Posted on February 09, 2015 in Orland Park Personal Injury Lawyer

One of the most popular items that many parents-to-be have jumped on purchasing are prenatal portraits, also called “keepsake ultrasounds.” Commercial keepsake ultrasound businesses have opened up across the country. These photos are different from the ultrasounds usually done during a medical exam because the images are in 3-D or 4-D format. One of the more popular ways to get a prenatal portrait done is by hosting or attending an ultrasound party.

These events are like many other “parties” one might have, just like makeup, cookware, or candle, complete with friends and snacks. Except the “demonstrator” here brings an ultrasound machine and most of the guests are pregnant. But just how safe are these keepsake ultrasounds and what harm could they be doing to unborn babies?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning to expectant parents that these medically unnecessary ultrasounds may actually be dangerous. While a normal, doctor prescribed ultrasound typically takes 15 minutes to obtain the photos needed for medical diagnosis, keep-sake ultrasounds often run up to an hour in order for the technician to obtain good photos of the baby’s face. One of the main concerns, according to the FDA, is that there has been little to no studies done which have determined what the long-term effect of a sustained exposure to the ultrasound has on an unborn child.

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 Posted on January 23, 2015 in Orland Park Personal Injury Lawyer

According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, there were 9,739 reported tractor-trailer crashes in 2012, which resulted in 94 fatalities and over 2,000 injuries. Due to the size and cargo weight of tractor-trailers, truck drivers have specific safety regulations they must follow when on the road.

It is necessary for truck drivers to check for defective equipment and faulty brakes before starting their shifts. They must have adequate experience driving a commercial truck and abide by the limitations that have been implemented regarding the amount of drive time they are allowed per week.

Federal regulations have been put into place to help prevent the number of trucking accidents that occur every year. The rules require drivers to:

• Not exceed a maximum of 70 hours of drive time per work week, a decrease from the previously approved 82 hours;

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 Posted on January 06, 2015 in Car Accidents

During this time of year car crashes involving deer are more common. The Illinois Department of Transportation documented 426 deer-related motor vehicle accidents in Cook County in 2013 with over 15,000 total accidents affecting the state. This, in addition to wintry weather conditions and holiday travel, has caused an increase in car accidents over previous years.

Deer that jump out into the road can cause rear-end accidents or other types of collisions on the road due to drivers trying to move out of the way. Motorists should abide by the following safety tips:

• Drive with caution particularly at dusk and dawn when deer activity is high;
• Reduce speed near wooded areas and fields;
• Watch for deer traveling together, one deer may indicate more to follow; and
• Avoid swerving, if possible.

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 Posted on December 11, 2014 in Motorcycle Accident

For the past three years, there has been a consistent increase in the number of motorcycle accident fatalities in the state of Illinois. The number of deaths has caused officials to seriously consider adding a third class of motorcycle license to the two classes of licenses that Illinois now offers.

Currently, when a person applies for a motorcycle license, they have two options to test for.  The first is for cycles which have an engine less than 150 cubic centimeters. Engines these sizes are typically found in scooters and off-road bikes. The second class is for cycles with engines larger than 150 cubic centimeters.

The problem, proponents of a third license class say, is that motorcycle manufactures keep designing bikes with larger and larger engines, with enough power to hit speeds of up to 140 miles per hour. A novice rider, who passed their licensing test riding a smaller engine motorcycle, goes and purchases one of these more powerful bikes and ends up not being able to handle them. This often leads to accidents–and too often those accidents are deadly.

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 Posted on November 21, 2014 in Car Accidents

The number of motor vehicle accidents that occur each year has reached the millions. According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2009, over 13 million passenger accidents have occurred in the past decade, half a million which involved large trucks.

All motor vehicle accidents share a few similarities, but a collision involving a commercial truck differs from that involving an automobile based on a variety of factors. Both can be traumatic to all parties involved and result in:

• Personal injuries;
• Damage to the vehicle or vehicles;
• Medical costs; and
• Post-accident stress and follow-up care.

However, financial liability and driver responsibility when comparing trucking and car accidents are not the same. A motorist involved in a car accident with one or more cars exchanges insurance information between drivers to file a claim. When a trucking accident occurs, both the commercial driver and the trucking company may be held liable for damages. In either case, pertinent data must be collected including:

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 Posted on November 05, 2014 in Medical Malpractice

When we do to the doctor or hospital because we are sick or injured, we put our trust into the physicians and other medical personnel that the treatment and care they give us will make us well, or at the very least, comfortable. What we do not anticipate is that the care we receive will actually cause more medical issues or be dangerous. But for many elderly patients, that is exactly what happens.

A study that was recently conducted by researchers at the Gerontology Program at Towson University in Maryland revealed that one in five elderly Medicare patients sustain injuries that frequently have nothing to do with the medical problems they are being treated for. Some of the more common injuries include being prescribed medication that causes allergic reactions, being given the wrong medication or having treatments for an illness which causes other medical problems other than the original diagnosis.

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 Posted on October 29, 2014 in Medical Malpractice

Researchers from Kaiser Permanente, a national health care organization, recently discovered that almost half of hospital deaths that occurred between 2010 through 2012 could be traced back to sepsis. Sepsis happens when the whole body responds to a bacterial infection. In many cases, the body’s reaction in order to fight the infection is so severe it can cause organs to shut down, resulting in death.

The study examined over 7 million adult hospitalizations between 2010 and 2012. There were approximately 500,000 cases that were taken directly from Kaiser facilities, however, the remaining 6.5 million cases came from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS).

The research team not only examined patient records that were clearly identified as having sepsis, but also patients who were reported to have both organ failure and infections. This was done in light of the fact that many medical personnel do not recognize sepsis symptoms.

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 Posted on October 08, 2014 in Car Accidents

Whiplash is one of the most common injuries a person can receive in a vehicle accident. The injury occurs to the neck when a vehicle is rear-ended, causing the victim’s head to suddenly jerk backwards and then forward.

The motion is similar to a cracking whip, hence its name. It is those sudden jerking motions to the neck that pulls the ligaments and muscles farther than they usually go. This sudden stretching can injure ligaments, discs, intervertebral joints, nerve roots and cervical muscles.

Symptoms of whiplash can include neck pain and stiffness, dizziness, and headaches. Some people may suffer from back or shoulder pain as well as experiencing strange feelings to the injured areas such as a prickling or burning sensation.

In more serious whiplash injuries, the victim may also suffer from memory loss, sleep disturbances, impairment of concentration, fatigue, nervousness, depression or irritability. Healing time for someone with a whiplash injury typically takes approximately three months.

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 Posted on September 17, 2014 in Cook County personal injury lawyer

A recent study has found a link between the use of hormonal contraceptives and gestational diabetes (GDM). GDM occurs in some women, typically around the 24th. week of pregnancy. Most women who have GDM did not have diabetes before they conceived. If left untreated, GDM can be harmful to the baby, who can be born with breathing problems, jaundice or very low blood glucose levels. Other side effects include hypoglycemia and preeclampsia in the mother, and a much higher risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes for both mother and baby.

The study was done by researchers in Missouri, who used the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the organization that developed the system, PRAMS is “a surveillance project of the CDC and state health departments. PRAMS collects state-specific, population-based data on maternal attitudes and experiences before, during, and shortly after pregnancy.”

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 Posted on September 03, 2014 in Cook County personal injury lawyer

There is growing concern in the medical community of the number of Caesarian deliveries, (also referred to as C-sections), being performed on pregnant women in this country. According to statistics, one in three women has C-sections to deliver their first child. And of those women, 90 percent deliver their second child the same way. Thirty years ago, only five percent of babies were delivered by C-section.

A Caesarian delivery brings with it all the usual risks and complications associated with any surgery. There is also a higher rate of babies being admitted to the neonatal intensive care units with delivered by C-section. All this also adds up to higher medical costs, and more profit, for physicians and hospitals, compared with the cost of vaginal deliveries.

A recent study conducted by Consumer Reports ranks hospitals by the number of Caesarian sections performed there each year. The publication looked at the billing records of 1,500 hospitals in 22 states. They found that the number of C-sections varied greatly. This occurred even in hospitals that were in the same areas.

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