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Do I Need a Lawyer to File a Personal Injury Case?
Illinois law allows individuals who are hurt by another party’s negligent or illegal conduct to file a personal injury claim and seek monetary damages. The injured person may be able to collect compensation for the financial and non-financial harm caused by his or her injuries including medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering. Hiring a personal injury lawyer is not a requirement for seeking compensation through a personal injury claim. However, successfully recovering damages through an injury claim is a very complicated and legally demanding process. An experienced personal injury attorney is an invaluable resource.
Investigating Your Accident and Gathering Evidence
There are four basic elements in an injury claim. Proving each of these elements using persuasive arguments and evidence is key to getting the compensation you deserve. The elements include:
Can I Receive Compensation for an Injury Caused by an Airbag?
Airbags represent an extremely important advancement in the field of automotive safety. During an accident, the airbag deploys in less than a second to cushion the passengers and prevent them from hitting their head on the steering wheel, dashboard, or windshield. While these devices are estimated to prevent vehicle occupant death by approximately 30 percent, airbags can also cause serious injuries during a crash. If you or a loved one suffered an airbag-related injury in a car accident, you may be entitled to monetary damages.
Injuries Caused by Airbag Deployment
Airbags often prevent much more serious and even life-threatening injuries from occurring during a crash, however, these devices do not prevent injuries entirely. An airbag works by using an ignitor to fill the bag with gas such as argon or nitrogen during a crash. The chemicals contained in an airbag can cause lung problems or burns. The bag may also cause injuries including to the eyes, face, torso, and arms including abrasions, lacerations, and fractures. If you suffered injuries in a car accident because of a functioning airbag, the party responsible for the accident is likely liable for your injuries. The liable party may be another driver, the employer of the driver, a commercial business like a trucking company, or even a government entity.
7 Warning Signs of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse
Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities should be staffed with competent, compassionate employees. The facility should be reasonably safe and sanitary. Residents’ medical and personal needs should be attended to promptly and adequately. Unfortunately, many nursing homes do not meet these expectations. Issues like understaffing or poor staff training lead to resident neglect or even intentional abuse. If your loved one is living in a nursing home, it is important to be watchful for signs of neglect or abuse.
Red Flags of Nursing Home Neglect or Abuse
Knowing if your loved one is being mistreated in a nursing home is especially difficult if your loved one suffers from physical or mental impairments that limit his or her ability to communicate with you. In cases such as these, you must look for evidence such as:
Damages in a Construction Accident Personal Injury Claim
There is no question that construction workers have an extremely dangerous job. One out of every five worker fatalities in the United States occurs in the construction industry. Non-fatal injuries including traumatic injuries and receptive motion injuries are also common. These injuries can lead to steep costs – both financial and personal. If you were injured or a loved one was killed during construction work, you may be able to seek compensation for your losses through a personal injury claim.
Workers Compensation Versus a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Businesses with one or more employees must carry workers’ compensation insurance by law. If you or your loved one’s construction accident occurred at work, you are likely entitled to compensation through workers’ compensation. However, the compensation you get through workers’ compensation may not even come close to fully compensating you for your losses. Furthermore, workers’ compensation only covers economic damages like medical bills and part of your lost income.
What Compensation is Available in a Traumatic Brain Injury Lawsuit?
Our brains control everything from speaking and moving to information processing and memory. Damage caused by a traumatic brain injury can affect every aspect of a sufferer’s life. If you or a loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident, work accident, or other incident caused by another party’s recklessness or intentional malice, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit. You could be compensated for the damages, or losses, that you experienced because of the injury.
Compensation for Medical Treatment in a Traumatic Brain Injury Case
Acquired traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occur when an object punctures the skull and directly injures the brain or, more commonly, when the brain strikes the inside of the skull. About half of severe TBI sufferers require surgery and many more require hospital treatment and other medical care. Most medical interventions cannot repair the brain damage that has already occurred, but it may prevent further damage. The medical costs incurred by a severe TBI can be astronomical. A personal injury case may allow a sufferer to recover costs related to:
Failure to Diagnose Maternal Health Conditions Can Lead to Severe Birth Injuries
Every parent hopes for a problem-free pregnancy and birth. Sadly, this is not always the case. Doctors are trained not only to treat medical conditions, but they are also trained to recognize the risk factors for medical complications that can harm a mother or baby. Many birth injuries are caused by pre-existing medical issues. When a doctor or other medical professional fails to properly diagnose a medical problem, the mother or the baby can suffer dire consequences.
Failure to Diagnose Maternal Infection
The first step in preventing complications during a child’s birth is ensuring that the mother receives proper healthcare during pregnancy. Diagnostic errors during a mother’s pregnancy, labor, or delivery can lead to birth injuries and even fetal death. Failure to diagnose maternal infections is an especially dangerous mistake. Rubella, hepatitis B, syphilis, chickenpox, and toxoplasmosis can cause serious or even deadly injuries to an unborn child. A mother with an undiagnosed infection may give birth to a child who suffers hearing and vision problems, intellectual disabilities, and other problems for the rest of his or her life. Sadly, many infants who suffer birth injuries due to undiagnosed maternal infections do not survive. Early detection is often key to preventing severe complications from infections. Many maternal infections can be mitigated through vaccines, antibiotic medications, and other medical interventions.
Who is Liable for Injuries Sustained in an Illinois Blind Spot Truck Crash?
Commercial trucks often measure up to 70 feet in length. Consequently, truck drivers must rely on mirrors and assistive technology like back-up sensors to see around the vehicle. Even with this equipment, it is hard for truck drivers to see vehicles or other objects in the truck’s “blind spots.” Blind spot truck accidents often lead to severe injuries and costly property damage. A personal injury claim may allow an injured person to recover compensation for these damages. However, determining liability for a blind spot truck accident is often a difficult task.
Understanding Blind Spot Accidents
Truck blind spots are areas around the truck that the driver cannot see. If a car, motorcycle, pedestrian, or cyclist is in the truck’s blind spot, the driver may not even know that the person or vehicle is there. This can have disastrous consequences. Most driver education programs include information about truck blind spots or “no zones” and instruct drivers to stay out of truck’s blind spots if possible. Truck blind spots typically include the areas:
Can I Bring a Personal Injury Claim Against a Negligent Dog Owner?
Dogs can be lovable companions. However, they are still animals with sharp teeth and powerful jaws. Almost five million people are bitten by dogs every year in the United States. Dog bites can cause nerve damage, broken bones, infections, and other serious injuries. Non-bite injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries caused by being knocked to the ground by a dog, can also be severe. If you or a loved one were injured by a dog, you may be able to hold the negligent dog owner accountable and recover compensation through a personal injury claim.
Dog Bite Injuries Can Lead to Terrible Mental and Physical Scars
Being the victim of a dog attack is an extremely traumatic experience to go through. A dog bite victim may suffer severe tissue damage that requires significant medical treatment. Many dog bite victims sustain injuries to their face, which can leave them disfigured for months or years after the attack. A dog bite victim may require emergency room treatment, x-rays, and reconstructive surgery, psychological treatment, and other expensive medical care. These medical costs may be recoverable through a personal injury claim.
Unique Issues in a Multiple-Vehicle or Pile-Up Accident
Winter weather is in full force in the Rockford area, and icy roads and deep snow can make driving a treacherous task. “Pile-ups” or car accidents involving multiple vehicles are not uncommon during this time of year. These accidents cannot only lead to painful and often deadly injuries, they also present complex legal and financial issues. If you or a loved one were involved in a multi-car accident, you may have concerns about liability and damages. Will you be expected to pay for other motorists’ damages? Will you be compensated for your own damages? Read on to learn more about the unique issues involved in multiple-vehicle accidents.
Establishing Fault for a Multiple-Car Collision
Accidents involving three or more vehicles can cause severe and deadly injuries as well as costly property damage. Before a car accident victim can recover financial compensation for their damages, the liable party must be established. The greater number of factors that contributed to an accident, the harder it is to establish fault. A multiple car accident may involve situations such as:
Misuse of Vacuum Extraction During Delivery Can Cause Serious Birth Injuries
As any soon-to-be parent can tell you, expecting a new baby is exciting as well as nerve-racking. Every parent hopes that pregnancy, labor, and delivery will go smoothly and that their baby will be born happy and healthy. Unfortunately, some babies suffer birth injuries that cause medical complications for weeks, months, or even years after the child’s birth. Some birth injuries result in permanent impairment or, sadly, infant death. One problem that can cause a range of different birth injuries is the misuse of assistive tools like vacuum extractors.
Vacuum-Assisted Delivery Carries Certain Risks
If labor is not progressing typically or there is an urgent need for a baby to be delivered, a doctor may use an assistive device to help guide the child through the birth canal. During vacuum extraction, a suction cup is placed on the infant’s head and used to gently pull the baby out of the mother’s body. This procedure may be life saving for some infants, but vacuum extraction is not without risks. Mothers may face genital tract tears and incontinence while an infant who was delivered by vacuum extraction may suffer from head wounds, skull fracture, or internal bleeding. Vacuum extraction is also associated with a higher risk of shoulder dystocia, a potentially life-threatening condition in which the baby’s shoulder becomes lodged on the mother’s pelvis. A doctor should only use vacuum extraction if it is necessary to protect the health of the mother or the baby.
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