injuries because they can change the personality of the person injured. Given how much a brain injury can affect the victim permanently and affect their family, damages other than just medical costs associated with the accident are often sought to try to help and compensate for all that has been lost. In this accident, the victim is the mother of a one year old baby and it is unknown when she will be able to care for the baby again.

Unfortunately, this is an example of a brain injury lawsuit caused by a careless accident that could easily have been avoided, which is often the case when someone chooses to act negligently and ends up seriously injuring another. Our Chicago personal injury law firm has helped out people all over the state of Illinois recover damages for injuries caused by the negligence of others, and not only for their medical costs but also for pain and suffering and lost wages and other damages resulting from the accident. If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury as a result of the negligence of another, please contact us immediately to discuss your options.

Our Chicago personal injury attorneys were interested to learn more details about the lawsuit in which a group of former National Football League (“NFL”) players claim the NFL actively concealed evidence that repeated football head injuries and concussions could lead to serious cognitive brain damage. According to Business Insider, the lawsuit against the League also names Riddell, Inc. as a defendant, the company that has been the official football helmet brand for over 20 years. At this point both the NFL and Riddell refuse to comment on the pending lawsuit.

Concussions are a common head injury in heavy contact sports, such as football. When a player gets hit in the head during play the hit often leads to a concussion, which is when the hit causes the brain to jar or shake in the head. Because of how frequent concussions are in football, and how quickly the players are often back on the field and susceptible to being hit again, this issue has recently become a major concern in the sport.

The NFL has a brain injury committee that has been around for years and which was set up to research the effects of multiple hits on the players long term brain health. According to CNN, up until June of 2010, the committee claimed that there was no ongoing damage created by the multiple hits and concussions the players received and that the players had no long term damage to be concerned about. Then last year the committee finally released information that repeated concussions could lead to dementia, memory loss and other times of ongoing brain deterioration and damage. While a single concussion is not always something that is a serious concern, multiple concussions have been linked to permanent cognitive brain functioning problems and may impair speech, movement and learning. After this information was released, the NFL started issuing warnings to players and their families (but not to any former players that had suffered years of head injuries).

The player’s main issue against the league was that issuing these warnings were too little too late. The players allege that the league had to have been aware of the serious damage that the head injuries were causing but failed to warn the players of the dangers, and instead encouraged and allowed them to get right back out on the field. The lawsuit states that the football league, as employers of the players, acted negligently in their role when they knew of the risks of traumatic brain injuries associated with repeated concussions, but never warned the players of these serious dangers. The complaint against the NFL claims that with all the doctors around following the hits and witnessing the serious injuries occurring to the players, that the NFL had to know that there was long term danger associated with the sport and that they were engaging in fraud and deceit in keeping this information from the players.

Our Chicago Brain Injury attorneys are here to help both victims of traumatic brain injuries as well as the families of victims of these injuries. When a traumatic brain injury is caused, or worsened by, the negligence of another, the victim has a right to be compensated not only for the medical costs associated with the injury but also for the pain and suffering and other damage that they have suffered as a result. Our Chicago based law firm has helped out victims of brain injuries all over Illinois and are here to help you or your loved one receive the compensation you deserve.