Posted on January 03, 2016 in Auto Accidents

Winter is officially upon us, and that means the weather is a bit dreary. It also means Chicagoans are at great risk of finding themselves stranded in the middle of a winter storm because of vehicle problems, poor road conditions, or automobile accidents. Prepare yourself and your loved ones this season with these winter car maintenance tips.

Perform Winter Maintenance on Your Car

While they do not account for every stranding or accident, vehicle maintenance issues can and do greatly increase the risk of both. As such, it is important that you take the time to perform some simple but extremely important to ensure your vehicle is in good working order. Do so by either hiring a mechanic to check the following, or do it yourself:

• Check your antifreeze levels, and have the system flushed or refilled, if necessary,

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 Posted on January 01, 2016 in Medical Malpractice

Before giving birth, parents have an expectation, a vision of what life will be like. They may not be aware of it, and it may not be fully defined, but it still exists. When a birth injury happens, those expectations—the dream—is shattered, and the very definition of parenthood and what it will look like must be altered. Who is responsible for the grief? The changes? The loss?

Most couples would look to the doctors, nurses, and hospital that treated them. They are, after all, the ones that made the decisions that led up to the injury. But one couple is looking further up, all the way to the United States government, which has been recently named in their birth injury lawsuit. 

Pregnancy and Birth

According to court documents, the mother had been diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. The staff at the center she was being treated at had allegedly determined that her diabetes was being poorly controlled, which increased her risk for having an overly large baby. It also increased her risk for a number of birth-related complications, including shoulder dystocia.

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 Posted on December 02, 2015 in Medical Malpractice

While television is notorious for exaggerating reality, there is one thing the medical sitcoms have correct: medical interns work ridiculously long hours. Two unpublished studies that aim to examine how those long hours might affect work quality and safety have recently come under criticism. The concern is patient safety—as it should be—but the studies have been permitted to move forward. And that has a lot of medical professionals worried that medical errors relating to sleep deprivation will increase.

Doctors That Never Sleep

In one study, Northwestern University has allegedly assigned hundreds of first-year residents to work shifts of up to 28 consecutive hours. They will be working in hospitals across the country. The Institute of Medicine suggests they work no longer than 16 consecutive hours. However, current rules do allow most residents to work 28-hour shifts routinely. Some residents have reported working 30, with only short naps to tide them over until their shift ends. 

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