Posted on March 10, 2019 in Slip and Fall

There are a few instances that immediately remind the public at large of a pending lawsuit. The principal amongst these seemingly cartoonish situations is the notorious instance of slipping and falling on a wet floor in a store. Those who do truly injure themselves on slick surfaces would argue that there is nothing cartoonish about their injuries. An elderly individual can fall and break a hip, which can lead to many serious health issues, sometimes even death. Even those cases the media labels as "cartoonish" can involve nefariously negligent details and serious injuries.

The infamous case of the woman who was scalded by coffee at McDonald's is an example of this. While folks laughed at the seemingly frivolous lawsuit, the details tell a different story. Her coffee had been heated and stored at boiling point (if spilled this would cause third degree burns in seven seconds) and that McDonald's admitted to doing this and admitted that they knew customers were being burned. The elderly woman in question almost died and required extensive surgeries.

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 Posted on March 09, 2019 in Slip and Fall

Imagine yourself outside shoveling the snow off of your driveway. You go to move something out of your way when you slip on the ice just under the snow's surface. As you fall, your instincts kick in and you reach out with your arms to break your fall. While this may seem like a good idea, you realize while you are sitting in the emergency room that there really is not a good way to break a fall on the ice. You have broken your wrist and now have to follow up with an orthopedist later in the week. You may be facing surgery just by shoveling some snow.

Sadly, this scenario is not uncommon. Chicago area hospitals are reporting that 90% or more of their patients in the emergency room lately have been there due to slip and fall accidents. One doctor reported treating 15 to 20 slip and fall patients in one shift. That figured out to more than two per hour, and more than he has seen in his 34 years of practice.

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 Posted on March 05, 2019 in Slip and Fall

Most of us are not on the lookout for hazards or potential dangers when we go to the gym. We are there to exercise, and we do not consider the many accidents that can occur in an environment like a gym. There is heavy equipment that has the potential to seriously injure folks, showers contributing to slippery locker room floors, and overly hot saunas. The potential for injuries are high.

One gym patron, Mark Watson of Warrenville, Illinois, was injured at Lifetime Fitness when the motion-sensor lights in the locker room failed to turn on. In the darkness he could not see the water on the locker room floor, where he fell and hit his head against the wall. According to Watson's attorneys, he suffered multiple injuries to his back, neck, legs, and feet as well as a concussion.

Because Lifetime Fitness is incorporated in Minnesota, the case had to be moved out of Cook County and into the federal courts. The attorneys for the defendant filed a motion for summary judgement, asking the court to throw the lawsuit out, as they argued that Watson knew, or should have known, that motion-sensor lights turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity. The defense team also pointed out that all gym members are required to sign an assumption of risk and liability waiver. However, the federal courts did not find the defense's arguments convincing, and a hearing was scheduled. The case has yet to be decided, but the decision will most likely revolve around whether or not the motion sensor lights were set to turn off after an unreasonable amount of time.

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 Posted on February 18, 2019 in Slip and Fall

Every day we go about our daily business, and we often forget about how much we are at the mercy of businesses and other entities to perform basic maintenance on their property. This can mean complex repairs (elevator maintenance) to simple maintenance such as making sure sidewalks and driveways clear of snow and ice. For some, an outing as simple as going to the grocery store can result in serious injuries.

For one woman this became a sad reality. Sharon Jordan went to the grocery store Food 4 Less expecting a normal day of shopping. Her mundane errands soon turned into a painful accident when she fell in the parking lot of Food 4 Less. Jordan broke her ankle in the fall. After her accident, she filed suit. In the discovery process, her counsel found out about a company called Pete's Lawn Care, and they were added to the suit.

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 Posted on February 11, 2019 in Slip and Fall

It is a snowy day in one of the coldest states in America, Illinois. Your apartment complex makes reasonable efforts to clear snow and ice from walkways, but their drainage systems are not kept up to code. A freezing rain storm hits, and the defunct drains cause an icy patch to form outside of your door. It is after business hours, so there is no way the apartment complex could order maintenance to clear the walkways.

You are coming home from a late night at the office and you fall on the ice, sustaining serious injuries that cause you to miss work. Medical bills pile up and your pain and suffering is great. A costly lawsuit ensues, but the property owner can prove that they make reasonable efforts to clear the walkways. The owner says that an Act of God is beyond their control and that they do not owe you anything for your slip and fall injuries.

The above situation is real for many Illinois residents, but thanks to a recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling, property owners may now be found liable for dangerously icy conditions.

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 Posted on February 04, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

Pregnancy is an incredibly vulnerable time for the mother and the infant: Many things can go wrong, and the risk of medical complications for parent and child is high. Because this process is so sensitive, with many factors and variables, this is also a precarious time for doctors and other health care professionals. One OB-Gyn in Crystal Lake can attest to this first hand.

Throughout her long career, this doctor has had three medical malpractice claims against her. Unlike many of the cases in the media these days, most physicians believe that they have done nothing wrong. In fact, the New England Journal of Medicine reported in 2011 that in 78% of claims, there is no award or payment given to the patient.

Why So Many Malpractice Claims?

The doctor mentioned above attests that many of these instances can be blamed on miscommunications between doctor and patient. In her featured article, she states that patients expect no complications during pregnancies, but the medical reality is very different. Many times, physicians will order the right tests at the right times, but the tests will not be run for reasons unknown to the doctor. Other kinks in the system (hospital administrative errors, nursing errors, etc.) can also have a negative impact on the outcome of in-hospital medical procedures. This is particularly true during pregnancy.

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 Posted on January 24, 2019 in Slip and Fall

Recently, a charming pizza place in Crystal Lake found out the hard way that a patron can suffer an injury at any time, for any reason. Even something seemingly innocuous like a restaurant's decor, can cause severe injuries in unsuspecting individuals. Like many restaurants, Nick's Pizza and Pub had its signature décor, which was for them peanut shells discarded on the floor (many steakhouses in Oklahoma and Texas also follow this tradition). There are barrels of peanuts about the establishment and patrons are encouraged to discard their used shells on the floor.

In the summer of 2016, one hapless patron slipped and fell on these discarded nut shells. She claimed that this fall, due to slippage on said nut shells, caused severe injuries to her shoulders, neck, head, hip, and ankles. The subsequent lawsuit is still in the courts, but the overall dilemma is not new to us: Whether it is the elderly woman with her scalding McDonald's coffee or some other dining fiasco, we know that restaurant patrons are at risk of injury every day.

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 Posted on January 16, 2019 in Car Accident

A billboard advert for a small, country hospital once read that “the only life you want, is the one you had.” We have all seen similar advertisements for health and life insurance - a grieving widow, a person walking down a flight of stairs with one foot hovered precariously over a misplaced toy car. The phrase “Life comes at you fast” could accurately be changed to “Life and death come at you fast.” For two unfortunate individuals in early December of 2018, this was certainly the case.

A girls' basketball team was driving home on a bus late one evening in December when a semi truck that was coming down the wrong side of the road collided with them on Interstate 74. Two men were killed at the scene, but the rest of the girl's team and their chaperones were left without serious injuries.

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 Posted on January 14, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

In 2012, 65-year-old Elgin, Illinois resident and Vietnam war veteran Bill Hein was admitted for what the doctors called a routine surgery to treat his prostate cancer. The surgery happened in June of 2012 at Sherman Hospital. The procedure itself went smoothly. Afterward, Mr. Hein began to experience pain his left leg, but when he complained about it to the nurses, they said it was “normal postoperative discomfort.” What followed was a series of avoidable, disastrous events that unfortunately resulted in the amputation of Hein's left leg above the knee. His pain persisted, but his doctor ordered the wrong type of test. The next day another doctor ordered another test, but failed to request the results in a timely manner. At no time was the appropriate type of doctor, a vascular surgeon, contacted. Had that happened, appropriate tests and measures (another surgery) may have been taken, and Hein's leg could have been saved. Sadly, those steps were not taken. Eventually another surgery was ordered, and Hein was subjected to nearly two weeks of attempts, but his leg was dying. At the end of the nearly two grueling weeks, Hein's left leg was amputated above the knee.

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 Posted on January 12, 2019 in Medical Malpractice

On-the-job injuries are a frequent hazard, particularly for those who engage in any type of manual labor. Even a minor wound or sprain can send a worker to the hospital. You expect to be treated with the utmost care so that you can recover your health and get back to work. A worker loses wages every day he or she is forced to miss work to recover from an injury. This is why when a trusted medical professional does not meet that expected level of care, the results can be devastating. Sadly, a worker in Elmhurst Illinois did not receive the care he needed from those treating him after a recent on-the-job injury.

It was late summer of 2011 when Edward Smolinski slipped off his work truck and injured the tendon on his left leg by rupturing it. Smolinski was treated and his injuries should have healed in an easy, normal fashion. While he would have likely been able to utilize workers' compensation to pay his medical bills and lost wages for time off work, his recovery did not go as anticipated.

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