Posted on November 22, 2022 in Personal Injury Attorney

Getting the news that you will be losing a limb can be devastating, especially after a car accident that is not your fault. Yet traffic accidents are the second leading cause of amputations. Sometimes you may not even have time to digest the horrible news because it happens in a violent car crash. Other times, a doctor may say they need to amputate to save your life. Amputation injuries can have a profound impact on your life and for that reason are considered catastrophic injuries.

Common Amputation Injuries

Trauma caused by car crashes, sports injuries, and workplace accidents accounts for 45 percent of all of the limbs lost each year. While a severed finger, for example, can sometimes be reattached by medical professionals, these procedures are not always successful. If a limb develops an infection or is too damaged it will need to be removed. A physician may also determine that an arm or a leg crushed in a car accident may need to be amputated to save a life. There is a wide range of amputation injuries you can sustain in a vehicle, motorcycle, truck, bicycle, and pedestrian accidents. These are the most commonly reported types of amputations:

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 Posted on November 15, 2022 in Car Accident

Every day people are injured in vehicle accidents. Many are fortunate enough to walk away with minor bumps and bruises but serious injuries can lead to lifelong health issues. Fibromyalgia happens to be a chronic musculoskeletal disorder that can be triggered by the physical and emotional trauma that comes from a car accident. The impact can also aggravate or worsen this severe condition.

Understanding Fibromyalgia

If you have fibromyalgia, you will experience pain throughout your body. That is because this condition affects the way the brain processes pain signals, prompting pain sensations to multiply. Fibromyalgia can not only be physically debilitating but it affects your capability to work and handle tasks that require memory function. The inability to do what you were once able to do very easily can lead to depression, frustration, and anxiety.

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 Posted on November 07, 2022 in Personal Injury

Nearly 300,000 people have a spinal injury in the United States and most people sustain spinal cord injuries through no fault of their own. For the last seven years, vehicle crashes have led to about 39 percent of all spinal cord injuries. After a spinal cord injury, things you may take for granted, such as driving or cooking, become more difficult and, in severe cases, impossible. 

Spinal Cord Injuries

Whenever there is a stressful situation, we have a fight or flight response. At the time of a violent crash, back injuries are not always obvious right away. If the symptoms are delayed, you may not even link the pain to the car accident. But spinal cord injuries could cause problems if left untreated, including the following:

• Paralysis – Numbness, and paralysis occur when there is swelling and bleeding in or around your spinal cord

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 Posted on October 27, 2022 in Medical Malpractice

When you first learned that your child had cerebral palsy all you wanted to do is care for your baby day and night. But the required level of care day in and day out can be challenging and expensive. Medical negligence can lead to a lifetime of problems for both the child and the family.

Medical costs for children with cerebral palsy are 10 times higher compared to children without this disorder or other intellectual disabilities. If the realization of long-term financial expenses is setting in and you are considering filing a medical malpractice lawsuit you have to act quickly.

Statute of Limitations for Cerebral Palsy

Damage to the brain during childbirth or shortly afterward can result in cerebral palsy. It has a major impact on the child’s ability to move. So you must file a medical malpractice claim promptly.

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 Posted on October 24, 2022 in Medical Malpractice

When you are faced with a life-and-death situation, you trust that the hospital you are rushing your loved one to will be up to the task and do everything in its power to save a life. But inadequate training, equipment failures, and slips of a scalpel are just a few of the reasons why the United States ranks third in the nation for hospital mistakes. The last thing you want are missteps leading to subpar medical care that trigger health complications or worse, death. At Newland & Newland, LLP we are dedicated to helping people receive the compensation they deserve for medical malpractice.

Possible Advantages of Suing a Hospital

The picture is just as gloomy statewide when it comes to hospital errors. Negligence occurs when healthcare professionals fail to uphold their duty of care, and the patient suffers an injury or harm. In Illinois, a hospital can be held responsible for injuries that are caused to a patient as a result of negligence by a hospital employee, even if the doctor is an independent contractor. This includes physicians, nurses, and radiologists, among others.

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 Posted on October 05, 2022 in Pedestrian Accidents

Walking down the street instantly gives you less physical protection compared to traveling by car. As a pedestrian, you are one of the most vulnerable users of the road. October happens to be Pedestrian Safety Awareness Month. So whether you are out trick-or-treating or rushing to catch a bus to work in Arlington Heights, if you have sustained a personal injury, you have rights.

Legal Protections for Pedestrians

The number of people struck and killed while walking reached a historic high in 2020. Nationwide, an average of 18 pedestrians were killed every day. In Illinois, pedestrian deaths jumped nearly 14 percent in the first year of the pandemic, with more than 800 fatalities recorded between 2016 and 2020 according to a new report.

Drivers need to learn to share the roads with pedestrians and increase their awareness of people on the streets. There are situations in which a pedestrian has the right of way, meaning that if a car were to strike you, the driver of the vehicle would be at fault for the collision. If you are hit by a car, these are some legal protections in your favor:

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 Posted on September 28, 2022 in Medical Malpractice

Headlines about surgical tools being left in a patient’s body or babies born with birth defects due to a hospital’s negligence are attention-grabbing. However, a quieter and perhaps more deadly type of malpractice is most common: missed diagnosis. If you are not diagnosed with a particular condition—even after seeking medical attention—you cannot get the treatment that your condition requires. In many cases, such a mistake by your doctor can have serious and permanent consequences.

Missed and Delayed Diagnoses

According to a recent study examining “medical malpractice claims against primary care doctors in the United States, Australia, France, and Canada,” the top reason for suing doctors is failure to diagnose a dangerous medical condition. The study determined that between 26 and 63 percent of all claims against doctors were related to missed diagnoses.

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 Posted on September 21, 2022 in Car Accident

Getting into a car accident can be one of the most devastating events in a person’s life. A severe car accident that results in serious injuries has an obvious physical impact on a person’s life, but according to WebMD, it can have long-lasting psychological effects as well. It is not only very severe accidents that can result in trauma, either. Long-term anxiety, fears, and phobias about riding in a motor vehicle can result after any accident in which a passenger experienced sudden and severe fear.

Mental Injuries Are Injuries Too

There have been a number of recent studies suggesting that at least 30 percent of all people involved in non-fatal accidents have some sort of mental health condition up to one year after the accident occurred. These conditions include post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD), persistent anxiety, depression, or phobias up to one year after the accident occurs. Such psychological conditions can be not only detrimental to your health, but also to your relationships, your professional life, and your long-term mobility as well.

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 Posted on September 12, 2022 in Car Accident

 Everyone knows that the right thing to do in the event of a car accident is to stop and share contact information with the other drivers involved. Not only is this the ethical thing to do, but it is also required by law. When a motorist is involved in a collision, he or she must stop his or her vehicle. Failure to stop is considered a “hit-and-run,” and leaving the scene of an accident is a crime in the state of Illinois under most circumstances.

If you were involved in a hit-and-run, you might have suffered severe injuries that incurred significant medical costs in addition to your property damage. You may also be unable to work due to your injuries. You may wonder whether or not you can pursue compensation for these losses through a personal injury lawsuit. Successfully obtaining compensation for a hit-and-run accident can be a challenging process, but it is possible.

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 Posted on August 29, 2022 in Car Accident

The summer travel season runs from Memorial Day in late May to Labor Day in early September. Unfortunately, with summer travel comes dangers on the country’s streets and highways. In fact, the season has been dubbed the “100 Deadliest Days” by the American Automobile Association (AAA) because roadway fatalities tend to increase during the summer. The danger is especially great for teen drivers, with AAA reporting that teen drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident compared to their adult counterparts.

Any car accident has the potential to be serious and cause injury to yourself or others. An accident with a teenage driver, however, can be particularly dangerous due to a few behaviors that might have led to your crash.

Distracted Driving

One of the most common reasons for car accidents, in general, is distracted driving. The AAA estimates that distractions play a role in around 60 percent of all car crashes, which is much higher than previously thought. There are many different things that could distract a person while they are driving, both inside and outside of the vehicle. Things such as changing the radio, adjusting the temperature controls, directing attention toward another passenger, putting on makeup, eating or drinking, and using your cell phone can all pose as distractions while driving.

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