During some personal injury cases, it is quick to know when someone is negligent. A drunk driver would be breaking the law or a tired truck driver would be going over their hours. However, medical care is more subjective, and negligence may not be learned until later on. Unfortunately, sometimes this means that people with early stages of deadly progressive diseases are not diagnosed until it is too late. When is it too late to report medical malpractice?

Doctors and other medical professionals are supposed to operate under a medical standard of care. Although there is no concrete definition for this standard of care, it is used to compare a doctor’s actions regarding a situation where malpractice is claimed. For example, in a courtroom it is defined by expert testimony, and how the doctor's actions compare to a reasonably competent doctor with the same resources. Best practices and medical standards may develop over time with medical advances and knowledge.

A doctor making a mistake may not necessarily mean they are negligent. Illnesses can have many symptoms that overlap, making it hard to get a concrete diagnosis. The important part is that the doctor’s actions did not cause harm. For example, if a doctor diagnosed a patient and started treatment, but a test came to show it was something else and the doctor switched treatment, they likely would not be found to be negligent. If the doctor purposely ignored the test results, and the patient fell severely ill without the correct treatment, it may be malpractice.

In work environments where there are everyday dangers present, safety standards are important to uphold by employers. When things slip through the cracks, and an employee gets severely injured, they are able to file for workers’ compensation. When shortcuts are made by employers, employees and their families are the ones that suffer.

After a work-related accident or injury, most employees have the right to file for workers’ compensation if they cannot immediately return to work. Workers’ compensation insurance is required for all employers no matter the size of their company. The benefits included after filing for workers’ compensation include reimbursement for lost wages and medical expenses having to do with the work injury.

If an accident is caused by the employee, they are still eligible for the benefits. Workers’ compensation is there to protect workers, and also prevents lawsuits between employee and employee regarding work conditions. Accidents can be prevented when employees and employers follow safety standards. These are some of the top violated Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.

Truck accidents are one of the most dangerous auto accidents a person can be involved in. This is because commercial trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, which can easily cause devastation. People in passenger cars and motorcycles are the most at risk during a truck accident. During 2017, nearly 5,000 people were killed in truck accidents, and only 18% of those deaths were occupants of a truck.

When someone is involved in a truck accident more questions arise than answers. Many variables can contribute to any auto accident, but what makes truck accidents unique is that a company is behind a truck instead of another private party. A truck driver on the road is at work, and are required to follow rules like any other workplace. When these rules are broken by either the truck driver or the supporting company, the consequences are large. A victim of a truck accident may have these questions following the incident.

Do I Need an Attorney?

It is not a requirement for an accident victim to have a lawyer, but if they are seeking compensation, they will be the best resource for a successful settlement. The most important part of any personal injury case is proving negligence. If a driver was overtired or the company was not properly maintaining their fleet, a skilled attorney will know to collect this evidence for a case. Unlike a private party, a trucking company likely has a team of lawyers for this reason, so going at it alone will not likely end in the plaintiff’s favor.

Companies design products not only for profit but for our benefit. However, sometimes these products fail and cause harm or death to consumers. A product can harm a person because of a manufacturing defect, a poor design, or from an inadequate warning. A defective product may not necessarily cause serious harm or death, but when consumers suffer it is the responsibility of companies to be held liable after the fact.

The important part about a product liability case is proving that something was wrong with the product and that an injury occurred. How a product is used when the injury occurred is also important. For example, if a consumer was tampering with the electronics of a product, they would not likely have a liability claim of they were electrocuted and hospitalized. Getting compensation after a faulty product affects a person's life can cover medical expenses and time away from work. If someone dies from a fault product then their family may be eligible for compensation instead. The following are deaths caused by negligent defects.

Cars are one of the most dangerous things an average person operates. When they are manufactured or designed poorly, the consequences can be worse than a car accident. From Fiat Chrysler, 1.5 million vehicles were put on the road that had a dangerous design regarding the fuel tank. Months after the recall began, a 17-year-old boy died in a car fire caused by a manufacturing defect. In Grand Cherokee and Jeep Liberty SUVs, the fuel tank was located behind the axel. Seventy-five people have died due to fires caused by the tank being ruptured, and leaking fuel upon impact.

In an ideal world, we could take care of our loved ones as they get older. However, the children of elderly parents often have children of their own, and lives to maintain. Some elderly people require around the clock care, and unless a loved one volunteers to be a caregiver, they are left in the care of others. We trust healthcare providers to care for loved ones as they end their lives, but what happens when nursing home neglect is suspected?

Elders can be vulnerable due to their mental or physical abilities. The World Health Organization estimates 1 in 6 elders face some form of abuse. Even family members can participate in elder abuse, but a shocking 2 out of 3 elder focused healthcare workers admit to having abused a person in their care. Abuse can contribute to a faster deterioration of health, so family members need to recognize the signs of various nursing home neglect.

Physical Abuse: Causing physical harm to a patient comes in many forms. This can be violent harm, such as hitting, or negligent harm like refusing care. A healthcare professional may lash out at a patient out of frustration or rage and cause injuries. Take note of any unexplained cuts, sprains, or bruising. If a loved one breaks a bone, question the staff about how it occurred. It could be as innocent as a fall, or they could be suffering abuse.

Premise accidents can happen anywhere. From a friends’ home to the grocery store, if a person is injured while on the property of another, they can file for a personal injury claim. The most common premise accidents are slips and falls, but a person may also have a case after a dog bite, fire, or swimming pool injury. There are many reasons why a person may fall, but the key to a personal injury lawsuit is proving negligence.

What Is Negligence?

Although a property owner may not purposely cause harm to a person, if an accident could have been prevented, they may be considered negligent. Negligence is having the opportunity to fix an issue, such as a broken stair, but not following through. If a property owner is aware of an issue, they have the minimum obligation to put a warning up. For example, a wet floor sign is considered an adequate warning if surfaces are slippery inside a store after a rainstorm. If a person falls due to a medical condition, such as fainting, they would not likely be able to sue the property owner because there was no negligence involved on their part.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20% of all falls lead to serious injuries. Even tripping over an exposed wire could lead to a broken bone or head injury. That being said, most falls do not end with an injury that requires hospitalization. However, the ones that do can cause stress like not being able to go to work and getting expensive medical bills. This can negatively affect not only the individual victim but their family too.

After any serious accident is a time of uncertainty. Luckily after an accident that happened at work, there are protections to alleviate some of the anxiety a serious injury can cause. It is a person’s legal right to file for workers’ compensation after a work accident, and certain benefits will be available based on the severity of the injury.

With a personal injury case, such as a car accident, to receive compensation for damages a person must sue the other involved party. With a workers’ compensation laws, an employee cannot sue an employer for an injury obtained while on the job. Instead, the employee will file for workers’ compensation. All employers are required to have workers' compensation insurance if an employee gets hurt. Workers’ compensation provides benefits such as pay for missed wages and medical care after a workplace injury.

If a workplace injury can be taken care of with a basic first aid kit, then it will not qualify for workers’ compensation. Filing for workers’ compensation means that an employee cannot work for a short or long time due to an injury, or has been developed an occupational disease. When a worker cannot return to their job, their benefits are categorized by the following:

For people who do not own a car or have limited access to public transportation, getting around can be challenging. Rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft created a more reliable and transparent service available at our fingertips. Taxis are more prevalent in large cities, but with rideshare companies, a car will come right to you, and the distribution is growing rapidly. Rideshare companies allow drivers flexible income, but what happens when one of those drivers gets into an accident?

In most states, not having car liability insurance is against the law, but it is a requirement for all rideshare drivers. A personal insurance plan may not cover work as a driver, so Uber provides their drivers with additional coverage. This additional coverage only applies when a driver is actively working and the app is on - otherwise the driver’s insurance will cover them. If a driver’s coverage does not cover driving for rideshare, then Uber provides the following when a driver is waiting for a request:

• $25,000 in property damage
• $50,000 in bodily injury per person
• $100,000 in bodily injury

When a driver is en route or has a passenger in the car, Uber will offer up to $1 million in third-party liability coverage.

No one expects to get into an accident with a truck. If anything, most drivers are extra cautious around such vehicles that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds in the United States. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, nearly 5,000 trucks were involved in fatal accidents in 2017. No matter the safety precautions other drivers take, they can still fall victim to poorly maintained fleets or exhausted drivers.

When it comes to truck accidents, it is drivers in passenger cars that are most at risk. Trucks are large and heavy, so while they could crush a small car, they keep the truck driver relatively safer. An accident with a truck can result in life-altering injuries for anyone involved. This can prevent a victim from returning to work and racking up medical bills, creating many uncertainties. Luckily, contacting a personal injury attorney can assist you after an accident to receive compensation for the accident.

After a truck accident, a lawyer would most likely recommend filing a personal injury lawsuit. This is when a person has suffered, whether physically or emotionally, because of the negligence of the other party. It is the responsibility of the plaintiff and their lawyer to prove that the defending party was at fault. A lawyer will pull information such as the police report and federal regulations to compare to the accident and investigate if a third party could have been at fault.

A parent must care for and protect their child. However, what happens when a child is injured or dies due to the negligence of a doctor? We trust doctors to know what is in the best interest of our health, so it can be a difficult time when a child is endangered from a trust we put in a practitioner or hospital. When negligence is involved, it is possible to sue a medical professional for malpractice to collect compensation for pain and suffering.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Doctors agree to administer a certain standard of care across the board, but when those standards are not met, it is the patient that suffers. It is understood that doctors may not get a diagnosis or care right the first time, but it is when omission or negligence is involved that a patient may have a case for medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice can affect child can before they are even born. Not performing necessary tests or taking special care for high-risk pregnancies is dangerous for a child and their mother. When being born, a doctor can cause defects due to not acting appropriately to circumstances or using tools incorrectly. If a baby is under stress during natural birth, it is the responsibility of the doctor to know when to perform an emergency C-Section. Being left in the womb may restrict the child’s oxygen which can lead to brain damage. Not treating a birth injury right away is also negligent and can cause life long injuries or defects.

For an able-bodied person full-time in the workforce, becoming disabled may be an uncomfortable thought. Although many disabled people live happy and healthy lives, becoming disabled is an adjustment. In some cases, a newly disabled person may need modifications to their home, lifestyle, and working conditions. Luckily if an accident or incident that caused a permanent disability occurred at work, employees have certain protections under workers’ compensation.

What Is Workers’ Compensation?

When an employer in Illinois starts a business, they are most likely required to have a workers' compensation insurance for their employees. No matter how small a business is, or how many employees they have, it is required by law. This insurance protects workers in the event of an injury that prevents them from working long or short term. When a claim is accepted, workers’ compensation covers lost wages from time away from work and medical expenses.

When a person is injured and cannot return to work, it is determined if they have a permanent or temporary disability. This is after the said employee has a medical evaluation and a doctor determines the prognosis of an injury. A temporary disability is something that a worker can either fully recover from, or recover enough to return to work in eventual time. A good example of temporary disability is a broken leg. When a person is deemed permanently disabled, they will not be able to recover from the injury, and may not be able to return to the workforce.

Although auto insurance is required by law, when you consistently make on-time payments, you expect your insurance company to assist you after an accident. However, even though you may pay an insurance company, your claim is not guaranteed to be accepted. After a car accident, many things can give a person involved fear and uncertainty, and having a claim denied can provide additional stress during this tough time.

What Is The Process for Filing a Claim?

The requirements for filing a claim can be met as soon as the car accident happens. After the accident, calling 911 and filing a police report will be crucial to filing a claim with your insurance company. This acts as an official report about the accident. When filing a claim, you will also need the contact information from the other parties involved. You can call your insurance company as soon as being on the side of the road, waiting for police assistance. If you are insured, your insurance company may be able to assist right away if you are not able to use your car after an accident.

After a claim is filed, then a claim specialist is assigned to your specific case to review. When a claim is denied, there is often the uncertainty of how to proceed. Here are common reasons why an insurance claim is denied after a car accident.

A child’s only responsibility is to grow up and become a successful adult. However, sometimes a traumatic experience can happen to a child that disrupts that development. Any kind of trauma will affect a person for life, but when a child is sexually abused, it can have lasting psychological and emotional effects. When children are endangered, their abusers should be held accountable.

Before they reach the age of 18, 25% of girls and 16% of boys are sexually abused. According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center, young girls are the largest targets to sexual abuse and men are the most likely perpetrators. Victims of child sexual abuse are more likely to come from low-income households and may have been victims of other crimes as well. Ninety percent of child sexual abuse is done by a person that a child trusts. Sexual abuse often comes from an adult that a child knows well, such as a family friend or acquaintance. The next likely perpetrators are family, then strangers.

The sexual abuse of a child can take many forms and constitutes as any sexual relations with a child. The age of consent in Illinois is 18 years old. Children cannot consent to sexual acts or manipulation. Sexual abuse is often thought of as intercourse, but it can also include:

It is the responsibility of companies to maintain a standard of safety in the products for consumers. However, sometimes products make it to the market that are unsafe. While there are bad products that may not work or live up to expectations, but when it comes to a product liability lawsuit, it must be proven that a product caused harm in order to have a case.

What Is Product Liability?

Derived from Tort Law, as a product or material gets created and put on shelves for consumers, there is a chain of liability. If the negligence of a company leads to the harm of another person, then that manufacturer may be held responsible. There are three basic claims a person can make with a harmful defective product, design defect, manufacturing defect, or inadequate warnings.

Defective Design: When the design of a product is defective, then the whole consumer good is dangerous. This happens when designed products are not adequately tested for safety. While the product may serve the purpose it was created for, it is too dangerous to continue using. From 2006 to 2008, the magnetic toy sets from Mega Brands were recalled because of small pieces which were easily consumed by children. On top of a choking hazard, the magnets were also strong enough that if consumed, the magnets of the opposite charge would attract and cause further internal injuries. One child died, and 27 were injured due to the defective design of the toys.

After experiencing a work-related injury that prevents you from working, your next concerns may be how you are going to pay for medical bills and support yourself. Most workers in Illinois have the right workers’ compensation, and if you suffer from an accident or have developed a disease from working conditions, you may be entitled to the benefits.

What Benefits Do Workers Compensation Provide?

If a person is injured during their line of work and the injury is more than a basic first aid kit could handle, they may be eligible for benefits. Workers’ compensation protects workers by providing compensation for work-related injuries or illnesses. Examples of this may include falling from a ladder on a construction site, developing carpal tunnel from an office job, or being diagnosed with cancer after working with hazardous materials at work. Workers’ Compensation provides medical care after the fact and the replacement of lost wages.

The more severe an injury is, the more payout a person can expect. There are four categories in which a person can expect to collect workers’ compensation: temporary and permanent disability, and total and partial disability A temporary disability is when someone is expected to heal, and a permanent disability is when a person has reached maximum medical recovery, and will not heal further. The difference between total and partial disability is that total means that a person cannot return to the workforce at all, and a person with a partial disability can return to work in some capacity.

Driving gets us to where we need to be, but that does not stop the world around us. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, over 3,000 people died as result of car accidents involving distracted driving in 2017. There are many distractions that a driver can face while on the road, and most are preventable.

Distracted driving is anything that diverts your attention from focusing on operating a car. This includes changing the radio station and speaking to others in the car, which may come naturally to us. However, one of the most dangerous instances of distracted driving has to do with mobile devices. Because of this, it is illegal in Illinois to use a cell phone while operating a car. This includes the use of tablets or personal digital assistants. No matter if you are talking on the phone, or using it to check the time, you are breaking the law. Exceptions include pulling over to the shoulder, using a “hands-free” device, or if it is an emergency.

It is difficult to avoid what is going on around us while in the car. However, it is in your best interest, your passengers, and the surrounding people, to focus your attention on driving. Consider these tips for cutting down on distracted driving:

As people age, they are often more respected due to their life experience. However, elders can often face abuse from family, caretakers, or nursing homes. Any person can be subject to abuse, but The National Institute on Aging estimates that thousands of people over the age of 60 are taken advantage of every year.

Taking care of an aging loved one is not a commitment everyone can make. Older people require specialized care, and you may not have enough time to meet their needs. Nursing homes are a great alternative for elders who need assisted care. Someone can be there around the clock to help with basic tasks or administer medicine, and nursing homes can combat loneliness by creating a social environment. Unfortunately, there is also a dark side to nursing homes where vulnerable people are abused.

It is possible or any elder to face abuse in a nursing home, but the most likely victims are people who rely on assistance for basic life skills such as getting dressed, bathing, or taking medication. A person who has an illness such as dementia or Alzheimer may also be subject to abuse, or people who do not have friends or family to check the system. Older women are more likely to be abused, but older men face abuse in nursing homes as well.

The brain is an organ and can experience pain and dysfunction like any other. When a person’s mental state is compromised due to work conditions, it should be taken as seriously as an external injury or other internal failure. However, mental illnesses caused by work are difficult to prove when it comes to workers’ compensation and are often questioned because there is no physical ailment.

In the event of an accident at work, or possibly a stressful environment that causes mental illness, workers’ compensation exists to protect workers. Most employers are required to have workers’ compensation insurance in case their employees get hurt as a result of their employment. If an employee is permanently or temporarily unable to return to work, workers’ compensation would cover the cost of medical care as well as any lost wages.

When looking to file a workers’ compensation claim for a mental illness, you and your attorney must be able to prove that the issue arose because of working conditions or circumstances. This can either be either in your office or work environment or in public on behalf of the company. For example, you could not claim workers’ compensation for getting into a car accident to or from work. That would more likely be a personal injury lawsuit against another party in the accident. However, if you were driving to conduct business on behalf of the company, such as a meeting with a client, you may be able to collect workers’ compensation.

When a person gets injured on the property of another person or company, the owners may be held liable for the accident. This type of personal injury case is often the result of poor maintenance or unsafe property. When going after a property owner after an injury on their premises, it is important to be able to prove that the owner was negligent. In regard to property, if a person does not reasonably maintain their home or land, or give proper warning, they can be found negligent and liable. The landowner also must have known about the hazard, and actively refused to take action.

In Illinois, there are laws that address people who visit a property and rights they are given. A person who is invited by the property owner, such as friends or family, are entitled to a safe environment when visiting the property. Landowners must keep their property reasonably safe for these guests. A person who has implied permission of entering a property, such as a salesman or delivery driver, has less protection because even if the owner is aware of a hazard, the licensee will likely not face it. If a person is trespassing, they have the least amount of protection if they are injured on a person’s premise. The only exception may be a child if, for example, if they wander onto a property that has a pool that is unsecured and gets injured or drowns.

There are a number of circumstances where a person could find them self victim to a poorly maintained property or incident involving negligence. You may have a personal injury case if you have experienced the following:

Doctors are an important factor for our well being. When we are ill, they are a resource to turn to for care. In an ideal world, a doctor diagnoses exactly what is wrong in a minimally invasive way and is able to prescribe medicine to resolve the problem quickly. Doctors do not always get it right the first time but as long as the medical care is reasonable, and you start feeling better, there is usually no harm. However, if you have a sinking feeling that your doctor has been negligent with your care, you may have cause for medical malpractice.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice can apply to anyone in the medical field, such as doctors, surgeons, and nurses, or a location such as a hospital or private practice. When these people and institutions do not live up to medical standards, and a patient gets injured, suffers, or dies because inadequate care, that patient or their surviving family may be eligible for compensation.

In order for a medical malpractice lawsuit to be considered, certain criteria must be met. Health care professionals are required to adhere to standards of care. If those standards are not met, they can be found negligent, which is an important factor to move in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Once negligence is established, suffering because of that negligence must also be proved.