Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog

As a Chicago attorney who has tried elderly care cases, I am thrilled to see this new wandering device for Alzheimer’s patients. One of the scariest issues surrounding the degenerative disease is the propensity to wander and become confused with their surroundings. Since, more than 5 million Americans are estimated to be living with Alzheimer's, the new technology has the potential to allow many family members to worry less about their elderly loved ones (AP for Findlaw, 11/17, Neergaard). As many as have of the 5 million figure have very early stages of the disease and have many independent years ahead of them before the disease runs it course and becomes too severe for adequate cognitive function. For patients in this situation, the technology may have its greatest impact.

At some point, however, the majority of Alzheimer's patients will begin what is called wandering, at which point more intense supervision is required to ensure their safety. This is when many families decide a loved one should make the move to a 24 hour care facility.

A growing number of states are adopting "Silver Alerts" programs, modeled off the Amber Alert for missing Children, that notify the public when an Alzheimer's patient or other cognitively impaired adult wanders off. While this is useful in severe situations, many families want a more personalized solution.

So, the new Comfort Zone program goes a step further, “with a Web-based mapping service that works with multiple brands of tracking transmitters. First out are a pocket-size transmitter and a car version, while a harder-to-remove wristwatch style and one secreted in shoes are being explored. Families can check where Dad is at any given time, or in an emergency track his movements every 2 minutes while someone heads him off.” This technology has the potential to help many families feel good about elderly loved ones and may even keep some Alzheimer’s patients at home and under family care longer.

The several hundred page Healthcare Bill that the House recently passed considered, and ultimately did not include, a piece of right-wing consolation in the form of caps on damages in medical malpractice cases. As a lawyer who has dedicated his professional career to helping those harmed by medical negligence, I feel strongly that the proposed solution does not address the root of the problem – the hundreds of thousands of people who are adversely affected each year as a result of medical negligence. Rather, restricting the legal rights of injured patient’s only gives physicians less incentive to avoid negligently injuring other patients.

Joanna Doroshow discusses the medical malpractice component of the health care bill in her recent article, stating, “to proponents of legislation like this, dealing with malpractice is never actually about solving the problem of malpractice. Medical negligence kills at least a hundred thousand people every year and injures ten times more, costing the economy tens of billions of dollars annually. What they mean is weakening the legal rights of patients, lessening the accountability of incompetent doctors and unsafe hospitals, and giving more money to the insurance industry” (Huffington Post).

The bill functions to protect “medical and insurance companies [by] preventing juries from awarding [the injured] too much money for malpractice.” However, those who think this will fix the problem of rising health care costs will soon be eating their words, as reduction in medical malpractice damages “will cap those malpractice costs… which the Congressional Budget Office just found out contribute to the rising cost of care to the tune of merely one-half of one percent." On the contrary, other studies have shown that the costs of health care can be attributed, at least in large part, to the insurance companies who are protected by this very bill. Insurance companies advocate for damage capping legislation with little or no intent to proportionately decrease medical malpractice insurance premiums that they charge to doctors.

Elisabeth Leamy reports for abcnews (11/10) about the controversy surrounding the aftermath of the Maclaren recall of umbrella strollers following reports of finger amputations, which lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission to review similar umbrella strollers manufactured by different companies. The issue with the Maclaren umbrella stroller, which they invented over 40 years ago, involves an elbow hinge in which small children have caught their fingers, and CPSC found many other umbrella strollers to have the same issue.

Maclaren's recall, announced last week, “includes every umbrella stroller the company has sold over the past decade [even though] the company says its strollers meet all federal safety standards and it's because of a commitment to safety that it took this step to get the word out.” Maclaren is now offering free hinge covers and instructional videos, which are accessible through their website.

Currently, the CPSC is looking into the potential need for further recalls including other brands, but as a products liability attorney, I advise all parents to be aware of the issues surrounding umbrella strollers and consider using other stroller designs until the safety investigations have concluded.

Sam Hananel reports, “The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is issuing a record $87 million fine against oil giant BP for failing to correct safety hazards after a 2005 explosion killed 15 people at its Texas City refinery” (AP for FindLaw, 11/1).
The fine, which is the largest in the history of OSHA, is the result of a several month investigation that revealed hundreds of violations of a 2005 agreement to address and repair hazards at the oil refinery.

Although a BP spokesman says the company believed it was in “full compliance” with the settlement agreement, OSHA rebuts that BP will now face “hundreds of new violations for failing to follow industry controls on pressure relief safety systems and other precautions.”

As a Chicago lawyer who dedicates his career to helping average Americans obtain just compensation, I am pleased to see that the OSHA is holding large companies responsible for breaching of settlement agreements. Violating industry controls is an irresponsible way to conduct business for which companies must be held liable.

Important new research has linked posttraumatic stress disorder to “implicated ills of the body…suggesting it may be associated with death after surgery” (CNN, E. Landau, 10/24). The study shows “that veterans with PTSD were more likely to die within a year after surgery than those without the disease, regardless of how many years have passed since their service,” and is the first to study the mortality rates of PTSD patients after surgery.

Approximately 6.8% of Americans have PTSD at some point during their lives, and considering the quantity of PTSD patients stands to increase over the next few decades, the implications of the new research hold critical weight. Physicians should “treat PTSD not only as a mental condition, but also as an independent risk factors for other health problems.” As a Chicago attorney who specializes in both personal injury and medical negligence cases, I am pleased that this research is being circulated in the medical community so physicians can consider these new important factors.