This year came with a flurry of new laws passed during the previous year that finally came into effect. One law in particular has many in the area of auto accident law taking close notice, as it has the potential to be particularly troublesome. A new law, as explained in detail by CBS Chicago, allows motorcyclists…
One of the most frequent problems many injury victims have with the legal process is the length of time it takes to resolve a dispute — and rightly so. Time and time again, insurance companies refuse to pay on perfectly good claims, the congested court system may stall a case for months on end, even…
Unfortunately, negligent acts and poor care while at nursing homes happens at both “good” and “bad” homes alike, and quite often, perception based upon reputation alone clouds reality. Every nursing home eligible to be paid by Medicare (which is to say, almost all of them) is subject to a federally-issued ranking system based on one…
One of the most unfortunate parts about a serious personal injury — apart from the physical injuries and lingering effects — is the financial hit that many victims take. When an injury forces you to miss considerable time from work, then a considerable loss in income, and the problems that can bring, is another burden…
We’ve talked quite a bit lately about the crisis nursing homes across the state are under due, in large part, to the state’s hefty proposed cuts to Medicaid funding and how this has been compounded by Federal Medicare cuts. Ultimately, nursing home reform advocates are concerned that these cuts will lead to facilities reducing their…
Earlier this year, we spent some time discussing the haggling back and forth in the Illinois General Assembly about what to do about a provision in the Nursing Home Care Act that mandated increased staffing levels for skilled nursing personnel, but held off setting the threshold levels for a later date. Late this past spring,…
Each holiday, I like to remind all of the dangers of drinking and driving and the tragic consequences that are simply unnecessary. With the Fourth of July in the middle of the week this year, many people are turning the week into a vacation and we have already been contacted in this past week to…
Two nursing assistants were fired from an Oklahoma Nursing Home for abusing a 96-year old dementia patient. In the disturbing article found here, apparently relatives of the injured patient — again who suffers from dementia — placed a hidden video camera in their loved one’s room after becoming suspicious that someone was stealing the resident’s…
Many are familiar with the tragic freight train derailment in June 2009, where water runoff on train tracks in Cherry Valley, Illinois (just outside Rockford) caused a train to derail. Leaking ethanol then caused thirteen of the train’s cars to catch fire, injuring many and killing two. The National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”) recently released…
The continuing trend by national institutes tasked with examining the data surrounding auto accidents recently culminated with the National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”) making an across the board recommendation that all cellphone use be banned while driving. The Chicago Tribune’s examination of the conversation surrounding this proposal in Illinois seemed to indicate that it was unlikely that…