- Barry Doyle | May 31, 2007 7:42 AM |
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MiscellaneousFlorida lawmakers recently allowed the state's no-fault auto insurance law to lapse. No-fault auto insurance, which was intended to keep a reign on auto insurance costs, had resulted in Florida consumers paying the sixth highest rates in the nation for coverage.At least one commentator besides myself thinks that this is a good thing.The virtue and vice of a no-fault auto insurance system is...
- Barry Doyle | May 30, 2007 5:14 PM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseA DuPage County judge today sentenced a former nursing home CNA to 25 years in prison. The sentence follows a guilty plea to sexual assault charges.The victim of the assault was a severely disabled woman who resided in the nursing home. The sexual assult was not discovered until after it was discovered that the woman was pregnant. The CNA was identified as the perpetrator through DNA...
- Barry Doyle | May 29, 2007 9:00 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA California dentist training for the AIDS Ride was hit by a car while out on a training ride. The motorist who hit him said that he did not notice the dentist on his bike.The dentist was severly injured in the accident, suffering several fractured ribs, a fractured shoulder, leg injuries, and road rash. He was in a medically-induced coma is on a ventilator.When a car crash happens, people...
- Barry Doyle | May 28, 2007 10:46 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseThe Embassy Care Center in Wilmington recently received a citation from the Illinois Department of Public Health after a number of residents there were injured in falls.The care of five residents in all were the subject of the citation, including two who suffered a fractured hip as a result of falling.Falls and fall prevention are a major concern in the nursing home setting. Indeed, concerns...
- Barry Doyle | May 27, 2007 10:32 AM |
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Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)In Toledo, Ohio last week a two year old girl was attacked by a pit bull while she was sitting in her stroller. The pit bull was being brought out of the house by its owner. Before the owner could attach a line to the pit bull's collar, it broke free, jumped the fence, and attacked the girl.The little girl suffered numerous bite wounds to her face.Advocates of pit bull owners say that they are...
- Barry Doyle | May 26, 2007 3:42 PM |
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Automobile AccidentsTwo weeks ago, a DuPage County prosecutor was killed in a car crash in which she crossed over the center line. The prosecutor had been drinking most of the afternoon, and had a .25 blood alcohol level at the time of the crash. Recent news accounts show that she was also driving a county-owned vehicle at the time of the crash and had been making a series of work-related phone calls on her cell...
- Barry Doyle | May 25, 2007 8:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeA Houston TV station ran a segement recently on the occurrence of medication dispensing errors at local pharmacies, and the apparently lax discipline of pharamcists who make dispensing errors.In one instance, a cancer patient was prescribed medication to be taken four time per week, but was given instructions by the pharamcist to take four times daily. The cancer patient suffered permanent...
- Barry Doyle | May 24, 2007 8:15 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsMonday's horrific school bus accident is in the news again because authorities have learned that the bus driver was drunk at the time of the crash. The driver apparenly had three double shots of whiskey before dropping off the children, and then drank a six pack of beer before the crash.Fortunately, there were no children on the bus at the time of the accident, but the bus struck a pedestrian...
- Barry Doyle | May 24, 2007 8:00 AM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseA Kentucky nursing home was recently cited by the state for care deficiencies which has resulted in harm to residents of the facility.In one instance, the facility was cited with failing to change the feeding tube of a resident, resulting in dehydration and death.Dehydration is a hidden killer in nursing homes. Elderly residents have a diminished sense of thirst, so they need to be encouraged...
- Barry Doyle | May 23, 2007 7:00 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA South Carolina boy is recovering from injuries sustained when he was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. The boy was playing on the sidewalk when he was hit by a car which fled the scene.The child suffered a fractured femur which required surgery for the placement of pins to stabilize the fracture.Under Illinois law and the law of most states, hit-and-run drivers are considered uninsured...
- Barry Doyle | May 22, 2007 8:30 AM |
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Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)A California woman who was visiting a friend was bitten by the friend's 90 pound pit bull for the second time. The woman, who had been bitten on the leg in December, 2005, realized that the dog was acting aggressively, and tried to hide in the bathroom, but the dog broke down the door in order to attack her.The woman suffered serious injuries to her arm in the most recent attack.The traditional...
- Barry Doyle | May 21, 2007 8:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeA Montana nurse admitted to a coroner's inquest that she adminstered a wrong medication to a patient who died shortly after receiving the drug. The patient came to trhe emergency room of the hospital with difficulty breathing. The doctor ordered lasix, a diuretic, to help draw out fluid that may have been contributing the respiratory problems.Instead of taking the lasix from the pharmacy, she...
- Barry Doyle | May 21, 2007 6:36 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe General Assembly has sent a bill to Gov. Blagoevich for signature that would allow juries to consider the grief of surviving family members as part of the damages in a wrongful death case. Hopefully, the governor will sign the bill.One thing that most people are unaware of is that the damages in a wrongful death case are controlled by a statute -- the Wrongful Death Act. By statute, the...
- Barry Doyle | May 20, 2007 4:21 PM |
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Workplace InjuriesA contractor was hit with over $69,000 in fines by OSHA after an employee was injured when he plummeted three floors when the floor of the building he was working in collapased. The employee was involved in the demolition of a building at the time of the accident.Violations of OSHA regulations such as this put employees lives at unnecessary risk of harm.When done safely, demolition of buildings...
- Barry Doyle | May 19, 2007 1:55 PM |
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Automobile AccidentsNBC News had a recent feature on a little-known statute which requires persons injured in accidents with the CTA to provide the CTA with a special statutory notice. If the notice is not completed or if information is missing or wrong, then the lawsuit gets dismissed. It does not matter that the CTA has the correct information - the lawsuit still gets dismissed.The woman featured in the NBC...
- Barry Doyle | May 18, 2007 9:15 AM |
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Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)A visit to a friend's home tragic for a 7-year old Ohio girl last week. While she was playing in the backyard with her friend, a 7-month old pit bull owned her friend's uncle mauled the girl and did not stop attacking the girl until the friend's mother drove the animal away.The victim lost an ear and suffered facial fractures which required the insertion of a steel plate in her cheek. The bite...
- Barry Doyle | May 17, 2007 8:30 AM |
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Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)A Georgia woman passing through a trailer park attempted to provide some water to a dog that was tied to a trailer and was bitten for her efforts.The dog, an Akita, bit the woman so badly on the hand that she had to undergo thumb reattachment surgery.The Akita is one of the breeds which insurers are increasingly reluctant to provide coverage for. Some carriers are excluding them from coverage...
- Barry Doyle | May 16, 2007 8:45 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsOutside Seattle last week, a wheel assembly came off a tractor trailer while it was moving, bounded over the median, and smashed into the windshield of a minivan going in the other direction.The front seat passenger of the minivan was killed instantly. An inspection of the tractor trailer after the accident showed that the brake system to the trailer had come apart.Before going out on the road,...
- Barry Doyle | May 15, 2007 8:30 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesTwo workers were lucky to survive when the trench that they were working in collapsed. The trench was being dug near a highway and did not have a proper retaining wall. Authorities believe that vibrations from the nearby highway triggered the collapse.One of the workers suffered a fractured ankle while trying to escape the trench.Working in an excavation is one of the most hazardous duties in...
- Barry Doyle | May 14, 2007 9:00 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsA Texas man was killed last week when he was driving through a construction zone. An asphalt truck left the roadway and then re-entered it. The man struck the rear-end of the asphalt truck as it came back onto the roadway. The driver of the asphalt truck was ticketed for failing to yield while entering the roadway.The man suffered such severe injuries that he was pronounced dead at the...
- Barry Doyle | May 13, 2007 9:27 PM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseA nursing home in Macomb was cited recently for its failure to promptly notify a resident's physician of critical lab values.The resident had elevated creatanine levels and needed emergecny dialysis in order to save him from dying of http://www.idph.state.il.us/ltc/docs/SurveyResult/6005631FA12072006.pdf.It is often said by doctors that the nursing staff are their eyes and ears. This is...
- Barry Doyle | May 08, 2007 10:26 PM |
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Nursing Home & Elder AbuseA Washington woman has filed suit against the nursing home where her mother resided. The suit alleges that the nursing home staff was negligent in administering morphine to her mother.The suit follows a finding by the local coroner that a morphine overdose led to the death of the patient.There are some basic things that have to be verified before a nurse gives medication to a patient, especially...
- Barry Doyle | May 07, 2007 10:30 PM |
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Automobile AccidentsIn Joliet last weekend, a drunk driver blew a stop light and hit an ambulance which was taking a heart attack patient to the hospital. The ambulance rolled over and hit two other vehicles which were waiting for it to clear the intersection.The heart attack patient died later at the hospital. Authorities are trying to determine whether the accident played a role in his passing. The ambulance...
- Barry Doyle | May 06, 2007 6:00 PM |
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Property Owner's Liability (Slip & Fall)In Van Buren, Arkansas, the town council passed a vicious dog ordinance after a woman there was attacked by a pit bull. The ordinance covers vicious dogs and requires the owners to keep the animals in chain link fence enclosure, carry $1 million in liability insurance, and have a microchip implanted in the dog.The woman was suffered puncture wounds to her hand when she was bitten while...
- Barry Doyle | May 06, 2007 8:08 AM |
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MiscellaneousThe Chicago Tribune ran a disheartening article today on the saga of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Magnetix toy magnets, and children.The story detailed the agency's receipt of complaints about children suffering serious injuries to their intestines after swallowing the tiny magnets. The kind of magnets used in Magnetix are not tthe traditional rubbery magnets used for refrigerator...
- Barry Doyle | May 05, 2007 8:30 AM |
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Workplace InjuriesA worker on a Maryland construction site was injured when the planking to the scaffolding he was working on broke. He fell from the scaffold 37 feet to the ground.The worker suffered spinal fractures which may result in paralysis.Because scaffolds raise workers so high up in the air, OSHA regulations require that all of the component parts be in safe and proper condition. This requires...
- Barry Doyle | May 03, 2007 7:45 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsThe Illinois Dept. of Transportation recently presented the Daily Herald with the list of the ten intersections in DuPage County where the most accidents took place. Topping the list was Route 83 and North Avenue in Elmhurst, with 79 accidents in 2005.The list is not a ranking of the most dangerous intersections per se because the list does not take into account fatalities and serious...
- Barry Doyle | May 02, 2007 8:15 AM |
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Automobile AccidentsIn Rockford, the driver of a car heading west on Interstate 90 was driving drunk and talking on his cell phone when he lost control of his vehicle and crossed over the median, hitting a minivan carrying a Minnesota family of five.All five passengers of the minivan were hospitalized with serious injuries. The accident was fatal for the drunk driver.Drunk driving and cell phone use are...
- Barry Doyle | May 01, 2007 9:00 AM |
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Medical MalpracticeAn employee in a drug compounding pharmacy who was mixing a medication made an error which resulted in a drug being sent to a clinic in a form which was 10 times more potent than intended. The medication was called colchicine, which is normally used to treat gout. It was being used in the clinic to treat back pain, which is off-lbael use of the drug. The way that the medication works is that...