Posted on October 24, 2022 in Medical Malpractice

When you are faced with a life-and-death situation, you trust that the hospital you are rushing your loved one to will be up to the task and do everything in its power to save a life. But inadequate training, equipment failures, and slips of a scalpel are just a few of the reasons why the United States ranks third in the nation for hospital mistakes. The last thing you want are missteps leading to subpar medical care that trigger health complications or worse, death. At Newland & Newland, LLP we are dedicated to helping people receive the compensation they deserve for medical malpractice.

Possible Advantages of Suing a Hospital

The picture is just as gloomy statewide when it comes to hospital errors. Negligence occurs when healthcare professionals fail to uphold their duty of care, and the patient suffers an injury or harm. In Illinois, a hospital can be held responsible for injuries that are caused to a patient as a result of negligence by a hospital employee, even if the doctor is an independent contractor. This includes physicians, nurses, and radiologists, among others.

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 Posted on October 05, 2022 in Pedestrian Accidents

Walking down the street instantly gives you less physical protection compared to traveling by car. As a pedestrian, you are one of the most vulnerable users of the road. October happens to be Pedestrian Safety Awareness Month. So whether you are out trick-or-treating or rushing to catch a bus to work in Arlington Heights, if you have sustained a personal injury, you have rights.

Legal Protections for Pedestrians

The number of people struck and killed while walking reached a historic high in 2020. Nationwide, an average of 18 pedestrians were killed every day. In Illinois, pedestrian deaths jumped nearly 14 percent in the first year of the pandemic, with more than 800 fatalities recorded between 2016 and 2020 according to a new report.

Drivers need to learn to share the roads with pedestrians and increase their awareness of people on the streets. There are situations in which a pedestrian has the right of way, meaning that if a car were to strike you, the driver of the vehicle would be at fault for the collision. If you are hit by a car, these are some legal protections in your favor:

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 Posted on September 28, 2022 in Medical Malpractice

Headlines about surgical tools being left in a patient’s body or babies born with birth defects due to a hospital’s negligence are attention-grabbing. However, a quieter and perhaps more deadly type of malpractice is most common: missed diagnosis. If you are not diagnosed with a particular condition—even after seeking medical attention—you cannot get the treatment that your condition requires. In many cases, such a mistake by your doctor can have serious and permanent consequences.

Missed and Delayed Diagnoses

According to a recent study examining “medical malpractice claims against primary care doctors in the United States, Australia, France, and Canada,” the top reason for suing doctors is failure to diagnose a dangerous medical condition. The study determined that between 26 and 63 percent of all claims against doctors were related to missed diagnoses.

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 Posted on September 21, 2022 in Car Accident

Getting into a car accident can be one of the most devastating events in a person’s life. A severe car accident that results in serious injuries has an obvious physical impact on a person’s life, but according to WebMD, it can have long-lasting psychological effects as well. It is not only very severe accidents that can result in trauma, either. Long-term anxiety, fears, and phobias about riding in a motor vehicle can result after any accident in which a passenger experienced sudden and severe fear.

Mental Injuries Are Injuries Too

There have been a number of recent studies suggesting that at least 30 percent of all people involved in non-fatal accidents have some sort of mental health condition up to one year after the accident occurred. These conditions include post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), persistent anxiety, depression, or phobias up to one year after the accident occurs. Such psychological conditions can be not only detrimental to your health, but also to your relationships, your professional life, and your long-term mobility as well.

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 Posted on September 12, 2022 in Car Accident

 Everyone knows that the right thing to do in the event of a car accident is to stop and share contact information with the other drivers involved. Not only is this the ethical thing to do, but it is also required by law. When a motorist is involved in a collision, he or she must stop his or her vehicle. Failure to stop is considered a “hit-and-run,” and leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in the state of Illinois under most circumstances.

If you were involved in a hit-and-run, you might have suffered severe injuries that incurred significant medical costs in addition to your property damage. You may also be unable to work due to your injuries. You may wonder whether or not you can pursue compensation for these losses through a personal injury lawsuit. Successfully obtaining compensation for a hit-and-run accident can be a challenging process, but it is possible.

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 Posted on August 29, 2022 in Car Accident

The summer travel season runs from Memorial Day in late May to Labor Day in early September. Unfortunately, with summer travel comes dangers on the country’s streets and highways. In fact, the season has been dubbed the “100 Deadliest Days” by the American Automobile Association (AAA) because roadway fatalities tend to increase during the summer. The danger is especially great for teen drivers, with AAA reporting that teen drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident compared to their adult counterparts.

Any car accident has the potential to be serious and cause injury to yourself or others. An accident with a teenage driver, however, can be particularly dangerous due to a few behaviors that might have led to your crash.

Distracted Driving

One of the most common reasons for car accidents, in general, is distracted driving. The AAA estimates that distractions play a role in around 60 percent of all car crashes, which is much higher than previously thought. There are many different things that could distract a person while they are driving, both inside and outside of the vehicle. Things such as changing the radio, adjusting the temperature controls, directing attention toward another passenger, putting on makeup, eating or drinking, and using your cell phone can all pose as distractions while driving.

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 Posted on August 18, 2022 in Wrongful Death

When a loved one dies in an accident it can throw everything into chaos. You feel deep emotional pain that feels like it will never get better. You may also have to deal with a host of unexpected costs that you are unprepared to pay for. When a loved one dies too soon, the emotional and financial effects can last for the rest of your life. In Illinois wrongful death suits, the victim’s surviving family members may have the opportunity to collect compensation for the loss of their loved one.

What You Can Recover

 While money will never bring back or replace your loved one, it can help ease your financial burden and it is the only way the law has of trying in some way to right the wrong that was done to you and your family.

Wrongful death suits allow certain surviving family members to collect damages for: 

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 Posted on August 02, 2022 in Personal Injury

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), excessive alcohol use in the U.S. costs the country roughly a quarter trillion dollars per year. This number included costs caused by loss in workplace productivity, health care, criminal justice, and alcohol-related car accidents. Alcohol is often a factor in personal injury law cases, and many who are injured in alcohol-related accidents are eligible to receive compensation.

Alcohol-Related Injuries

Although many people use alcohol responsibly, alcohol is a very powerful drug. When a person consumes alcohol, their body is affected in several significant ways. Their reaction time is often decreased, and reflexes may become slower, their vision may become distorted or blurry, their ability to concentrate may be diminished, and they may find it hard to coordinate their movements. These side effects of alcohol make a person much more susceptible to an injury-causing accident.

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 Posted on July 29, 2022 in Car Accident

A car accident is one of the most disorienting experiences a person can go through. You may find it hard to even think straight, let alone figure out the best course of action in the immediate aftermath, especially if you have been injured. However, the moments following an accident can have important implications for your health and safety, as well as for your chances of recovering compensation through a personal injury claim.

The better prepared you are for the possibility of a car crash, the more likely you may be to handle it in a way that leads to a more favorable outcome. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that you can be ready to protect yourself in the wake of a serious accident.

Steps to Take After a Car Crash

If you are injured in a car accident, try to keep these suggestions in mind to help you manage the situation:

• Get to a safe place. You should be sure to stay near the scene of the accident, but if possible, try to pull your car over to the shoulder or level ground near the side of the road so that you are out of the way of traffic. This will help protect you from further collisions and injuries while you assess the situation.

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 Posted on July 22, 2022 in Car Accident

There are nearly an infinite number of issues that may cause a car accident. Driving under the influence, reckless driving, inattention to the road, and traffic law violations are some of the most common causes of auto accidents. However, in many cases, more than one factor leads to a car accident. For example, one motorist involved in an accident may have been driving over the speed limit while the other driver is texting and driving. You may wonder, “In car accidents involving shared blame, how is the at-fault driver determined? Can I still recover damages even if I am partially at fault for an accident?”

Comparative Negligence Laws in Illinois

The state of Illinois uses what is known as a “modified comparative negligence” model for shared-fault personal injury cases. In Texas law, this is referred to as “contributory fault.” This means that Illinois courts allow injured individuals to seek compensation for their injuries even if they were partially to blame for the injuries. In fact, as long as an injured party was not more than 50 percent at fault for the incident that caused the injuries, he or she can still bring a court action for damages.

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