The jury awarded $28,215,278.00 to Anna Rahm for pain and suffering, for future loss of earnings and for future medical expenses after a four-week trial. The jury found Kaiser Permanente liable for improper medical treatment that resulted in Rahm losing parts of her spine, half of her pelvis and her right leg.

According to the lawsuit, in 2008, at the age of 16, Rahm began experiencing pain in her lower back, which later radiated to her right leg. She pursued chiropractic treatment, which was unsuccessful, and then sought an MRI at Kaiser Permanente. Rahm claimed that, accompanied by her mother, she saw a primary care physician and a physical medicine specialist at Kaiser Permanente and requested an MRI.

She alleged in the lawsuit that the doctors refused to order an MRI and refused to document the request. The doctors claimed at trial that no MRI was ever requested.

An MRI was eventually performed on July 2, 2009, and it revealed an osteosarcoma (an aggressive tumor) in Rahm’s pelvis. She required surgery that resulted in the loss of her leg and of portions of her pelvis and spine. Rahm’s lawsuit argued that the hospital’s refusal to perform an MRI resulted in a four-month delay in diagnosing the tumor, which in turn caused the loss of her leg.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

It is a basic principle of our legal system that negligent parties should not be able to evade responsibility for the damages they cause. Yet the lack of a legal requirement for medical malpractice insurance means that individual doctors and even some hospitals can choose to “go bare,” or purposely choose to forgo carrying insurance. These practitioners may form a corporation and then file for bankruptcy – or threaten to file – if they are sued, leaving injured patients with no recourse.

The vast majority of medical professionals in Illinois do carry insurance. Most hospitals and many managed care plans require it. However, the lack of a state legal requirement means that some patients will not be able to obtain compensation if a medial error causes them injury.

The state of Illinois does not keep records of how many doctors are uninsured. In Florida, another state that does not require such insurance, about 5 percent of doctors choose to go bare. However, Florida requires doctors without insurance to obtain an irrevocable line of credit to cover malpractice claims and to post a notice in their offices informing patients that they do not have insurance. Illinois has no such requirements. Doctors and hospitals may claim that they are self-insured, meaning that they have sufficient resources to cover malpractice claims, but when a lawsuit is filed, they may still threaten bankruptcy.

Doctors cite the high cost of medical malpractice premiums as the reason they forgo insurance. Premiums are indeed high, and at least part of the blame lies with the insurance companies. Insurers often claim that they are forced to raise premiums because of high payouts in medical malpractice lawsuits, but in fact, they have raised rates out of proportion to payouts – and even increased premiums when paid claims are declining.

If insurance companies are fleecing doctors, state regulation of insurers can resolve the conflict. However, this injustice, however real, should not be used as an excuse to allow medical professionals to evade their responsibilities. Illinois should join other states in requiring all doctors and hospitals practicing in the state to carry medical malpractice insurance.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The mother filed the lawsuit on December 20, 2012 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, acting as her son’s guardian. The plaintiff seeks damages for her son’s injuries.

The child was born by Caesarean section on December 25, 2004. According to the complaint, the C-section surgery resulted in a 1.5 centimeter facial laceration on the child’s left temple, which required several stitches. The lawsuit alleges that the attending physicians failed to exercise the proper level of care in performance of their responsibilities and caused significant harm to the infant.

Medical errors such as those alleged in this lawsuit are preventable. Most hospitals have safety protocols to prevent injury to the infant during a C-section. Medical errors during C-sections can result in conditions that can have lasting and tragic results for the affected child, such as cerebral palsy, brain damage and hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.. Medical costs can be significant.

Patients who have been injured during treatment, or whose children have been injured by medical malpractice, should seek the advice of an attorney.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer and Chicago medical malpractice attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

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The Milwaukee County, Wisconsin jury found that the doctor that treated Daniel Nelson was negligent in providing medical care. The hospital and other medical personnel were not found negligent.

Nelson was awarded medical and health care expenses of $994,716 and $1 million in damages for pain and suffering. Nelson’s wife was awarded $50,000 for loss of consortium and his son was awarded $65,000 for lack of companionship and society. At the time of the accident, Nelson’s son was just over a year old.

The doctor’s attorney said that her client had exercised the proper standard of care and strongly disagreed with the verdict.

According to Nelson’s attorney, Nelson and his wife were involved in a motorcycle accident in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in September of 2000, and both were severely injured. Nelson was at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee for 13 months. During rehabilitation, Nelson’s tracheotomy tube became obstructed. The lawsuit alleged that the doctor did not call for an emergency team in a timely manner. As a result, Nelson was in a persistent vegetative state for seven weeks and has problems with speech and memory.

Prior to the accident, Nelson owned an Illinois restaurant for 20 years.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago medical malpractice lawyer and Chicago medical malpractice attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

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Google’s driverless car technology uses sensors and cameras to detect the physical form of the road, read signs and watch for vehicles and pedestrians.  The car uses the data to adjust speed and steering and apply the brakes.

Sebastian Thrun, Google’s lead developer of its driverless car technology, has made the claim that the system will one day be able to reduce traffic accidents by 90 percent.  In 2009, there were approximately 5.5 million car accidents in the United States, with 9.5 million vehicles involved.  There were 33,808 traffic deaths and 2.2 million people were injured, with 240,000 requiring hospitalization.

The financial cost of traffic accidents is enormous as well.  The American Automobile Association (AAA) studied data from automobile crashes in the 99 largest urban areas in the country and arrived at a cost estimate of $299.5 billion.  Extrapolating from AAA’s figures, it is estimated that the nationwide cost is about $450 billion. This includes damage to property, productivity loss, medical costs, and lowered quality of life.

Google’s bold claim is that its technology can save nearly 30,000 lives per year in the United States, prevent almost 2 million injuries and reduce costs from traffic accidents by $400 billion per year.  The claim may seem extravagant, but it is based in the simple reality that nearly all traffic accidents are caused by human error.  Machines do fail, but not nearly as often as humans do.

On a global scale, the potential impact on traffic safety would be even greater.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are approximately 1.2 million traffic deaths in the world each year, and nearly 50 million injuries.  The problem is expected to get worse.  By 2030, the WHO estimates that traffic accidents will be the fifth leading cause of death in the world, or 3.6 percent of total deaths.  This would be a startling increase from 2004, when auto collisions were the ninth leading cause of deaths in the world, at 2.2 percent of the total.

The driverless car concept has implications beyond safety as well.  Google claims that its technology can also reduce wasted time during commutes by allowing cars to drive faster and closer together, relieving traffic jams.  According to one study, traffic jams waste 1.9 billion gallons of gas and 4.8 billion hours of drivers’ time each year.  In monetary terms, that amounts to $101 billion in gasoline costs and loss of productivity.

In addition, driverless cars could theoretically reduce the number of cars needed in a community, as sharing of vehicles would become more efficient.  After all, most people only use their vehicle at certain times during the day, leaving most cars unused about 95 percent of the time.  The technology could have a positive impact on reducing pollution, and developing countries may be able to reduce vehicle-intensive development if fewer cars are needed.

Robert Briskman is a Chicago car accident lawyer and Chicago car accident attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, there are more than 31 million injuries requiring the care of a doctor each year in the United States. Two million people require hospitalization from injuries annually, and 162,000 die as a result of their injuries. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, automobile accidents result in three million injuries and 40,000 deaths each year in the United States. Truck accidents cause an additional 60,000 injuries and 5,000 deaths per year. Construction accidents result in approximately 300,000 injuries and 1,000 deaths annually, and medical errors account for 98,000 deaths per year. Liability for these injuries is often determined through personal injury litigation.

In 2005, a total of 26,948 contract, tort and real property trials were conducted nationwide. Personal injury or tort trials made up almost 60 percent of the total, according to a study from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Justice. Given that only about four percent of personal injury cases go to trial, the number of lawsuits filed is quite significant.

The majority of personal injury trials involve automobile accidents. Medical malpractice trials account for 15 percent of the total, and 5 percent of trials involve products liability.

When personal injury cases go to trial, plaintiffs win about half the time, according to the study. Plaintiffs won 61 percent of the time in automobile accident cases and 50 percent of the time in intentional tort trials. Plaintiffs won 39 percent of premises liability cases, 38 percent of product liability trials and 19 percent of medical malpractice cases. In all tort trials, judges sided with plaintiffs 56 percent of the time, and juries found for the plaintiff in 51 percent of cases.

The median award for a plaintiff in a tort trial was $31,000, with automobile accident cases bringing in a median award of $16,000. Higher damage awards were associated with less frequently litigated cases, such as medical malpractice, with a median award of $679,000, products liability ($748,000), intentional torts ($100,000) and premises liability ($90,000).

The study also indicated that taking a personal injury lawsuit to trial is a lengthy process. The average length of tort lawsuits that went to trial was 23 months. Automobile accident cases took 20 months on average, with a 31-month average for medical malpractice cases.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago personal injury lawyer and Chicago personal injury attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

Those accidents have tragic consequences. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 3,331 fatalities in distraction-related motor vehicle accidents in 2011, an increase from 3,267 in 2010. Approximately 387,000 people suffered injuries in distraction-related crashes. Australian researchers found that motorists who use portable electronic devices have a four times greater risk of being in an accident that results in an injury. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that drivers who try to send text messages while driving run a 23 times greater risk of crashing.

Electronic gadgets are not the only culprit causing drivers to become distracted. Anything that takes the driver’s attention away from driving can cause an accident. This can include a wide variety of stimuli. Visual distractions may include attempting to read a map or look at a GPS device while behind the wheel, or reading billboards or street signs. Manual distractions occur whenever the driver attempts another activity in addition to driving, such as eating or drinking, shaving or putting on makeup. Cognitive distractions are things that take one’s mind off the task of driving, such as conversation with someone in the car or on the phone.

There are laws in the state of Illinois intended to reduce distracted driving. As of 2013, drivers of commercial vehicles may not use hand-held devices for making phone calls or sending text messages while driving, which is in line with federal regulations. All drivers are prohibited from sending text messages while driving, and drivers are prohibited from using their phones at all in construction zones or school zones. Drivers with graduated licenses are also prohibited from using cell phones.

In the City of Chicago, drivers using cell phones must use a hands-free device. Fines range from $100-$500. Other municipalities have passed legislation restricting the use of cell phones while driving, including Evanston, Deerfield, Winnetka and Highland Park. The village of Hinsdale has passed a general ordinance prohibiting any type of distracted driving, including reading or grooming.

Driving while distracted can cause accidents that result in serious injury. If you or someone you know has been injured in an automobile accident, contact an experienced car accident attorney right away.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago car accident lawyer and Chicago car accident attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The largest personal injury verdict of the year was for $900 million, which included $700 million in punitive damages. In Webb v. Trans Healthcare Inc., the plaintiff was a resident at a nursing home operated by the defendant. He claimed to have suffered numerous injuries, including multiple infections and large bedsores.

The complaint alleged that after Webb entered the facility following a stroke, he suffered paralysis and was in need of 24-hour care. Webb had pressure sores on his feet, legs and buttocks. He also had an unexplained weight loss and multiple infections. The complaint claimed that the defendant corporations were withdrawing money from the nursing homes they owned, resulting in substandard care.

Trans Health Management Inc. is no longer in business, and its parent corporation, Trans Healthcare Inc., is in receivership. The Maryland receivership stopped defending the case in 2010, after the plaintiff’s firm promised not to bring any further claims, according to the receivership’s attorney, Maria Chavez-Ruark. Circuit Judge Victor Hulslander did not grant Chavez-Ruark’s motion to delay the trial, and he barred her from the courtroom. She vowed to appeal if a new trial is not granted. With the company in receivership, Webb’s widow’s ability to collect on the judgment is uncertain. Webb died in 2010.

In the case of Garcia v. Best for Less Food Mart, a Tampa, Florida jury issued a verdict awarding $716.5 million to the family and estate of a 32-year-old man killed by a drunken driver in a car crash. The defendant owned a convenience store that sold beer to the teenage driver who caused the collision.

Samuel Garcia III was killed in front of an Apollo Beach, Florida restaurant when David Holdsworth, 17, crashed into him, traveling at 75 miles per hour. Holdsworth had purchased alcoholic drinks twice earlier in the day at the Best for Less Food Mart. He is currently serving a prison sentence for DUI manslaughter. The plaintiff’s ability to collect on the judgment is in question, as the store’s owner resides overseas.

Another nursing home resident was awarded $200 million, which included $140 million in punitive damages, after a jury found the defendant liable for her death after a fall in Nunziata v. Trans Health Management. The defendant is part of the same set of corporations that were defendants in the Webb case.

Elvira Nunziata was 92 years old when she suffered a fall down a stairwell in the nursing home where she lived. Nunziata had dementia and was strapped into a wheelchair. She entered the stairwell through a door likely left open by employees taking a cigarette break. By the time of the jury award, the company that operated the nursing home no longer existed. One company had inherited the company’s assets and another its liabilities. The defendant was not represented at trial and the ability to collect on the judgment is in question.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago wrongful death attorney and Chicago wrongful death lawyer with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.

The term “damages” simply refers to the loss the injury has caused you. Damages can include, among other things, financial harm in the form of lost wages and medical bills and intangible harm such as pain and suffering. A lawsuit determines what compensation you are owed because of the economic, physical or mental harm you have suffered.

In a personal injury lawsuit, the injured person is the plaintiff, who files suit against the person or company that is legally responsible for the injury (i.e., the defendant or an insurance company). During the discovery process, both sides learn what evidence may be presented to a judge or jury. The vast majority of cases are resolved by a negotiated settlement, but it is sometimes necessary to take a case to trial. In either case, the amount of the settlement or verdict depends on a number of factors.

The primary category of damages in a personal injury lawsuit is compensatory damages, which are intended to make the plaintiff whole by providing monetary compensation for an injury. Some damages, such as medical expenses or property damage, are fairly simple to calculate. But other damages, such as pain and suffering, are not as easy to determine. Compensatory damages can also include loss of income, emotional distress and loss of enjoyment. When the spouse of the injured person is a plaintiff, damages can include loss of consortium.

Monetary awards in a personal injury lawsuit can also include punitive damages, which are awarded when the defendant’s behavior is judged to be not merely negligent but particularly egregious or reckless. The purpose of punitive damages is to punish the defendant and deter such conduct by others.

Damages may be reduced based on the plaintiff’s conduct. The State of Illinois is a modified comparative negligence jurisdiction. Comparative negligence refers to situations when the plaintiff shares fault for an injury, for instance when two drivers each make errors that contribute to a collision. Under the law of modified comparative negligence, an injured party can only be compensated if he or she is less than 50 percent responsible for the injury, and the amount of damages that can be awarded are determined by the percentage that each party contributed to the injury.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago personal injury lawyer and Chicago personal injury attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com.

The states vary in the restrictions they place on drivers’ cell phone use, with some prohibiting any use of handheld devices while driving and others having no restrictions. In Illinois, cell phone use is prohibited in construction areas and school zones, and drivers under the age of 19 may not use their phones while on the road. Commercial drivers may not use handheld devices while driving. The City of Chicago and some other municipalities have banned the use of handheld devices while driving.

As governments have moved to restrict cell phone use, automakers have been introducing technology that connects electronic devices with the automobile, so that the car can alert the driver to incoming calls or read text messages aloud. Ford’s approach is based on the idea that some situations are particularly dangerous.

Ford’s biometric steering wheel measures the driver’s heart rate, using the same technology found in gym equipment. Infrared sensors measure the driver’s body temperature, and the seat belt contains a piezoelectric sensor to detect the driver’s rate of breathing.

The new technology also measures traffic flow around the vehicle, using tools already available on current vehicles. There is a front-facing camera that measures traffic density in the lanes ahead and a blind spot detection device that uses sonar.

Another set of sensors measures the controls of the automobile itself: speed, acceleration, braking activity and steering wheel position. Lateral acceleration and yaw rate (changing lanes and turning corners) are also measured.

The combination of sensors is used to determine whether a particular driving situation requires the motorist’s full attention. The technology can then temporarily disable access to the driver’s handheld device. The system will use an algorithm to determine whether the combination of traffic conditions and the driver’s stress level indicates that a distraction may be particularly dangerous at that moment.

The new technology builds on Ford’s existing MyKey system, developed for younger drivers. MyKey allows parents to program a vehicle to block text messages and phone calls while the car is in motion and limit the car’s top speed and top radio volume. In addition, if the front seat passengers don’t buckle their safety belts, the audio system is muted.

Paul Greenberg is a Chicago car accident lawyer and Chicago car accident attorney with Briskman Briskman & Greenberg. To learn more call 1.877.595.4878 or visit http://www.briskmanandbriskman.com/.