The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that an estimated 1,460 children died from abuse or neglect during the fiscal year 2005. This shockingly large number is only the tip of the ice burg when it comes to foster care issues. However, it is difficult to generalize a problem such as wrongful death of foster children since state laws regarding who can bring suit and what damages may be sought vary from state to state. Furthermore, while the goal of foster care is to “provide a stable, nurturing, and non-institutionalized environment” for children who have been removed from their biological parents, the system of foster care has proven to be notoriously hard to monitor adequately. Sadly, sixty percent of children who enter foster care do so as a result of abuse or neglect from their biological parents. For some of these children, the abuse and neglect only continues.

Evelyn Pesante was the biological mother of four-year-old Angelica who was killed while in foster care. Ms. Pesante brought a wrongful death suit seeking damages for pain and suffering. Angelica and her half brothers were removed form Ms. Pesante’s care as a result of neglect and placed in foster homes. While in foster care, Angelica was severely injured by her foster parent’s thirteen-year-old, 180-pound son who tackled the four year old causing her to lacerate and rupture a liver. After receiving no medical care and essentially bleeding to death internally, Angelica became disoriented and fell down the stairs in the home, causing her death. This is only one case, but the article goes on do describe many other cases that are just as disheartening.

Such irresponsible foster care is a nationwide problem. As a Chicago personal injury attorney who has argued a similar case in Illinois, I am outraged that abuse and neglect is a continuous problem in foster care situations. For many of these children, abuse and neglect is all they have ever known, something we simply cannot tolerate.

As car and truck accident attorneys in Chicago who fight through the city sidewalks filled with distracted walkers in a daily basis, we at Hurley, McKenna & Mertz urge all people to be careful when walking as well as driving, for their own safety as well as the safety of others.

Items commonly intercepted include, “black toy guns that could be easily confused for real firearms, yellow toy ducks with lead paint and bright green, frog-shaped lighters without safety mechanisms.”

As a Chicago attorney with experience in products liability related personal injuries, I too urge all consumers to purchase products carefully, especially during the hectic holiday season and first of the year sales.

To date, The CPSC says five deaths and 16 near-strangulations have resulted from Roman shades, in addition to three deaths connected to roll-up blinds.”

As a chicago personal injury attorney, I join the commission and the industry in urging parents to ensure all shades and blinds in their homes have no accessible cords. Cordless window coverings are recommended for all homes where children live or visit.

This is a world-wide problem as a new WHO report on tobacco use and control, “said nearly 95 percent of the global population is unprotected by laws banning smoking. WHO said secondhand smoking kills about 600,000 people every year. The report describes countries' various strategies to curb smoking, including protecting people from smoke, enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, and raising taxes on tobacco products. Those were included in a package of six strategies WHO unveiled last year, but less than 10 percent of the world's population is covered by any single measure.”

As an Chicago attorney who specializes in personal injury cases, and who has seen many tobacco related cases, I fully support the WHO in their mission to tackle tobacco problems world-wide. As Doublas Bettcher, director of WHO’s Tobacco-Free Initiative, said, "People need more than to be told that tobacco is bad for human health…they need their governments to implement the WHO Framework Convention."

Check out Mark Stephan's inspiring story as told by Mike Leonard on the Today Show.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

At the program, up to 65 participants, ranging from 30 to 60 years of age, “spent up to two hours inside the sweatbox, a dome-like structure covered with tarps and blankets, the sheriff's office said. Hot rocks and water are used to create steam in the enclosed environment… Fire and rescue officials received an emergency call from the resort and transported the injured by air and land ambulances to nearby medical facilities, the sheriff's office said. Two people were pronounced dead shortly after arrival at a local medical center.”

As a Chicago personal injury attorney, I am concerned about the incidents leading to the three deaths and eighteen injuries. One should consult with their doctor before engaging in any sort of activity or exercise at extraordinarily hot and humid conditions.

Research has shown that “runoff after rain storms can wash the chemical into streams and rivers, where it can enter drinking water supplies.” As a products liability attorney in Chicago, I am concerned about the potential reproductive risks associated with consumption of even very low levels of Atrazine and am hopeful that the EPA will act swiftly to minimize any potential health hazards.

The CPSC has been actively imposing sanctions this year as the Target settlement brings the number of civil penalties to 39 and the dollar value of fines imposed to just under ten billion dollars, a record for both penalties and fines. As a Chicago attorney who has seen too many lives torn apart by similar negligence, I am encouraged that the CPSC has imposed many sanctions this year on deserving companies. Although target denies knowingly breaking the law, importing toys with high levels of lead based paint is inexcusable.