blog | Lane Brown, LLC

Birth injuries in Chicago happen frequently, with several potential causes and results that can have lifelong effects on mothers and babies. Some of these injuries are unnecessary and can be avoided through proper medical care and preventative steps. One such health condition that is growing more prevalent is autism spectrum disorder.

Recent findings from a study conducted by the Duke University Medical Center have suggested a possible link between birth induction procedures and autism diagnoses during childhood. Although researchers concluded the study with a disclaimer that the findings were not yet sufficient to recommend any permanent changes in obstetricians’ current practices, the results have opened up many questions surrounding the safety of birth induction procedures and any potential links to childhood autism.

The study published in JAMA Pediatrics examined both birth induction and augmentation procedures; it analyzed over 625,000 live births and their subsequent school records once the children had reached school age. The results showed that 5,500 children were later diagnosed within the Autism Disorder Spectrum. This indicated that mothers who had one of the two types of assisted labors were more likely to have a child diagnosed with autism.

The study’s researchers also took notice to other, previously known, external factors that could impact a child’s risk for autism. These include:

Health of the mother
Socioeconomic status
Other pregnancy-related events
Birth year

One other interesting finding from this study showed that autism was more prevalent in male children than in female children.

Currently, 1 in 88 U.S. children is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a number that has been on the rise over the last several years. Due to these statistics, understanding the external factors that could contribute to its cause is very important. One potential connection between birth induction procedures and autism spectrum disorder is the exposure to oxytocin, the hormone used to induce between 50-70% of birth-assisted deliveries.

If you have questions concerning your child’s birth injury accident, and had a birth induction procedure, you may have been the victim of medical malpractice. Our skilled Chicago birth injury attorneys at Lane Brown, LLC are here to listen to your case and examine the details, and may be able to help you obtain the compensation you deserve. Call our personal injury law offices today at 312-332-1400 to arrange a free consultation to discuss your case.

Exciting new technology could be able to provide a “Black Box” in every operating room.

Every time there is a private or commercial airplane crash, investigators retrieve the flight data recorder, known as a “Black Box”, to determine what went wrong. The same type of technology has been developed by a Canadian surgeon for use in operating rooms to find out why adverse events happen and what can be done in the future to improve patient safety and enhance surgical outcomes.

“It’s amazing how the aviation industry approaches error analysis and how they’re able to identify the root cause and chain of events that led to a disaster,” says Teodor Grantcharov, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the department of surgery at the University of Toronto and a general surgeon at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital. “It’s quite unbelievable that we haven’t yet done this in surgery.”

His black box platform captures video from the surgeon’s imaging equipment and from a camera mounted in the operating room. It also captures audio recordings of surgical team interactions, tracks physiological data from the anesthesia monitor, and records the room’s decibel levels and air temperature.

The software syncs all the inputs, which timestamps every event during surgery, and every event can be looked at from many different perspectives. At a particular point in time during a surgery, for example, the patient’s vital signs can be known, and at the same time, the surgical team’s discussions and actions can actually be seen and heard. Surgical techniques can be known with real precision. The goal is to determine the factors that led to an error, and come up with ways to limit those factors from harming again.

Dr. Grantcharov has collected records and is in the process of capturing data, and hopes to release his findings sometime next year. For now, he offers a sneak peek: “The number of errors and adverse events in the OR that require corrective measures are more than we thought,” he says.

In the future, he believes the black box will be used to analyze adverse events or assess new procedures, technology and techniques. But will surgeons and surgical teams resist technology that watches and records their every move, especially in a litigious society? Dr. Grantcharov appreciates those concerns, but believes putting black boxes in ORs serves a greater purpose.

“If it’s done well and used constructively, the potential to enhance patient safety is significant,” he says. “This is not about the surgeon or the surgical team. Everything that’s going on in the OR is about the patient.”

This new technology does not create adverse events where there were none. It simply sheds light on what actually was going on during surgery. Medical and hospital practitioners alike should welcome this as an instructional tool that can save lives, and as a litigation tool that can establish the high quality of their care when medical care has been appropriate. At the same time, those patients who have been injured by substandard medical care should welcome the transparency and objectivity the technology provides.

If you or a loved one has been injured because of poor medical, surgical or hospital care, you may be able to take action. Please contact the attorneys of Lane Brown, LLC, or call us at 312-332-1400 to speak with us about your options. We can help. To learn more about Lane Brown, please visit our website at lanebrownlaw.com.

School is back in session and thousands of Chicago-area students are immersed in the classrooms learning reading, math, and science. While many parents and guardians worry about the safety of their children at school, one area of safety that you may easily forget about is the time before and after school when kids are traveling.

Data released by AAA showed that around one-quarter of all child pedestrian fatalities happen between 3–7 p.m., the hours right after school lets out. It’s important for motorists to understand safety tips that may prevent a catastrophic Illinois pedestrian and motor vehicle accident from happening.

Extra Caution and Vigilance

During the hours of 7–9 a.m. and 3–5 p.m., it’s important for drivers to maintain vigilance and extra caution in school zones and residential areas. Here are the key steps you can take:

Slow down. School zones have reduced speed limits for a reason. The slower you go, the less likely a child walking will die if struck by your car. No child’s life is worth the extra 30 seconds you save by speeding through a school zone.

Come to a complete stop. Studies show that more than one-third of all drivers admittedly roll through stop signs in school zones and neighborhoods. Always look carefully at intersections and crosswalks before moving ahead.

Eliminate distractions. Loud music, cell phones, eating, and loud passengers all take your mind off the road and divert your eyes away from unpredictable kids walking outside, and could contribute to a car accident.

Watch for bicycles. Kids on bikes may be inexperienced, unstable, and unpredictable on the road. Darting between parked cars or not crossing in designated crosswalks can be common.

Back up with caution. Because kids are often unpredictable, it’s important to always use your mirrors and watch your blind spots to be sure that kids aren’t running or playing around your car. School drop-offs are often congested with cars and students, so be alert.

Car accidents and injuries can be a devastating combination, but when kids are added into the equation, emotions can be heightened and the consequences can be catastrophic. The experienced Chicago car accident lawyers at Lane Brown have the skills and dedication needed to help you understand and pursue your legal rights. Fill out an online form today to schedule your no-hassle free case evaluation, or call us toll-free at 312-332-1400.

Related Links:

Tips to Keep Pedestrians and Drivers Safe in Chicago
Experienced Illinois Accident Attorney

Category: Car Accidents

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I’m attending the National Discussion of Injury Prevention sponsored by The Safety Institute. What a fantastic collection of professionals who are dedicated to making the world a safer place for all of us and our children! This is the first such conference, and if there is any way that I can attend in the future, I absolutely will! Whether you are in the safety industry, on the manufacturing side, a doctor, hospital administrator, insurance representative, attorney, or “just” a concerned parent, this conference is for you. I hope you will join me in supporting this incredibly worthwhile and committed group!

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), approximately 20,000 children are saved every year because of properly working and installed child safety seats. In an effort to continue to reduce child injuries and fatalities during car accidents, new standards and regulations are consistently being placed on manufacturers as crash test data is being gathered. Because of this, car seats that may have once been considered safe to use may get pulled off of the shelves, and out of motorists’ cars.

When car accidents occur, the goal is to keep every passenger, no matter the age, and protected as possible while inside the vehicle. Since new child safety seat technologies are always developing, the laws, standards, and recommendations change along with them. When car seat manufacturers follow these guidelines, children should be kept safe during a crash, and the seats do the job they were created to perform.

Today, there are several stages of car seats available that are geared at protecting your child based on his/her height, weight, and age. States have enacted strict laws requiring the use of car seats for children under the age of eight. But, no matter how proactive parents and guardians are while using child car seats, one car seat manufacturer’s defect could nullify those efforts.

Our Chicago defective product attorneys at Lane Brown recently learned about one new change taking effect at the beginning of 2014 that will change how parents look at the LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) system built into most newer cars.

Research has found that this system has not been designed to safely secure a child when the combined weight of the child and seat is 65lbs. or more. Why does this matter? Well, the science behind the LATCH system showed that car seats could safely be secured to a standard car seat by using the tethers and anchor straps of a car seat to hook it in place. No seat belt would be required to provide extra security. This science was based on old car seat technology and design, and older car manufacturer standards. However, at that time, the science did not account for the weight of both the seat and child. The anchors built into standard car seats cannot sustain the combined weight of 65 lbs. or more in the event of a severe car crash.

The new recommendations will require car seat manufactures to tell parents NOT to use the LATCH system that exists in all cars built since 2001. Instead, parents should specifically use the manufacturers seat belt to safely secure the child car seat in the vehicle.

Advocates of the LATCH system say that minimum weight requirements could be changed for manufactures, to make the anchors compliant with new codes. For now, it appears that one way to be safe, and not sorry, would be to use the tethers and anchors jointly with the standard seat belt to ensure that a child safety seat is secure in the vehicle.

If your child has suffered catastrophic injuries due to defective car seats, our Chicago defective product attorneys at Lane Brown may be able to help. We are here to listen to your case, examine the evidence, and seek to hold others accountable for their negligent actions. We know that injury accidents don’t just happen during standard business hours. So we are available at any time to schedule a free, no-hassle consultation, and to help you understand what your next steps should be. Call 312-332-1400 now.

The Republican congressional leadership today added a demand, in order for them to vote for increasing the U.S. debt ceiling, that medical malpractice actions be limited. If the President and the Democrats in Congress do not agree to limit medical malpractice actions, they will cause the United States of America to default on its debt obligations. It should be unbelievable that our Congressional representatives, elected to serve ALL U.S. citizens, should seek to steal their constituents’, as well as all other citizen’s constitutional and statutorily protected rights of due process and equal justice in order to accomplish the political ends and desires of their special interests. It should be unbelievable that the Republican legislators should ignore evidence, the greater good, and refuse to look to reasonable legislative measures to help address real problems. It should be that our legislators should seek to right wrongs, and not destroy rights.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the Republicans’ ultimatum is neither surprising nor unbelievable. It’s become all too familiar to all of us. The Republican party once again sees nothing wrong with taking hostages, using innocent victims to achieve goals only their own special interests share…goals that are not supported by facts, logic that is supported by misinformation. Study after study after study show beyond any serious question that the costs of medical malpractice claims and litigation has little, if any demonstrable effect on the costs of medical care, insurance or the availability of medical services. Certainly medical malpractice issues bear NO relationship to our economy or governmental budgetary obligations! If the Republicans really want to help, then why don’t they tackle the REAL problems of healthcare and costs of healthcare? When will they take on insurance reforms and forcing fair claims practices? When will they work to improve the quality of the medical and hospital care we get in the United States, instead of further beating down those families who have already been burdened by the suffering and expense of having been injured by poor medical care? The Republican-sponsored medical malpractice “crisis” is a fictitious bomb scare that borders on terrorism. A better fiction, a fiction that would actually help our people, came from that legendary figure, King Arthur, whose credo was “Might FOR right….Not Might IS right!”