At Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, we know that reducing the risk of bicycle accidents and personal injuries is always an important issue not just during National Bike Safety Month but throughout the summer months. Earlier this month, Mayor Rahm Emanuel called for Chicago to expand the length of its bike lanes and paths from 170 miles to more than 600 miles by 2020. The expansion will likely help alleviate congested roadways that can lead to more dangerous travel for drivers and bicyclists alike.

Tips for Drivers to Protect Bike Riders

Bike riders can wear helmets, make eye contact with drivers and use hand signals in order to reduce the risk of becoming involved in an accident. Unfortunately, the efforts of bicycle riders can only go so far in avoiding crashes. There are more drivers of motor vehicles who are responsible for causing collisions. This means that unless the drivers of cars are aware of bicycle riders, know the risks of bicycle accidents and know how to share the road safely with riders, many preventable bicycle accidents are going to occur. Over the summer months when more people are out riding, the number of bicycle accidents will also increase unless drivers take steps to improve safety.

Drivers can do a lot to try to make the roads safe for riders and many of the steps that drivers can take to improve conditions for bicyclists are very simple:

1.      Understanding that bikes need to be treated the same as any other vehicle on the road. Bicycles have both the same rights and the same responsibilities.

2.      Avoiding crowding bicycle riders. When there are bike lanes, drivers should be sure to respect the lanes and leave bike riders their space. If there are no bike lanes, riders should be aware of bicycle riders sharing the road and should avoid getting too close.

3.      Yielding the right-of-way to bicycle riders when traffic signals or road safety rules require them to do so. Again, bikes are treated like cars so if you’d give a car the right-of-way, you need to do the same for a bicyclist.

4.      Watching out for “dooring,” which occurs when a driver opens a door up right into the path of an oncoming bicycle. This, obviously, should be avoided so a collision doesn’t occur.

5.      Paying attention while driving. If drivers simply pay attention, avoid distractions, don’t drive drunk and don’t drive when falling asleep, this will make things a lot safer for bicycle riders.

Drivers, in other words, need to use reasonable caution behind the wheel and need to be aware that bicycle riders have just as much right to be on the roads. This will make Illinois a much more bike friendly state.

When one accident happens, there is always the risk for another to occur soon after. This is especially true when the initial accident happens in the midst of heavy traffic. When there are back-ups and delays, other accidents and even simple fender-benders are quite common.

A single-vehicle accident rocked several families this past week, as five college students from Indiana University traveling in an SUV crashed on their way home to Chicago for the summer.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the accident happened when the SUV blew a tire while traveling down I-65. It veered to the right and then the left before rolling three times and coming to rest upright.

One victim, seated in the backseat, wasn’t wearing a seat belt. He was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Another student, who was also not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle, was airlifted to Advocate Christ Hospital and is said to be in fair condition.

Two others were injured in the accident, and only the front seat passenger escaped with no injuries.

Traffic on I-65 was backed up following the initial accident. A 1997 Mercury Sable went out of control and hit a 1999 Explorer, causing the SUV to roll over. The driver of the SUV suffered only abrasions, but her mother, who was riding in the front seat, was killed.In the aftermath and cleanup of this fatal accident, another accident occurred.

Neither alcohol nor drugs are suspected in either crash. Northbound lanes were closed for hours following the two accidents.

When an accident occurs, traffic slows or even stops. When this happens on a highway or interstate, drivers must pay close attention to see and react to the taillights ahead. One distracted driver could put others at risk of another accident.

When you are involved in an accident that isn’t your fault, no matter how safe of a driver you are, you could suffer serious consequences for the other person’s careless or negligent driving. When this happens, you need someone on your side advocating on your behalf.

Chicago Auto Accident Attorneys

The Chicago auto accident lawyers of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. may be able to help. Contact our offices today to discuss your case and your legal options. Call 888-617-8554.

The weather is warming up, and more people find themselves outside in the early evening hours, socializing, grilling, or just relaxing. Rarely do these people consider themselves at risk of being hit by a car. For most, the thought never crosses their minds. But, that’s exactly what happened in an Austin neighborhood recently, when six people were injured.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the accident occurred around 4:30 p.m.

At least six ambulances responded to the accident in which a vehicle crashed into the front stoop of a home. It occurred in the 1500 block of North Central Avenue and involved two vehicles.

Though it isn’t clear what caused the vehicle to leave the roadway, the Tribune reports that a vehicle, likely headed north on Central, drove through a front yard, hitting the front stoop and knocking bricks loose before crashing into a fence on the property. Four adults and two children were injured in the accident.

Accidents like this are frightening for a number of reasons, but mainly because they are so unexpected. You never expect to be involved in a car accident when you aren’t in a car. And even if pedestrian accidents are possible, you certainly don’t expect them when you are sitting on your front porch.

A pedestrian accident, whether you are crossing a crosswalk or sitting on your neighbor’s porch, can dramatically change your life in an instant. In most pedestrian accident cases, the driver who hit you is to blame. Sometimes, however, multiple vehicles are involved, and who is responsible can only be determined after an investigation.This shows you that no matter how safe you think you are another person’s recklessness can turn you into a victim. Fortunately, when this is the case, you can hold that person responsible for the injury just like you would if they had rear-ended you or t-boned your car after running a red light.

Chicago Pedestrian Accident Lawyers

If you’ve been involved in a pedestrian accident, contact the Chicago accident attorneys of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. today to discuss how we might be able to help. Call 888-617-8554 today.

By Elizabeth Olszewski 

State lawmakers across the country are passing legislation making it more and more difficult to bring all types of medical malpractice claims.  Most recently, the Wisconsin legislature considered a bill giving physicians more protection under the law. 

Wisconsin courts previously created case law laying out the standard of care required with informed consent cases, specifically using the reasonable patient standard.  The reasonable patient standard is plaintiff-friendly.  It asks what would the reasonable person in the patient’s position like to know in order to make an informed decision.  It is that level of information that the physician is required to provide to the patient in order for the patient to give informed consent under the law.  However, the bill being considered changes the standard to the reasonable physician – the standard which Illinois presently recognizes.  See Doe v. Planned Parenthood, 956 N.E.2d 564, 568 (Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. 2011). 

In the reasonable physician standard, the physician is required to provide “only information that a reasonable physician in the same or similar medical specialty would know and disclose under the circumstances.” Wisconsin Bill AB 139.  This standard is much more physician or defendant friendly, as it measures the actions of physicians against other physicians, as opposed to what the plaintiff would expect.

Changes in the law could impact your medical malpractice claim.  You should be sure to hire attorneys who know and understand the law and are current on the legal developments.  The attorneys of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. do just that. 

Hospitals around the world make crucial mistakes in patient care. This isn’t unique to the “bad” hospitals or hospitals in poor countries. Some of the best hospitals in the United States have made errors like operating on the wrong body part, leaving instruments behind in patients, and missing a diagnosis.

When these accidents happen, we can hope the hospital acknowledges its role in them, corrects the behavior that led to them, and goes on to not make the same mistake again.

Interestingly, however, a report from Canada outlines how many hospitals are very resistant to acknowledging their own role in a mistake, which means that they cannot hope to learn from it.

The story, found in CBC.ca, details one patient’s hardships as a result of having a sponge left inside her by medical staff after the delivery of her child. As the weeks passed, she felt pain that literally crippled her and an odor that caused embarrassment and mental anguish.

When she returned to express her concerns, she was given antibiotics. It wasn’t until she discovered the sponge herself (left where the doctor had performed an episiotomy near her perineum) that the pain, odor, and infection subsided.

A logical person would assume that the hospital would accept some level of blame for this, if not all of the blame. After all, it was medical staff that used the sponge and the medical staff that failed to remove it. However, in this case, the hospital claimed that it could not be held accountable.

According to the doctor and the nurse for the hospital administration and a Canadian regulatory board, the hospital could not be held responsible for the mistake. It isn’t clear who they thought was at fault, but their communications to the patient almost seem to blame her.

“We do not believe that there is any responsibility for this unfortunate incident that rests with the hospital and/or staff,” said a letter from a claims management company, essentially denying the patient’s claim before she even had a chance to make one official.

The bottom line is this: just like some people, some hospitals are resistant to accepting responsibility for their mistakes. Fortunately, you have rights, and a medical malpractice attorney can provide the help you need.

Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C.

The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. are committed to helping people who have been harmed by the medical establishment. If you are a victim of medical malpractice, contact our offices today to discuss your case. Call 888-617-8554.

Every day all over the state of Illinois and all over the country, workers are injured. There are many jobs that put workers in peril, such as jobs that involve the use of cranes, forklifts, construction jobs, and other industrial jobs that require the use of heavy equipment. If you or someone you love is injured on the job, it is important to contact a lawyer as quickly as possible to protect your legal rights.

First of all, you want a lawyer to help you navigate through some of the difficult issues with respect to maximizing the effectiveness of your health care. The number one priority is to get the injured worker healthy and back to work. This can only be accomplished through quality health care and diligent rehabilitation. With an attorney’s assistance, the injured worker can rest at ease that worker’s compensation insurance and/or health insurance will not improperly deny benefits or healthcare that the worker is entitled to, such as disability pay to cover bills or important medical treatment.

Second of all, the injured worker will likely be contacted by insurance companies. The insurance companies may represent the at-fault individual or entity, the worker’s employer’s worker’s compensation insurance, or perhaps the owner of the premises on which the injury took place. With a lawyer, the injured worker need only tell the insurance company that he or she is represented by counsel. From that point on, the insurance company must go through counsel to obtain any information. This way, the injured worker can focus on getting better and not worry about making any missteps in dealing with the insurance companies. The insurance company employees’ jobs are to minimize the amount the insurance company ultimately pays.

Finally, the lawyer for the injured worker must have the necessary experience and knowledge to fully and promptly investigate the claim. Under Illinois law, the injured worker cannot sue his or her own employer for negligence, which means that if the employer was at fault for the injury, the only compensation the worker will receive is worker’s compensation benefits. However, if a third party was at fault, the injured worker has a claim against that third party to be compensated fully for his or her damages, including medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, disability, and disfigurement.

In order to determine whether a third party is liable, the attorney must aggressively pursue investigation of the claim by interviewing witnesses, seeking documentation generated as a result of the incident (such as an incident report or witness statements), and when necessary, fully inspecting the location of the incident and any other equipment involved (e.g. if a forklift caused the injury, the attorney must learn and know everything there is to know about the forklift). These steps can be the difference between winning and losing the case.

In summary, if you or a loved one is hurt at work, get immediate medical attention, and as soon as possible after the dust settles, call Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. so that we can protect your rights. We have in the past and currently represent many workers injured at work. We know how to ensure that you have all the resources available to you in order to make a swift recovery. We also know how to make sure you are compensated fully and fairly in accordance with the law.

That’s what happened to one man who shared his story with Slate.

According to his lengthy article, the writer was sick. He had a run-of-the-mill fever and spent a week in bed. He visited a hospital and then an urgent care clinic when his primary care doctor couldn’t see him right away. He was prescribed antibiotics, and the fever subsided. But he kept his week-out doctor’s appointment even though he was feeling better, just to be safe.

It was there that his new primary care doctor ran a few tests, including one for HIV. A couple days after his appointment, the physician called back and told him over the phone that he “should go ahead and assume” that he had HIV. The doctor warned that the tests were preliminary but that they indicated an early stage of the infection.

Within the following week, the man had multiple tests run, with differing outcomes. While one test would indicate a potential infection, other tests would appear to indicate good health.

It was during that time that he became educated about the flaws in HIV diagnosis–testing flaws that are not uncommon in other illnesses and disease as well. During the week of uncertainty, the patient went through a severely trying time, wondering how his life with HIV would be and if he would die.

In all, he received six different HIV tests in a month’s period. Fortunately, he was insured. Had he not been, the tests combined would have cost more than $2,000. It was after the final tests that he was told, without a doubt, that he did not have HIV. The explanation he received was “No tests are perfect.”

It’s fortunate that this story ends well, with no diagnosis of a life-threatening disease. But what about the many stories that do not end well, where a doctor suspects one thing but the problem is much, much worse. Or when the doctor treats a patient for symptoms, clearly missing the underlying cause? When this happens, you need someone on your side to help you obtain justice.

Chicago Misdiagnosis Attorneys

If you’ve received a wrong diagnosis or a misdiagnosis, you need a local medical malpractice attorney on your side. The lawyers with Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. may be able to help. Contact our offices today by calling 888-617-8554 for a free consultation.

When a bicyclist is involved in an accident with a car, the car invariably will fare better. Usually, the cyclist is thrown from the bike and can be severely injured. Rarely does the car driver end up injured at all, though he or she may be very “shaken up”.

According to the Chicago Tribune, one cyclist recently lost her life on the very day she was celebrating her 34^th birthday.

The accident happened at about 2:15 p.m. on Route 45 north of Grand Avenue in Lake Villa. Both the 2000 Camry and the victim were traveling south on the road when the car hit her.

She was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, where she was pronounced dead. Police are investigating the cause of the accident, and charges have not yet been filed. The driver of the Camry did willingly submit to toxicology screening, which is used to check for drugs or alcohol.

Was the victim riding her bicycle safely? We may never know. Did the driver of the vehicle not see her until it was too late? Again, we might not learn the answer to this question.

But, we can learn from the accident. Bicycle safety, whether you are 10 or 65, is critical in avoiding an accident like this one. Because when a bicycle accident like this one happens, you could lose your life.

Teaching children the importance of bicycle safety is crucial. Whether they ride to school or around the neighborhood with friends, teach them how to avoid accidents and that they should always operate as if the people in vehicles do not see them. In other words, never assume that your safety is guaranteed.

Bicycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, and car accidents can happen to anyone.

Chicago Accident Lawyers

If you’ve been involved in an accident or if your child was hurt in a bicycle collision with a car, we may be able to help. The Chicago auto accident lawyers of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. seek justice for people who are injured in accidents through no fault of their own. Contact our offices today to discuss your case by calling 888-617-8554.

According to MedScape, the new study published in BMJ Quality & Safety, the medical industry views misdiagnoses with the attitude of “you can’t win them all,” and therefore does little to prevent them when compared with other medical mistakes like wrong-site surgeries.

“We published this paper in part because we wanted to express the magnitude of the problem,” said one of the paper’s authors, Dr. Newman-Toker. “There may not be a magic-bullet solution, but we’ve got to start monitoring and measuring and reporting these errors.”

The study found these diagnostic errors account for more than 28% of all paid medical malpractice claims. Claims for injury related to treatment came in second at just over 27%. Surgical errors accounted for about 24%, and obstetrics accounted for 6.5%.

Among these diagnostic errors, permanent disability was as common an outcome as death, signifying just how serious these mistakes are.

Dr. Newman-Toker says it’s impossible for the medical industry to get diagnoses right 100% of the time. He says, “Diagnosis isn’t simple.”

“You’re alone with a patient in a room, asking questions. There are 100 different possibilities. You face uncertainty and time pressure. You may lack scientific knowledge. You could be looking at an early (and less defined) stage of disease,” he explained.

But, he says, there are definite areas that can be improved. By focusing on the areas that have proven to be most likely to cause harm when misdiagnosed, doctors can reduce the risks of a diagnosis error. These areas include “vascular events” (heart disease, stroke, etc.), infections, and cancer.

Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyers

If you are the victim of a diagnostic mistake, the medical malpractice attorneys of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. may be able to help. Contact our offices today to discuss your case and the legal options available to you. Call 888-617-8554 now for a free consultation.

According to a recent report released by the World Health Organization (WHO), only 7% of the world’s citizens live in a country with “comprehensive laws that address” road safety properly, reducing the most serious risk factors of being involved in an injury accident or even a fatal crash.

Called The Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013, the report looked at countries around the world and what they do to keep drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and mass transit passengers safe. In only 28 of 182 countries were there laws regulating the most significant risk factors, including speeding, motorcycle helmets, drinking and driving, child restraints, and seat belts.

In particular, children face the brunt of the risk.

“Road crashes are the No. 1 cause of death of young people between the ages of 15 and 29 years,” said Dr. Etienne Krug, director of the WHO department of violence and injury prevention and disability. “It’s not some mysterious bug or virus or bacteria, it’s man-made. It’s something we have created and have to control.”

The organization found that pedestrians and cyclists account for as much as 75% of road fatalities in some countries and an average of 27% of road fatalities overall. The lack of laws regarding cyclist and pedestrian safety is a huge area of concern, no matter where in the world you live.

Also, middle-income countries have only half the world’s vehicles but account for about 80% of all traffic fatalities. These countries, therefore, are not doing enough to keep their people safe on the roads.

“It’s not rocket science,” said Dr. Krug. “We know what needs to be done, but we don’t see it happening enough.”

What needs to be done, says Krug, is a massive governmental effort to control the risk factors through education and legislation. France, he remarks, has reduced their traffic death toll by 60% in the last decade or so, for example.

While we may complain about our commute and the “bad” drivers we encounter, this is really nothing compared with some other countries that have more dangerous drivers than good ones.

Chicago Car Accident Attorneys

Whether you are in Chicago or China, you face auto accident risks. And when you are hurt in an accident in the Chicago area, the accident attorneys of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. may be able to help. Contact our attorneys today for a free consultation on your case at 888-617-8554.