Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog

Parents of toddlers beware! The holiday season is a time of great joy, but can also be a time of great tragedy if proper precautions are not instituted. Authorities in Ohio say “a toddler fell into a septic tank and was critically injured while being watched by a woman putting up outdoor Christmas lights.” (Waterford Ohio AP, 11/24).

Fortunately the toddler survived, although he was not breathing when he was rescued. However, Christmas lights can pose many hazards to toddlers – distractions to parents, and, if within their reach, another object to put in their mouths.

As a personal injury lawyer in Chicago, I urge all parents of young children to take certain precautions when decorating for the holidays. Keep small objects (like ornaments) and lights out of toddler’s reach. Additionally, menorah candles pose another risk if within the reach of children, and children must always be supervised adequately.

The government says “tougher safeguards for toys mean better choices for families this holiday season.” (D. Melendy, AP Washington, 11/18).

The Consumer Product Safety Commission have issued less recalls this year than in years past, in party, they say, due to tough U.S. standards on lead content in toys. The agency also says, “it received 12 reports last year of toy-related deaths involving kids younger than 15. That's just half as many as in each of the two prior years.”

As a personal injury lawyer in Chicago, I am glad to see toy related deaths on the decline, but am hopeful that any all toys that need to be recalled will be. As always, it is especially important to bear in mind safety considerations during holiday shopping, because buying age appropriate toys is one way parents can ensure the safety of their children.

A New York senator says “federal regulators are expected to move to ban caffeinated alcoholic drinks as soon as this week.” (Washington AP, 11/16).

After much recent publicity, the Food and Drug Administration is expected “to find that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic drinks.” If this in fact happens, then the Federal Trade Commission will issue warning letters to manufacturers warning that marketing caffeinated alcoholic beverages could be illegal.

Recently, caffeinated alcoholic beverages have been banned in four states in the wake of several hospitalizations of college students. As a Chicago personal injury lawyer, I am hopeful that any unsafe drinks will be banned from the market.

As a Chicago area attorney with extensive nursing home experience, I too am discouraged by the latest disappointment in Alzheimer’s research. Although omega-3 fatty acid pills were thought to promote memory, researchers are reporting the disappointing news that the pills did not “slow mental and physical decline in older patients with mild or moderate Alzheimer’s disease. (L. Tanner, Chicago AP, 11/2).

Those results are the result of a “multimillion-dollar government-funded study released Tuesday in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.” Laurie Ryan, the president of Alzheimer’s studies at the National Institute on Aging calls the results discouraging, but notes that “the institute is spending millions of dollars on research into other possible treatments. Those include lifestyle changes, drugs and biomarkers that might lead to more targeted drug treatment.”

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