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Recent Blog Posts
Drive Safely in Illinois Construction Zones to Protect Workers
As the weather warms up, Illinois's construction season is in full swing. Whether on an area expressway or your local road, it is essential to drive with caution when you are in a construction zone. Narrow lanes, uneven surfaces, and vehicles entering the roadway can contribute to accidents and put construction workers at risk of injury.
Safety Tips for Construction Zones
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Pay attention – Warning signs ahead of construction zones will provide advanced notice for traffic shifts, lane closures, roadway incidents, and other warnings.
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Slow down if workers are present or not – It’s the law to reduce your speed in construction zones and keep a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you. The lanes in construction zones are often narrower than other lanes, and traffic patterns can shift. There can also be uneven pavement in sections between or in the middle of lanes.
Common Causes of Trucking Accidents in Illinois
The state of Illinois and especially the Chicagoland area have some of the highest truck volumes in the United States. Chicago has long been a transportation hub, and massive tractor-trailers are an ever-present sight on our interstate system. In addition, smaller trucks are found on virtually every major street and road in our communities, delivering goods or carrying construction materials. The surge in delivery trucks from online shopping has only made the streets more crowded. While trucks are regulated by the government and drivers are required to have additional driver training, truck accidents are still a common occurrence.
Factors in Chicago Trucking Accidents
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Speeding – While speeding increases the risk of accident for any vehicle on the road, the increased weight and decreased stopping distance of a truck only add to the danger.
Six Distractions to Be Aware of in Distracted Driving Awareness Month
Life is busy, complicated, and ever-changing. If they were honest, many people would admit to being distracted for a significant portion of their day. Whether it is a pinging cell phone, screaming toddler, or work responsibilities, most of us have too many things on our minds at any given moment.
Distractions like these may be little more than annoyances during daily activities. However, distractions can be much more dangerous when the distracted individual is driving. Operating a motor vehicle takes concentration, attention, and skill. Distracted drivers can make mistakes that cause severe car crashes. To bring awareness to the risks of distracted driving, the NHTSA has declared April Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
Driver Distractions Come in Many Forms
Everyone knows that using a cell phone while driving is dangerous, and most states have established legislation prohibiting hand-held cell phone use behind the wheel. However, distracted driving does not only involve cell phones. Other forms of distracted driving that can lead to serious accidents include:
Failure to Diagnose Cancer and the Medical Standard of Care
Doctors are not magicians; they cannot simply look at someone and know what ails him or her. However, doctors and medical specialists are highly educated professionals who must complete years of training before practicing medicine. Consequently, we generally expect that doctors and other medical professionals will act with a reasonable degree of skill and competence. We assume that if they will take the appropriate steps to diagnose and treat whatever medical condition a patient suffers from.
But what happens when a doctor fails to diagnose a serious condition like cancer? Can failure to diagnose be the basis of a medical malpractice claim?
Early Diagnosis of Cancer is Key to Beating the Disease
The sooner cancer is detected, the sooner treatment can begin. When cancer is recognized early, doctors can start treating the cancer before it has a chance to spread throughout the body. When a cancer diagnosis is delayed, the cancerous cells have more time to spread and the chances of survival decrease. Screening tests like mammography, colonoscopy, CT scans, and blood tests can often detect the signs of cancer. When a doctor fails to order the appropriate tests, a patient may have cancer and not even know it.
Infant Asphyxia During Labor and Delivery Can Lead to Life-Long Complication or Death
Parents expecting a new baby may feel increasingly anxious as the due date approaches. This concern is understandable. After all, there are nearly countless things that can go wrong during an infant’s birth. Asphyxia, or lack of oxygen, is one of the most common types of birth injuries suffered by newborns. Many different problems can cause a baby to be deprived of oxygen. Sometimes, these problems are the direct result of medical negligence during birth.
Causes of Birth Asphyxia
Babies in the womb receive oxygenated blood through the umbilical cord. When the baby is born, he or she takes his or her first breath and no longer relies on the mother’s blood for oxygen. Unfortunately, many different problems can arise during this transition which deprive the baby of oxygen. The longer the baby’s brain is deprived of oxygen, the worse the consequences.
Signs Your Loved One is Being Sexually Abused in a Nursing Home
When an elderly person or individual with disabilities cannot take care of themselves, moving that person to a nursing home is often the next step. We trust that nursing home facilities will be safe, clean, and staffed with compassionate workers. However, some nursing homes fail to meet these expectations. In extreme cases, the nursing home staff even intentionally harm residents.
It is hard to believe that nursing home staff would prey upon vulnerable residents, but sometimes, the very people who are supposed to protect residents are the perpetrators of abuse. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological abuse are not uncommon in nursing homes in Illinois and across the United States. If you suspect that your loved one was sexually abused or otherwise harmed while living in a nursing home, do not wait to take action.
Red Flags That Could Be Signs of Sexual Abuse
Nursing home residents are often frail and in poor health. Many suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other ailments that reduce their ability to communicate with others. Sadly, some people take advantage of this vulnerability. Understaffing, inadequate staff training, and negligent hiring practices such as failing to perform background checks can increase the chances of abuse.
Should I Sue My Cab Driver if He was Responsible for an Accident that Injured Me?
The Chicago metropolitan area is heavily congested and can be very difficult to drive and park in and around downtown. For many people, occasionally taking cabs is a much more cost-effective and timely way to navigate the city. While most taxi drivers are cautious and get their passengers safely to their destination, many people are injured in taxi crashes every year. As with any other car crash, taxi accidents can cause serious injuries and even death. If your cab driver was responsible for a car accident in which you or a loved one were injured, you may want to meet with an experienced Chicago taxi crash attorney.
What Should I Do After a Taxi Crash?
Immediately following a taxi crash, make sure you are safe. Even if you initially feel okay, the adrenaline that our bodies release after car crashes can make it difficult to feel pain. Getting assessed by a physician is always a good idea after a car accident.
Can I Sue the CTA if I Was Hit By a Bus?
Chicago has an affordable and accessible public transit system made of buses and the famous “L” train lines. While these vehicles are useful and necessary, they are large, numerous, and often in a hurry. Because buses are so much larger than other pedestrians, cyclists, or vehicles in the road, they can present serious dangers when drivers are careless, tired, or distracted. If you have been injured by a Chicago Transit Authority bus, consider meeting with an experienced CTA bus accident attorney to explore your options.
CTA Bus Crashes Are Surprisingly Common
A 2015 study seeking to investigate how often CTA buses crash discovered that, on average, a CTA bus is involved in a crash every 36 hours. In addition to crashes with cars in the street, CTA buses also hit pedestrians with their mirrors and sideswipe them on street corners. While CTA buses are not always at fault in these crashes, these statistics illustrate just how common potentially dangerous interactions with these vehicles are.
Can I File a Workplace Wrongful Death Lawsuit if My Spouse was Killed at Work?
Certain careers place their employees at a particularly high risk of death or serious workplace injury. Loggers, roofers, steelworkers, and other similar hands-on employees who work with heavy objects and machinery, especially at great heights, are frequently injured on the job. When an employee is injured on the job in Illinois, workers’ compensation usually covers the injury or loss suffered by an employee or their family. People generally cannot sue their employers for negligence. But when a third party was involved, there may be a potential for a lawsuit.
Why is Workers’ Compensation Mandated?
While there are exceptions for employees who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, employers in Illinois usually must have workers’ compensation so that an employee who is injured or killed on the job can be fairly compensated, regardless of who was at fault. This benefits the employees by allowing them to collect benefits even if the employer was not directly at fault, including incidents where an employee:
My Illinois Supervisor is Sexually Harassing Me. Can I Do Anything?
Sexual harassment in a Chicago workplace is never excusable - and in 2022, nobody can say that they have not received training or adequate information about what constitutes sexual harassment. Yet this terrible behavior continues to happen all the time and the most common victims of sexual harassment are women, ethnic minorities, and other vulnerable populations.
In addition to being an unacceptable way to treat another human being, sexual harassment is illegal. If you are a victim of sexual harassment, you have options to stop the harassment and possibly even pursue a lawsuit against the perpetrator. You do not have to take action alone; consider speaking with an experienced Illinois sexual harassment attorney.
Is “Joking” an Excuse for Sexual Harassment?
While some people may want to engage in flirtatious innuendo at work, people often engage in sexual harassment and later fall back on the excuse that it was “just a joke.” Whether the perpetrator claims it is a joke or not, sexual harassment occurs when someone makes unwanted sexual advances, asks for sexual favors, or engages in other unwanted physical or verbal conduct of a sexual nature. When someone rejects or submits to sexual harassment because of the fear that doing otherwise could lead to a negative employment outcome or hostile work environment, the sexual harassment is against the law.
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