Recent Blog Posts
February 3, 2017 / Medical Malpractice
What are the Long-Term Effects of Erb’s Palsy?
Expectant parents fret endlessly over the birth of a child. They go to classes, read books and prepare their homes in hopes of ensuring that everything goes smoothly once their baby arrives. Birth injuries represent some of the deepest fears of parents-to-be, mostly because so many facets of the birthing process are beyond their control. It’s one of the many reasons that parents go to such great lengths to check a doctor’s references and pick the perfect obstetrician. Even with these precautions, birth injuries still happen. Somewhere between 1 and 2 percent of births involve some form of birth injury. One of the most common forms of birth injuries is called Erb’s palsy, and it is so often the result of an error on behalf of the he[...]
January 23, 2017 / Vehicle Accidents
The Youngest Victims: Kids and PTSD After a Car Accident
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a fairly common reaction to a car crash, especially if the crash was severe or involved serious injuries or deaths. Fears of dying, loss of loved ones, or long, painful recuperations can imprint our brains with stress reactions that are significantly outside the norm. With children, it can be even worse. They may be so young that they have no frame of reference for the trauma they have suffered. A crash that may be only mildly upsetting to an adult can be severely disturbing to a child. Worse than that, adults may not recognize PTSD in children. Sometimes it can take kids years to recover, according to a new study released in the UK. Researchers studied children aged 2 to 10 from 71 families[...]
January 20, 2017 / Personal Injury
The Ultimate Child-Safety Checklist for Your Home
Injuries are the leading cause of death among children. While many of these injuries occur in schools, playgrounds or motor vehicles, they can also happen in our own homes. Parents strive to make their homes as safe as possible for their children, yet not all dangers are as obvious as others. From burn injuries to accidental poisoning, there are several risks that parents should address on their home’s safety checklist. In case of a burn injury, consulting with an experienced Indianapolis burn injury lawyer is essential. Without further ado, here are a few of the biggest risks that you can address around your house. Suffocation and Choking Hazards Choking and suffocation-related injuries are a top cause of injuries among infants. [...]
January 3, 2017 / Product Injury
Baby, It’s Cold Outside—Stay Safe When Using Portable Heaters
Many of us dislike winter and the way it sometimes feels as if we can’t get warm enough. But how pleasant it can be to relax in front of our portable heaters! A lot of us also enjoy the money-saving aspects that allow us to feel warm and comfy without heating our entire home. But these pleasures don’t come without some risks attached. Home heating dangers arise largely from space heaters and open flames, such as fireplaces. While the fires, deaths, and injuries due to open-flame heating went down from 2005 to 2014, deaths, injuries, and dollar losses from heating systems rose nationwide: 47,600 fires 245 deaths 850 injuries $604,200,000 in losses. While these figures include all heating system losses, it is estimated tha[...]
November 14, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
Observing MADD’s Longstanding Tie One On For Safety Campaign
For nearly four decades, Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been working tirelessly on one single mission - to eliminate drunk driving on our roadways. It’s little wonder that the organization is so popular. Theirs is a cause that almost everyone can get behind, especially since so many of us have some connection to a victim of drunk driving. MADD is a vigilant advocate, and they have done an incredible amount of work to raise public awareness about the dangers of impaired driving on our roads. MADD tells us about new technologies that might help in the fight against drunk driving, like they did with ignition interlocks, and they remind us of times when we should be especially cautious. The holiday season and its connection to drunk [...]
October 26, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
Ramping Up on Accidents
Some of the most hectic interstate roads in the U.S. run through the Louisville area. We have I-71, I-64, I-65, I-264, and I-265, not to mention busy non-interstates like the Dixie Highway. That many roads filled with traffic mean large numbers of exit and entrance ramps and, with them, a greatly-increased possibility of accidents. Entrance and exit ramps have many more crashes per mile than any other section of interstate highways. Research done in Northern Virginia on 1,150 crashes that took place on highly-traveled interstate ramps in urban areas identified the most likely crash types and situations. Exit and entrance ramp crashes are not studied very often, so the research that we do have is valuable. What Kinds of Crashes Happened [...]
October 26, 2016 / Personal Injury
Play Pokemon Go, But Do So Safely
The augmented reality game, Pokemon Go, blends the real world with the virtual world. It quickly became the No. 1 app in the Apple store after the game’s release during July of 2016. Most of us don’t understand how the heck the software makers have managed to create the real world-virtual world mélange, but is sure is fun. Unfortunately, Pokemon Go, despite being a good thing because it gets people out and about instead of sitting in front of screens, carries some hazards. Don’t Get Physical (Injuries) If you’re actively pursuing Pokemon, remember to watch where you’re going. Numerous reports of cuts, bruises, ankle sprains, and even broken bones have occurred. People chasing Pokemon have been walking into objects, tripping ove[...]
September 23, 2016 / Personal Injury
Do We Have a “Flint Situation” Here in Indiana?
A shocking story out of East Chicago, Indiana: The West Calumet Housing Complex, a largely low-income residential property, was built on a former lead smelting company’s site. Over 1,000 residents are now forced to leave because of the perilously high levels of lead in the soil. For decades children have been playing in the toxic dirt. Then in July, 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) notified residents about the problem. The EPA had discovered that the lead levels in soil samples were generally three times higher than the federal safety standards. In some areas of the complex, the levels were even greater. The complex was built in 1972. In 2009, the EPA designated 74 acres of the Calumet neighborhood a Superfund cleanup[...]
August 26, 2016 / Vehicle Accidents
Back-to-School Risks That May Surprise You
It’s that time of year! Summer’s last gasp is upon us when our children to return to school. While it can be a period filled with mixed emotions, from nostalgia to elation, one thing hasn’t changed: the chance of your child becoming a pedestrian injury statistic. Changing Demographics Pedestrian injuries are the fifth most common reason for injury-related death among children from 5 to 19. But here’s a hard truth that may surprise you: teenagers are the age group with the greatest risk. They have a death rate twice as high as that for younger kids. About half of child pedestrian deaths happen to teens, and those who sustain injuries are likely to have serious ones. It didn’t used to be this way. Just a little over twenty year[...]
August 10, 2016 / Medical Malpractice
How Can Medical Malpractice Lead to My Going Bankrupt?
You might be scratching your head over this one. The doctor makes the mistake, and yet it is the patient who goes bankrupt from the medical bills for negligent care. How can that be possible? Unfortunately, it is possible, and it could happen to you. The Frequency of Medical Malpractice Medical professionals are only human, no matter how skilled and competent they are or how many years they have been practicing. The fact is, no one is perfect. However, an unavoidable outcome due to factors beyond the control of the medical professional is not the same as medical malpractice, which is caused by some form of negligence. A 1999 report revealed that, every year, between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital patients die there because of preventabl[...]