The United States has taken actions toward making workplaces as safe as possible for employees, but there are unavoidable accidents that still occur. Sometimes, accidents result in serious injuries that affect a person’s ability to work or to continue doing the job they were doing prior to the injury. In these cases, the employee is usually eligible for some sort of workers’ compensation benefit which can help supplement the loss of wages that they might experience. If a person loses a part of their body or loses the function of that part of the body, they usually qualify for permanent partial disability (PPD) benefits.
Commission on Workers’ Compensation
The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission is the state agency that all workers’ compensation claims go through. The Commission helps employees and employers settle cases that involve a workplace injury or illness by acting as an impartial administrative court system. The Commission awards four types of PPD benefits:
Car accidents can come in many different shapes and forms, ranging from mild to serious in severity. When you are involved in a truck accident, it is often a critical situation, because trucks are so much bigger than the average car. Collisions involving tractor-trailer trucks can result in serious injuries to both the driver of the truck and to the drivers and passengers of other vehicles. Several departments and administrations monitor truck accidents and try to decrease the number of accidents that occur each year. The causes of these accidents are recorded and are used as tools to reduce the number of accidents.
Causes of Truck Accidents
Truck accidents are caused by many of the same things normal vehicle accidents are caused by--driver impairment, carelessness, and speeding. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) assigns codes to truck accident causes using three variables:
When an elderly family member requires around-the-clock care, families may opt to put their loved ones in nursing homes so they can get the help that they need or might not get while living at home. Sadly, it has been estimated that anywhere from one to two million Americans over the age of 65 have been abused or mistreated by their caregivers. Elders are among the people who are least likely to report abuse, due to physical or mental limitations or fear of retaliation from their caregivers. Noticing signs of elder abuse or neglect can help save the life of your loved one.
Types of Nursing Home Abuse
There is more than one way an elderly person can be abused in a nursing home. People may think that physical abuse is the only form, but the elderly can and do suffer emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation.
When you think of dangerous workplaces, a construction site is probably one of the first things that comes to mind. By nature, construction is a hazardous profession. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported that in 2016, one in five worker deaths were in the construction industry.
Construction’s “Fatal Four”
OSHA has defined four of the leading causes of worker deaths in the construction industry as the “fatal four.” These causes are:
These fatal four were responsible for more than half of construction-related worker deaths in 2016.
When you get into a car accident, figuring out what to do next can be confusing. If you have been injured in a collision, you can file a personal injury claim to recover expenses related to medical bills, lost wages, and other damages. In order to file a claim, you must prove negligence, which consists of four elements: duty of care, breach of duty of care, causation, and damages.
1. Duty of Care
The first element you must prove in a car accident personal injury claim is the duty of care that the other driver had on the road. The duty of care is the agreement that every driver makes to operate their vehicle in a safe manner by obeying all traffic laws and other precautions used to protect drivers. Examples of duty of care include:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a warning on May 23 that over-the-counter teething products containing benzocaine can cause harmful and potentially deadly side effects when used on children, especially those under two years of age. Benzocaine can be found in products such as Baby Orajel, which is commonly used on infants to soothe the pain of teething. If your child has been injured after using one of these types of products, it is important to understand your options for pursuing compensation through a product liability lawsuit.
Benzocaine Can Be Deadly to Children
The statement that the FDA published said that the use of benzocaine in products used on infants poses a serious risk to their health. Benzocaine can cause methemoglobinemia, a condition that causes dangerously low oxygen levels in the bloodstream. Symptoms of methemoglobinemia usually appear anywhere between 20 and 60 minutes after being given benzocaine and can include:
One of the most important people in this world that you should be able to trust is your doctor--they often hold your life and well-being in their hands. Though doctors are held to a high standard, they are people too, and they can make mistakes, but they must be held accountable for any malpractice they commit.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, hospital, or healthcare provider causes injury to a patient through negligence or breaching the “standard of care.” To legally be considered medical malpractice, a case must consist of three elements:
Work-related injuries can be preventable with proper precautions and safety measures, but unfortunately, they are not uncommon--accidents do happen. In the state of Illinois, an estimated 137,500 non-fatal workplace injuries were recorded in 2016 for all industries. Certain industries tend to be more dangerous than others, but understanding which industries carry the most dangers can help you take precautions.
1. Educational and Health Services
Though it may surprise some people, the educational and health services industry has the largest number of workplace injuries in Illinois. An estimated 24,300 injuries were reported in the industry in 2016. This industry includes educational institutions like schools, universities, educational support services, hospitals, and nursing facilities. Most of the injuries reported in this industry were falls, trips, and overexertion.
Having a child is one of the most rewarding moments in the lives of many men and women. Bringing a baby into this world is supposed to be a joyous and happy time, yet out of every 1,000 infants born in the United States, six to eight of them are born with a birth injury. In our ever-innovating society, we have the tools and resources to deliver babies safely and successfully. However, due to reasons such as negligence, time restraints, or lack of communication, preventable birth injuries still occur in the United States.
Birth injuries can manifest themselves with a variety of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe, with many of them leaving lasting effects on your infant’s health. According to a new study, brachial plexus birth injury may affect your child’s mental health later in life.
Spring and summer bring long-awaited warmer temperatures in Illinois, and many motorcyclists will be taking advantage of the pleasant weather and spending more time on the road. While motorcycles provide a great sense of freedom, cyclists should be aware of the dangers that come with sharing the road with larger vehicles.
Without the safety features provided to the drivers and passengers of cars and trucks, motorcyclists are much more likely to be injured in auto accidents. In fact, even though only three percent of registered vehicles in the United States are motorcycles, motorcyclists account for 14% of all car accident fatalities, and motorcyclist fatalities occur 27 times more frequently than fatalities of drivers or passengers in other vehicles. In order to avoid being seriously injured or killed in a motorcycle accident, cyclists should be sure to take the proper safety precautions.