Chicago Brain Injury Lawyer Blog

On September 17, 2007, Barbara Lefforge entered St. Edna Nursing home for rehabilitation purposes. Barbara had just had surgery to repair tendon damage in her foot. Barbara’s surgeon mistakenly prescribed 50mg of Morphine when he had intended to prescribe her 50mg of Demerol.

The improper prescription was noticed by the pharmacist from which the medication was to be received, but nevertheless St. Edna administered all of the morphine they had in stock (a total of 30 mg). Upon the drug administration, Barbara suffered an overdose. St. Edna failed to monitor her and failed to bring her to the hospital until the next morning. Consequently, Barbara suffered a significant brain injury. This injury led Barbara to file a medical malpractice action against both her original surgeon and St. Edna.

The jury found St. Edna 90% at fault and her original surgeon 10% at fault. Sadly, Barbara was only at St. Edna a little over five hours when the negligence that caused her injury occurred. This was an injury that could have easily been avoided, and one that happens all too often in both hospital and nursing home settings.

Doctors are not perfect, and as such a system of checks helps to mitigate the damages that some of their mistakes can cause. The pharmacist in this situation correctly told St. Edna that the prescription was a mistake, still, St. Edna failed to listen and now both Barbara and St. Edna need to live with the consequences of St. Edna's negligence.

According to PRWeb, a jury verdict awarded $12.2 million in damages to Emily Liou, a San Mateo County 17 year old who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car-pedestrian accident. The accident occurred on March 28, 2006, as Emily was walking home. She had just left her friends after singing Karaoke. As she was crossing El Camino Real in a marked crosswalk, a woman with her child driving a Toyota sedan, struck Emily knocking her to the ground. The resulting injuries left Emily in a permanent vegetative state.

According to her attorney, “Emily was struck in a marked crosswalk located at the crest of a rise in the road, which does not come into view until a driver is about 100 feet away. Additionally, the crosswalk is located at an ‘uncontrolled’ intersection, meaning that there are no lights or stop signs controlling vehicular traffic. El Camino Real, which Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) calls State Route 82, is among the busiest roads on the peninsula.”

Discovery during the case produced the following information -- within the past 15 years, three other pedestrians had been killed in the same crosswalk. The trial lasted four weeks. The jury found that the California Department of Transportation was 50% at fault and divided the remaining fault between the driver (30%) and Emily (20%).

According to Brainandspinalcord.org, brain injuries 20% of traumatic brain injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents. In addition, 15-24 year olds face the highest risk of traumatic brain injuries due to vehicle accidents.

Car-pedestrian accidents are frequently devastating for the pedestrian. If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury, our Illinois personal injury attorneys may be able to help.

People with brain injuries may produce low amounts of melatonin which affect their sleep according to a recent study. The study was published in the May 25, 2010 print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. While it has been recognized for years that brain injuries and sleep issues are linked, the exact causes of these problems had not been determined.

The study examined the sleep patterns of 46 people. Half of the participants suffered a severe traumatic brain injury an average of 14 months ago. The other 23 participants were healthy people of the same age. The participants were monitored for two nights at a sleep laboratory. The study showed that healthy people produced more melatonin than the people with brain injuries in the evening hours when melatonin levels are suppose to rise to signal sleep. The study’s author suggests that this is problematic since melatonin is a hormone that regulates biological rhythms, including sleep.

The study also showed that people with brain injuries had other differences in their sleep patterns. The participants with brain injuries spent more time in non-REM sleep than the healthy group. Additionally, the group with brain injuries spent less of their time in bed actually asleep than the healthy participants.

Each year in the United States an estimated 1.4 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury which can disrupt the function of the brain. The leading causes of brain injuries are vehicle accidents and crashes, birth injuries, slips and/or falls and medical malpractice. The attorneys at Levin & Perconti are well educated and experienced in the complex area of brain injury litigation in Illinois. Additionally, the attorneys recognize and understand the large medical expenses and financial obligations that result from a brain injury.

A new lawsuit highlights the dangers of using Taser stun guns. According to aboutlawsuits.com, a California man recently filed suit against Taser International after suffering serious brain damage when police used a Taser stun gun on him. The Taser stun gun, an electric control device, caused abnormal heart rhythms and cardiac arrest. The man was resuscitated, but he suffered brain damage and permanent disabilities as a result of the Taser stun gun. Taser International claims Taser stun guns are safe and do not pose risks for fatal or permanent injury. However, the company issued a warning to police officers telling them to avoid shooting people in the chest because it could result in cardiac arrest. The trial is to begin in August.

The American Heart Association describes how this man’s injury resulted. The organization explains that severe brain damage and permanent death begin to occur just 4 to 6 minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest can be reversed if treatment occurs quickly. However, the person’s chances of survival decrease 7 to 10 percent for every minute spent without performing CPR or defibrillation. The American Heart Association notes that during the first 10 months after automated external defibrillators were installed in Chicago airports, 64 percent of people suffering a Chicago cardiac arrest incident in the airports were revived with no resulting brain damage.

Similar to the Taser stun gun lawsuit, our Chicago brain injury attorneys have experience representing clients who suffer cardiac arrest as a result of someone else’s negligence. For example, we reached a $1.1 million settlement against a village, its paramedics and a hospital because their failure to timely transport a man to the hospital and provide resuscitative measures resulted in the man suffering cardiac arrest. If you or a family member have suffered cardiac arrest or brain damage and believe someone is at fault, call our Illinois brain injury lawyers because you may be entitled to recovery.

The jury in a medical malpractice trial, recently awarded $12 million for a hospital’s delay in evaluating and transferring an air rifle victim.

According to the Pasadena Star News, twenty-two-year old, Jessica Ramirez, was shot with an air rifle and the pellet entered her brain. Nevertheless, she remained conscious after the shooting and was able to ask for help. She was immediately taken to the hospital, which in turn sent her to another facility for surgery to remove the pellet. However, staff waited 5 hours before transferring her. At trial, the neurosurgeon who removed the pellet testified that, had he been allowed to operate sooner, her outcome would have better. Instead, her injury progressed into a traumatic brain injury that has left her in a persistent vegetative state.

More than $10.6 million of the award was for Jessica’s future medical care.

In many cases, especially those involving brain injuries, prompt evaluation and treatment is necessary to prevent treatable injuries from resulting in permanent damage or death. When doctors, hospitals, and other medical professionals fail to respond in a timely manner, they place their patient’s lives at risk. When this risk results in harm, they can be found liable for medical malpractice.

Click the following link for the full account of this traumatic brain injury verdict.

A 59-year-old woman was awarded a $6.3 million verdict after a hospital’s negligence caused her to suffer irreversible brain damage. The treating physician and hospital’s negligence caused the woman to lose most of her short-term memory and her ability to speak. According to the medical malpractice lawyer who represented the victim, she must now live with her grown son and requires help with everyday activities such as eating and even chewing.

The woman went into the hospital for back surgery. The brain damage occurred after the surgery when hospital staff administered a dangerous mix of medications, creating serious respiratory problems. The hospital staff failed to intubate the victim in a timely manner, causing a lack of oxygen to the brain. The verdict included future medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of consortium and loss of the ability to perform daily tasks. To access the full article on this medical malpractice verdict follow the link.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, a nine-year-old boy received an $11.1 million jury verdict for the brain damage he sustained as a result of medical malpractice by a hospital. When the boy was 3 months old, his mother took him to the hospital several days after he began vomiting and was having diarrhea. Hospital staff sent the mother and child home, but the following day she rushed him back to the hospital because he was barely breathing. During his first visit, the hospital failed to diagnose or treat his severe dehydration and as a result the boy suffered significant brain damage. To read more about this brain injury verdict, follow the link.

Last week, a jury awarded a verdict of $7.4 million to a child who suffered permanent brain damage as a result of a hospital’s failure to treat an infection that eventually developed into meningitis.

The child was only one month old when she began showing symptoms of an infection at the hospital. Rather then administering antibiotics at the first signs of the infection, the doctors in the neonatal intensive care unit delayed treatment for eight hours, causing the infection to worsen. As a result of this negligence, the infection eventually progressed into meningitis which, in turn, lead to the child suffering brain damage.

The child has since been fitted with a permanent shunt to drain excess fluid from her brain and prevent the buildup of intracranial pressure, which could cause further brain damage. Now, at the age of five, she requires both physical and behavioral therapy.

For more on this hospital’s failure to treat the infection, click here.

Three Doctors testified this past week as to the extent of a traumatic brain injury suffered at the 2006 Windsor BluesFest. The man was injured when he was allegedly sucker punched to the ground hitting the back of his head on the pavement. The man responsible for throwing the punch has been charged with second-degree murder. The injured man died the next day as a result of the brain injuries. To find an Illinois Lawyer to represent you in brain injury lawsuit, contact Levin & Perconti. To read more about this brain injury trial, please click here.

An 11-year-old North Carolina boy was left with a permanent brain injury after doctors made numerous medical mistakes during his treatment. After falling from a tree, the boy received treatment riddled with instances of medical malpractice. After detecting a shoulder injury, the boy was given herapin, a blood thinner, to treat a blood clot in his shoulder. The boy’s brachial plexus nerves of his spinal cords had been damaged and that injury had gone unnoticed, and as a result, the herapin caused bleeding in the spinal cord. Additionally, a mass called a subdural hematoma was located in his skull and doctors placed a halo around his head to stabilize his spine. One of the four screws used to keep the halo in place was screwed in ¾ inch too far by a medical resident, which caused further bleeding in the brain. As a result, the child suffered a significant brain injury and will be forced to live with severe cognitive impairments, preventing him from ever living independently or holding a job. A jury ruled in favor of the boy in the medical malpractice lawsuit, awarding him over $10 million from the various defendants. For the full story, click here.

Traumatic Brain Injury Staff Training has released self-study modules online for staff working with people with traumatic brain injury. Its comprehensive modules provide overviews of the nature of traumatic brain injury and its impact.

For the full article.

The father of a man who has filed a personal injury lawsuit provided emotional testimony regarding his son’s brain injury. His testimony could help determine jury damages to be awarded to the son and his family who care for him daily as a result of his brain injury. The father stated that medical expenses to date are $626,000.00. It is estimated that the man will require an additional $4.6 million for medical expenses related to his brain injury in his expected lifetime.

For the full article.