Missouri Injury Lawyer Blog

About a month ago, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could have a dramatic effect on Illinois patients hurt by medical mistakes, as well as my own practice as a southern Illinois medical malpractice lawyer. In Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, the court is considering whether caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases are consistent with the state Constitution. It is expected to rule this spring. The caps, which max out at $500,000 for individual medical professionals and $1 million for hospitals, were put in effect in 2005 as part of the Illinois Medical Liability Reform Law.

The case centers on the family of Abigaile Lebron, a three-year-old girl who was severely and irreversibly brain-damaged at birth. Her family’s lawsuit alleges that the injuries are a result of injuries from substandard care she received at the hospital where she was born. The damages caps mean that while the family may recover all of their past and future medical costs, they may collect only $500,000 in non-economic damages -- compensation for physical pain, emotional anguish and the loss of the child’s love and care -- from the doctor they believe to be responsible. In Missouri, their non-economic damages would have been capped even lower, at just $350,000.

Non-economic damages are very important in Illinois and Missouri birth injury lawsuits like this one. In most medical malpractice claims, the plaintiff is an adult whose losses include a loss of income, sometimes millions over a lifetime. In a claim involving a baby or a child, however, there is rarely a loss of income. The majority of the losses in a birth injury or child medical malpractice case are emotional losses -- the parents’ loss of their hopes and dreams for the child and the child’s loss of a normal, healthy life. These are devastating and very real injuries, but they’re not financial injuries. In these cases, a cap on non-economic damages substantially impairs the family’s right to see justice done.

We trust our doctors to make the right decisions to care for us -- and most of them do. But when they don’t, patients have the right to sue over the irreversible physical disabilities that their medical negligence can cause. The Lowe Law Firm handles medical malpractice claims and birth injury lawsuits in Missouri and southern Illinois. If your family has been harmed by medical negligence and you’d like to talk with us about your case and your options, please contact us online or call us at 1-877-678-3400 today for a free consultation.

A middle school girl outside Kansas City died in early December after suffering a head injury. The girl had been sent home from school early after hitting her head against a wall during gym class. According to the Kansas City Star, she woke with a headache and stayed home from school again the next day. When her mother checked on her later that morning, she was unresponsive. Emergency workers could not revive her and the death is under investigation.

Unfortunately, this terrible tragedy follows a pattern that’s not unusual for brain injuries. As a brain injury attorney in St. Louis, I know it’s not unusual for patients with serious head injuries to report only a mild headache, or even no problems at all, at first. It’s only later that they and their loved ones begin noticing permanent effects from the injury, including personality changes, damage to sight or other senses or trouble controlling emotions. And in many cases, a blow to the head is only the trigger for a secondary brain injury caused by lack of oxygen to the brain, swelling or other events that can make a minor brain injury substantially worse.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sports and recreation cause as many as 3.8 million traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) every year. Many of these patients may go untreated because they don’t seem or feel seriously hurt, or because coaches and teachers may have a “tough love” mentality. Unfortunately, TBIs are a leading cause of injury and death among young Americans, sending 435,000 kids ages 14 and under to emergency rooms each year and killing an estimated 2,685. Some TBIs don’t cause lasting damage, but others leave their victims disabled or with permanent changes to their abilities and personalities.

At the Lowe Law Firm, we represent patients whose lives have been changed by brain injuries sustained through sports accidents, car crashes, medical mistakes and many other causes. Our attorneys have the experience and resources necessary to thoroughly prove the serious injuries associated with a TBI. If you or someone you love has sustained a serious head injury (including a wrongful death) and you would like to speak with us about your options, please contact us today for a free evaluation of your case.

A new study by the University of Kentucky suggests that later starting times at high schools could significantly cut rates of serious accidents among teenagers. According to the Washington Post, researchers found a 16.5% drop in accident rates for teens whose schools moved their start times forward an hour. One of the researchers attributed the change to biology: Teenagers are actually biologically “programmed” to stay up later, he said, so early school starting times deprive them of sleep.

The study, which appears in the Dec. 15 Journal of Sleep Medicine, started with a survey of 10,000 teenagers in the sixth through twelfth grades. The survey asked them about their sleep schedules and how sleep affected their daily lives, including auto accidents. It was repeated in the following year, when the local schools had moved their starting time from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Comparing the two, researchers found the drop in car accidents, as well as a 14.3% jump in the number of teens who got at least 8 hours of sleep per night.

That’s important, the researchers said, because sleep loss builds up over time. Losing as little as one hour of sleep per night can leave patients feeling at the end of the week as if they’d stayed up for all of the last 24 hours. This can have a profound effect on driving ability for both teens and adults. According to the National Sleep Foundation, fatigue or sleepiness is responsible for about 100,000 car crashes every year, about half of them under the age of 26. Another study, by the federal Department of Transportation and the Virginia Tech Traffic Institute, found that sleepiness was the top distraction for drivers (above even cell phones), quadrupling a driver’s chances of an accident.

Distracted driving is responsible for more accidents than drunk driving, because it’s far more common. Talking on the phone, “rubbernecking” and driving while extremely sleepy are all driver distractions that can cause serious accidents. Someone who fails to pay attention to the road, for those or other reasons, is legally responsible for the results of any serious car wreck that results. If you or someone you love was hurt in this kind of auto accident in Missouri, you have the right to claim compensation for your financial, physical and emotional injuries. The Lowe Law Firm can help. To set up a free case evaluation with our experienced attorneys, please contact us online or call us at 1-877-678-3400.

The parents of a young man killed during a police car chase have filed a lawsuit against the city of Independence, Kansas City’s KCTV reported. Seventeen-year-old Chris Cooper was riding his bicycle in November of 2007 when he was hit and killed by a vehicle driven by Wilfredo Pujols, Jr. Pujols had earlier hit another car and run from police; he hit Cooper after running a red light.

The Cooper family’s Missouri wrongful death lawsuit alleges that the city of Independence didn’t train its police officers properly in chase procedures, which led to Cooper’s death. It also alleges that police officers made jokes at the scene. In addition to the city itself, the lawsuit names the police, the paramedics who responded and Pujols, the fugitive, as defendants.

The case has attracted attention in part because Wilfredo Pujols is a cousin of star St. Louis Cardinals batter Albert Pujols. Police eventually apprehended Pujols, who has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, resisting arrest and fleeing the scene of an accident. He faces up to 80 years in prison at his sentencing this spring.

Many people don’t realize that victims may file a Missouri car crash lawsuit even if the defendant is also charged criminally. (Naturally, they may also sue if police cannot or will not pursue criminal charges.) A wrongful death lawsuit might also be filed in a situation like this, where victims believe that law enforcement or another government agency is legally responsible for the death.

A wrongful death is any death caused by the wrongdoing of another. That includes criminal wrongdoing, but also reckless driving and other forms of extreme carelessness. The Lowe Law Firm has handled numerous wrongful death claims in Missouri and southern Illinois, including wrongful deaths stemming from serious car accidents. If you have lost someone you care about in a car accident and you believe another person’s negligence was to blame, we can help you learn about your legal options. To speak to an experienced auto accident lawyer today, contact the Lowe Law Firm online or call 1-877-678-3400 for a free consultation.

In an Illinois medical malpractice case, the family of a 27-year-old pregnant mother who died three years ago will receive $9.8 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit against Chicago-based Stroger Hospital, the Chicago Tribune reports.

In August 2005, Farrah Dickerson began bleeding and collapsed. The wrongful death lawsuit alleged that the hospital’s failure to give Dickerson who was then 31-weeks pregnant, blood-clotting products in a timely fashion caused her death. The baby survived.

On Dec. 3, the Cook County Board approved the medical malpractice settlement of nearly $10 million.

We place great trust in those who providing medical care for our loved ones and us. It is unfortunate when they are negligent. It is tragic when such negligence results in serious injury or death. Fortunately, you have recourse.

If a caregiver harms you or your loved one, you are entitled to seek compensation. Jeffrey J. Lowe has extensive experience representing clients on many medical malpractice issues. For more information, call 314-678-3400 or fill out our online intake form for a free case review by Illinois medical malpractice lawyer Jeff Lowe.