Chicagoland Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Car accidents caused by the distracted driver have been a sad and constant source of client advocacy for the Chicago Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe. In our thirty years of practice we have witnessed the rapid annual escalation of car accidents and injuries and fatalities due to cellphone use and other forms of distracted driving.

We would like to help end this trend and are advising our viewing public at WCIU, You and Me in the Morning and all are clients, friends and family that April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, a month dedicated to making the public aware of the dangers of distracted driving. Parents trying to educate themselves and their children as to the dangers of distracted driving can visit several webites dedicated to this issue. endDD.org is a non-profit organization founded by a father after his daughter was killed as a pedestrian by a distracted driver and, NODD.org whose goal is to raise the awareness of teen distracted driving. Each organization gives presentations to teens across the country.  Readers can visit 60forsafety.org to see request a presentation for your school or organization or to find where or when one is being given in your area.

The Chicago Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe would like to see an end to the tragic and unnecessary consequences of distracted driving and know that prevention starts with education. Please visit our blogsite at myaccidentlaw.com or watch John Grazian on WCIU, You and Me in the Morning for more information and tips on how you can help in this fight.

Now that outdoor weather is upon us, the Chicago and South Chicago Personal Injury Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe wish to re-visit the safety of bikers, motorized or pedal driven. We have advocated on the behalf of hundreds of victims of motor vehicle accidents for over 25 years. It is an obvious fact that motorcyclists and bicyclists suffer worse injuries. Perhaps the scariest and most consistent feature of these accidents are the brain injuries and memory loss suffered by the bike rider. Often, the cyclist suffers a loss of memory rendering them unable to recount the reasons and events of the accident.

As Chicago and South Chicago Accident Lawyers, we often have the unsavory task of reconstructing much of the accident through patterns of damage on the helmet, gear or the break and wound pathology of the victim. Hopefully, photos were taken of the motor vehicles and tire skid patterns. Often the driver of the motor vehicle involved in the accident has an advantage in recounting the details of the accident and not surprisingly-in the light most favorable to themselves meaning the very real possibility that a biker does not receive the settlement to which they may be entitled.

ENTER THE GPS! Recent litigation in the area of motorcycle and bicycle accidents have utilized the information provided by GPS systems employed by bikers to re-construct the true course of the accident. While the GPS systems may be utilized by all sides in a motor vehicle/bike accident, the use of these systems is certainly altering the way both car and bike accidents claims are settled. The Chicago Accident Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe know that the advocacy of claims require the collection and analysis of GPS data, whether from motor vehicle driver or the cyclist. This data is crucial in reconstructing the accident as well as jogging the cyclist's memory and facilitating their ability to piece together the details of the accident.  Data recorded may provide the speed, direction, stop pattern, road obstructions and time of impact. It can serve to corroborate, refute or clarify the driver's account of the accident.

It is an unfortunated fact that motorcyclists and bicyclists suffer the worst in any accident involving a motor vehicle. Obtaining maximum settlement for these victims is often hampered by the memory loss often suffered by them due to their greater propensity to head injury.

As experienced Chicago Accident Attorneys we now recommend that our cyclist clients consider traveling with a GPS system as another safety tool. While helmets, lights and proper safety practices may protect a client, a GPS may assure that they obtain maximum compensation for their injuries.

Please follow Grazian and Volpe the first Tuesday and Thursday of every month on WCIU, You and Me in the Morning where John Grazian discusses issues of public safety and advocacy in a series of engaging formats. These shows are broadcast on You Tube and on our website at myaccidentlaw.com

The Chicago and South Chicago Nursing Home Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe have advocated on behalf of the elderly for over 25 years. It is unfortunate that many illnesses and injuries to the elderly are unavoidable and the causes often ignored due to the advanced age of the patients. We are happy to report that the medical community is recognizing that certain neural conditions are not always inevitable and may be prevented and/or treated.

Hospital delirium may not be caused by medical neglect but if a nursing home or hospital ignores the warning signs at the onset of the condition, serious and permanent brain injury could occur. One of the most common, dangerous, costly and least understand complications of hospital stays for the elderly is known as "hospital delirium."  This type of delirium results in large part from the actions of medical workers, according to Dr. E. Wesley Ely, a professor of medicine and critical care at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "Even well-meaning doctors are doing damage withour knowing it," he said.

A host of medication can upset brain function and trigger delirium by interfering with the neurotransmitters that communicate between nerve cells. The long list includes sedatives, sleeping pills, narcotic painkillers and some allergy, blood pressure and incontinence drugs. Immobilizing and immobilized patients can exacerbate the risk.

Each year 20 percent of the 11.8 million nursing home in hospitals and nursing care develop delirium, including 60 percent to 85 precent of those in intensive care on ventilation and more than half of postoperative surgical patients. Even though this condition is common, hospital delirium is not being identified or treated effectively as possible. "This dysfunction is grossly under-recognized," according to Dr. Ely.

While the delirium may disappear by the time the patient leaves the hospital, debilitating brain injury may manifest in the form of severe cognitive problems, resulting in long-term memory and mental impairment.

Dr. Sharon K. Inouye, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Aging Brain Center at Hebrew SeniorLife in Boston states that, "Medical Schools are now training the new generation abour deliriums's dangers, buts..thousands of doctors in the older generation ..don't know how to recognize (derlirium) or know it (may) be preventable."

Delirium and dementia are two different conditions and families, caregivers and the medical profession often confuse the two. Delirium signals that something in the body is seriously wrong and needs attention...immediatley. Dementia is a chronic confusion and memory loss that comes on gradually and gets worse. Delirium is a confusion that comes on suddenly and is brought on by triggers such as infection, the stress of disease or an operation, not getting enoug food or water, sleep or the cocktail of medications given by the hospital or nursing home facility.

Your Chicago and South Chicago Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys at Grazian and Volpe want all our elderly clients, family and caregivers to look for any of these four signs:

-Acute change of mental status: Not making sense when he or she talks? Disoriented, illogical, or unable to focus. Trust your instincts and insist that the staff know and understand that this is not normal behavior

-Inattention: As you hold the patients' hand, ask him or her to squeeze every time you say the letter "A", as you spell out "save a heart." If they miss or squeeze the wrong letter, that is a sign of delirium.

-Altered lever of consciousness: You're looking for two possible extremes. In hyperactive delirium, patients are anxious, agitated, and aggressive. In hypoactive delirium, they will be sleepy and not making eye contact.

-Confusion and disorganized thinking: Can the patient track a conversation? Ask simple questions like, "does one pound weigh more than two pounds?", or "Will a stone sink or float in water."

Be insistent and persistent if you sense something is not right with your elderly loved one. This condition may be stopped and long term brain injury avoided.

It is always better to stay safe but if you can't stay safe-say with Grazian and Volpe, your Chicago and South Chicago Elder Advocates and Personal Injury Lawyers for over 25 years. Please follow us at myaccidentlaw.com/blog or on WCIU, You and Me in the Morning on the first Tuesday of every month where we try to answer questions and educate the public on how to avoid injury and advocate for their rights.

The Chicago and South Chicago Nursing Home Lawyers at Grazian and Volpe want families and loved ones to know that a recent ruling leaves no room for delay in filing complaints against nursing homes. There are few tragedies more compelling and heart wrenching then to have someone you love suffer abuse or neglect while in the care of a nursing home. The children and friends of these elder victims feel helpless and are often ignored or put off when bringing their concerns to the management or employees of the nursing home.

Due to a recent ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court it is now more important than ever that nursing home victims and their loved ones contact their Chicago Nursing Home Lawyer as soon as they become aware of any neglect or abuse. The Court  recently ruled that punitive damage claims for the neglect or abuse of a nursing home resident will not survive the death of the resident. We at Grazian and Volpe are very distressed by this ruling as it means that negligent nursing care facilities have less incentive to prevent and remedy the abuse and neglect as they will not be compelled to pay punitive damages should the elderly person not survive the cause of action.  It has been a general rule in Illinois that the right to seek punitive damages does not survive the death of the injured party because judicial logic held that the deceased victim could no longer be appeased by the award of compensation. However, as it regards the elderly victimized by neglect and abuse in a nursing home, it seemed only just that punitive damages should survive the victim as their death is more likely during the course of a lawsuit due to their advance age and infirmity AND the threat of punitive damages would carry a strong deterrent effect to nursing homes engaged in neglectful and abusive practices.

However, the recent verdict in Vincent vs Alden-Park Strathmore, Inc. No. 110406, 2011 WL 1077707 (Ill Sup Ct) has held that no punitive damages are allowed where the victim is deceased even though they were found to be the victim of nursing home neglect.  This means an elder victim, family or friends should not delay in contacting their South Chicago Injury Lawyer where they suspect abuse or injury in the nursing home. This not only prevents future personal injury or neglect but also serves to assure that the nursing home system is encouraged to stay safe and vigilant on behalf of all elder residents.

For further information or to have your questions answered please contact Grazian and Volpe or visit us on FaceBook or YouTube for more important information to safeguarding your rights. John Grazian is also appears on WCIU, You and Me in the Morning on the first Tuesday of every month. Please feel free to contact the station and ask any legal questions that you may have. Remember, knowledge is your best defense and there is never any charge for a consultation!