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Posted on in Personal Injury Lawsuits

IL accident lawyerDamage to the spinal cord can lead to painful, debilitating symptoms. The spinal cord is responsible for sending signals from the brain to the body. A spinal cord injury can lead to loss of sensation, loss of motor function, and even paralysis. If you or a loved one recently suffered a spinal cord injury due to another party’s carelessness, you may have a right to compensation through a personal injury claim.

Holding a Negligent Party Accountable for Your Spine Injury

Spinal cord injuries are commonly suffered in car accidents, slip and fall accidents, construction accidents, and other incidents caused by negligence. Whether your spine injury was caused by a drunk driver, distracted driver, negligent property owner, or another party, you deserve justice. A personal injury claim can help you hold the negligent party accountable for your debilitating injury. Personal injury claims are civil actions that are separate from any criminal consequences that the at-fault party may face. You can bring a personal injury claim in addition to criminal charges or in the absence of criminal charges.

Financial Compensation for Medical Bills and More

A spinal cord injury claim may also allow you to recover financial compensation for your damages. Spinal cord injuries often require significant medical treatment. You or your loved one may require CT scans, MRIs, and other expensive imaging tests. You may need surgery and considerable rehabilitative treatment. Compensation for your past medical bills and future medical costs may be available in a personal injury claim. You could also be compensated for your lost wages from missed work and for any harm to your future earning capacity. Compensation for non-economic damages including your physical pain, emotional anguish, and lost enjoyment of life may be recoverable as well.

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Tagged in: accident liability Lake County spinal cord injury lawyer personal injury claim spinal cord injury Waukegan personal injury attorney
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Posted on in Car Accidents

IL crash lawyerIf you or a loved one were involved in a serious auto accident, you probably have questions about your legal rights. You may already know that a personal injury claim may allow you to recover financial reimbursement for your medical bills and other damages, but you are unsure of what your case is worth. You may ask, “How much compensation am I entitled to through a personal injury claim?” The exact amount of compensation that an injured person may be able to recover after a car accident varies dramatically from case to case. The amount you may be entitled to will likely be influenced by the severity of your injuries, whether there is shared liability for the accident, and several other factors.

The Severity of Your Injuries and Your Prognosis

In a car accident injury claim, damages often include medical bills, future medical care, and other injury-related expenses. If your injuries required significant medical treatment such as surgery or specialist treatment, this would likely increase your potential payout. If your injuries require ongoing care such as physical or occupational therapy, this too will likely increase the value of your claim. The severity of your injuries will probably affect the amount of work you will need to miss and therefore increase the amount you may be entitled to for lost income. Catastrophic injuries and injuries resulting in permanent disability often lead to higher payouts. However the severity of your injuries and your prognosis are just some of the many different factors that can influence the value of your claim.

Shared Liability for a Car Accident

If your actions partially caused the accident or worsened the injuries resulting from the accident, this may heavily influence your payout. Illinois is a “modified comparative negligence” state. This means that if an injured person is considered 50 percent or more at fault for the injury-causing incident, he or she is barred from recovery. If there is shared liability but the injured person’s fault is less than 50 percent, the damages he or she may be entitled to are reduced proportionate to his or her share of fault.

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Tagged in: car accident claim car accident lawsuit filing a car crash claim Lake County car accident lawyer Waukegan car accident attorney
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Posted on in Brain Injuries

IL injury lawyerWhile injuries like broken bones, lacerations, and contusions are almost always immediately apparent, injuries to the brain are often harder to recognize. In fact, a person may sustain a severe brain injury and have little to no sign of damage on the outside of his or her head. Brain injuries range from mild to severe. Many traumatic brain injuries (TBI) begin subtly but eventually lead to severe symptoms. TBI symptoms can prevent an individual from working, fulfilling their responsibilities, and even enjoying life. If you or a loved one sustained a traumatic brain injury, you may be entitled to financial compensation for your damages.

Medical Expenses and Lost Income

Traumatic brain injuries may be caused by a car accident, act of physical violence, slip and fall accident, or other situation in which the head is forcefully struck. To diagnose TBI, a doctor may order CT scans, x-rays, and other tests. Some TBI suffers even require an emergency craniectomy to surgically relieve pressure from swelling. Between ambulance fees, hospital bills, surgery, testing, and other medical costs, treating a TBI can cost tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. The financial burden created by medical expenses may be exacerbated by the fact that the injured person cannot work while he or she is recovering. Through a personal injury claim, you may be entitled to compensation for your past and future medical bills, lost income from missed work, and any impairment to your income-earning ability.

Mental Suffering and Other General Damages

The consequences of a traumatic brain injury are not only financial. A moderate or severe TBI can dramatically reduce a person’s quality of life. Non-economic damages or “general damages” are those costs that cannot be represented by a number on a bill or receipt. General damages in a traumatic brain injury case often include physical pain, mental or emotional anguish, inconvenience, and loss of enjoyment of life. The value of non-economic damages is often calculated by multiplying the value of medical bills and other economic damages by a multiplier between 1.5 and 5. The amount of compensation that a person may be entitled to for non-economic damages after a traumatic brain injury will likely be based on the severity of the TBI, the degree to which the TBI affects your ability to work and complete everyday tasks, and whether your own actions contributed to the TBI.

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Tagged in: brain injury brain injury lawsuit Lake County brain injury attorney TBI Waukegan accident lawyer
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Posted on in Medical Malpractice

In an ideal world, no parent would ever have to learn that their child suffered a birth injury. Unfortunately, birth injuries ranging in severity are suffered by millions of infants each year. These injuries often lead to considerable medical costs and other financial losses. When a preventable birth injury is caused by medical negligence on the part of a hospital, emergency room, or medical professional, the negligent party may be liable for damages. This means that the birth injury victim’s parents may be entitled to compensation for their financial losses. They may also be compensated for non-financial losses including their emotional distress.

Defining Medical Negligence in the Context of Birth Injuries

If your child was injured or killed during labor and delivery, you are probably desperate for answers. You may question if there is anything that could have been done to prevent the birth injury from occurring. While many birth injuries are unavoidable, some are the direct result of medical negligence. Medical negligence is often defined as the unskilled or improper medical treatment of a patient by a medical professional. More specifically, medical negligence occurs when a medical professional fails to exercise the same quality of treatment that a professional with similar education and experience would have provided in similar circumstances. This hypothetical standard is often referred to as the “medical standard of care.”

When Is a Medical Malpractice Claim Appropriate?

Although the terms medical negligence and medical malpractice are often used interchangeably, the two are not synonymous. Medical negligence occurs when a healthcare professional fails to provide treatment that meets the medical standard of care. Medical malpractice occurs when medical negligence causes a patient to be injured or killed and damages result from the injury or death. So, if your child’s birth injury was caused by medical negligence and you sustained damages such as medical bills or lost wages from missed work, you may have a valid medical malpractice claim. You may be entitled to compensation for your financial and non-financial damages. This may include compensation for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) costs, physical therapy, lost wages, emotional anguish, and more.

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Tagged in: birth injury Lake County birth injury attorney medical malpractice medical negligence Waukegan birth injury lawyer
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Posted on in Distracted Driving Accidents

IL accident lawyerEveryone knows that using a cell phone while you are driving is unsafe. Taking your eyes off of the road or your hands off of the wheel for even just a few seconds can have disastrous effects. If you are traveling at 55 miles per hour and you look down at your phone for five seconds, you drive the length of a football field without looking where you are going. The National Traffic Safety Administration estimates that about 660,000 drivers are using a cell phone while driving on an average day. However, studies conducted by Zendrive suggest that the issue of distracted driving is a far greater concern than we ever realized. Even more alarming, the issue seems to be worsening.

Nearly 70 Million People Use Their Phones While Driving Everyday

Cell phones and other handheld electronic devices have become an essential part of most people’s lives. Whether it is reading a text message, replying to email, looking up directions, or finding the perfect song, we use our cell phones for multiple reasons throughout the day. For many, using a cell phone while driving is a very difficult habit to break. However, it is a habit that leads to thousands of severe injuries and deaths every day. According to Zendrive’s study, nearly 60 percent of car accidents involve cell phone use behind the wheel. Just under 17 percent of auto collisions studied involved cell phone use during the five seconds immediately preceding the collision. Zendrive estimates that almost 70 million people are using a cell phone while driving on any given day.

COVID-19 Pandemic May Be Increasing the Prevalence of Distracted Driving

Lockdowns and closings intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have dramatically increased our reliance on smartphones and computers. Millions of children are now attending school remotely through their computers and tablets. Adults across the country have traded conference rooms for digital meeting rooms through programs like Zoom and Skype. It may be for these reasons that the frequency of distracted driving accidents has increased. According to Zendrive, cell phone use behind the wheel increased dramatically in March 2020. There was a similar increase in other dangerous behaviors like rapid acceleration. According to the data compiled by Zendrive, Chicago ranks second out of all major U.S. cities when it comes to cell phone use while driving.

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Tagged in: accident liability accidents during pandemic distracted driving accident rates distracted driving accidents Lake County car accident attorney
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