Posted on October 30, 2013 in Farm Accidents

Many in Sangamon County don't realize this, but one of the most dangerous professions in Illinois and around the country is farming. While advances in agricultural science and new technologies have definitely made a farmer's job easier, they've also made it deadlier. When operating heavy equipment or machinery, a momentary lapse in one's awareness of his or her surroundings can have disastrous results. Yet not just farmers are at risk. Farm employees or family and friends that come to help out are just as likely to be injured or killed in farm accidents, often even more so due to the fact that they aren't completely familiar with everything going on around them.

Such appears to be the case with Murrayville man who was killed while working on a grain harvest in Morgan County. The man was there as part of his job with a local trucking company. Witnesses say he fell from the trailer of his truck, got back to his feet and walked around a bit, but then collapsed and died suddenly. The exact cause of his death has yet to be determined, but given that he was an older man, authorities believe he may have died due to causes incident with his age as opposed to his fall from the trailer.

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 Posted on October 28, 2013 in Articles

Caring for loved ones is not always a possibility as they age, particularly as their medical needs increase. Despite being unable to care for them personally, most people will set out to find the best possible care available. Unfortunately, as demonstrated in a recent study, the care provided by nursing homes across the country is not always up to the standards most people would expect.

Researchers from Families for Better Care compiled data from nursing homes in all 50 states and ranked each state based on their findings. To determine their rankings, the researchers focused on a number of areas, including:

• Staffing levels.
• Inspection reports.
• Complaints.
• Deficiencies.

While some states received passing scores, the researchers concluded that the nursing homes in eleven states deserved failing grades - among those with the worst scores in the U.S. were the nursing homes in Illinois. In addition to receiving an "F," Illinois' nursing homes were ranked 42nd in the country.

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 Posted on October 25, 2013 in Articles

A patient at a Chicago nursing home failed to receive immediate care after suffering burns that took his life. Just days before he was to be released from the rehabilitation facility, the man's shirt started on fire. Nursing staff sprayed him directly with a fire extinguisher to put out the flames and did not provide necessary aid before a rescue crew arrived ten minutes later. The patient died of a heart attack shortly after the incident.

An expert stated in the Huffington Post report that the man may have lived if proper care was administered right away by care providers at the home. The care facility has been sued by the man's family for wrongful death and it was cited by authorities for failing to properly train staff.

Illinois care gives cause for concern

According to Families for Better Care - a citizen advocacy group which monitors nursing home care quality across the nation - Illinois is one of two states to receive a failing grade for care provided by its nursing home facilities. The group claims that patients are not provided adequate care, mostly due to a lack of sufficient staff members, and the facilities have high rates of serious incidents and deficiencies such as:

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 Posted on October 24, 2013 in Firm News

Illinois officials take accusations of nursing home neglect very seriously. Abuse from nursing home staff is not only a violation of the public trust, but these facilities also require state licensing to provide care for residents. If and when abuse happens, it may not only reflect badly on the care center, but on the state licensing board whose job it is to oversee such facilities as well. As such, one of the potential penalties that a nursing home may face in the wake of accusations of neglect or abuse is restrictions or revocations of their state licenses.

A Lebanon care center could potentially face such charges after it was cited by the state's Department of Health after leaving a resident at a truck stop. The man was left with sitting in his wheelchair with his clothes left beside him in bags. He was later picked up by police and returned to the care center. The center now faces the possibility of having restrictions placed on their state license because of the incident.

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 Posted on October 17, 2013 in Firm News

People put a lot of dedication into their careers and, by extension, the Sangamon County companies that they work for. It's their hope that if they are ever injured on the job, they'll be able to rely on their employers to compensate them for any medical expenses associated with the accident. It's important that employees understand what their employment agreements or contracts entitle them to in the event of an injury. Failure to know what those benefits are can leave one unprotected in dealing with their medical expenses.

Such is the case of three football players who were injured while playing for an indoor football team in Rockford. All three were injured while playing on the team's home field, yet all three are being denied workers compensation by the insurance company whose policy the team's ownership had in place to cover player injuries. The reason for the denial centers on two issues: First, the policy was purchased when the team owner owned a football team in Wisconsin, and thus the policy called for compensation to be paid according to Wisconsin state law. Because the players' injuries occurred in Illinois, the insurance company claims they are not required to cover the expenses.

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 Posted on October 10, 2013 in Firm News

Every time one sees a large tractor trailer on a Springfield highway, it means that some urgent need is being meet somewhere. Thus the reason why it’s important to share the road with these large vehicles.

However, every large load that these trucks are pulling has fatal potential. It takes experience and skill to drive these trucks, and care and caution on the part of those who load them to ensure that cargo is stored securely. The absence of any of these factors can result in tragedy, as vehicles traveling around these trucks can be targets for falling debris or an out-of-control rig.

The ease at which these large vehicles can crash and cause other accidents was recently on display on the Long Island Expressway in New York. In the early morning hours, a truck driver hauling products for local grocers swerved to avoid a deer, which resulted in the truck overturning. Luckily, the driver and his passenger sustained only minor injuries, and no other vehicles were involved. Hazmat crews were required for the cleanup because bleach was among the items being transported.

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 Posted on October 04, 2013 in Firm News

Car accidents in Springfield are all too common on today's roads. Even as vehicle safety standards have improved and new features have been created to help people try and avoid accidents, they still occur. Unfortunately, there's nothing that vehicle engineers can do to remove human error from the equation, and more often than not, that's usually what causes most car collisions. The number of ways that a driver can make a mistake behind the wheel that leads to an accident is endless, ranging from driving while impaired to simple carelessness or lack of attention.

A simple case of one driver following another too closely appears to have been the cause of a recent accident in Springfield. A woman following a truck had little time to stop and avoid colliding with her vehicle into the back end of a truck after the truck driver stopped suddenly. Although the reason for truck's sudden stop was unreported, it was the woman who ended being cited by police.

Fortunately for the two drivers involved in this particular collision, neither sustained any serious injuries. However, that isn't always the case. Injuries from car accidents can be both debilitating and disabling, and may leave victims with a large amount of medical debt. In such cases, the driver responsible for causing the car accident may held liable for any damages, be they to the damage to the car or injuries to its passengers. This often remains true even in those cases where no blatant recklessness by the driver was displayed. Those looking to earn that compensation from another party may wish to secure the services if an experienced personal injury lawyer to assist in doing so.  

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 Posted on October 03, 2013 in Articles

Farming is a source of livelihood for many people in Sangamon County and thousands of people throughout Illinois. Unfortunately, there are many risks inherent to agricultural work, and farm accidents can be fatal or leave victims permanently disabled.

Encouragingly, 2012 was the safest year for farm work that Illinois has seen in over three decades. However, this doesn't mean that farm workers should let down their guard or that there isn't still room to improve farming practices.

Agricultural work remains hazardous

The CDC states that agriculture is one of the most dangerous industries in this country. The organization reports the following troubling facts:

• In 2010, the fatality rate per 100,000 workers was 26.1 deaths.
• An estimated 243 agricultural workers are injured every day.
• One in twenty of those injuries will have permanent effects.
• Annually, farm injuries prove fatal for an average of 113 youth under age 20.

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 Posted on September 24, 2013 in Farm Accidents

Farming and agricultural work is among the most dangerous professions in the U.S. Farm workers are often tasked with operating heavy machinery, dealing with large animals, and working in general conditions that can be conducive to accidents. Yet even with the extra emphasis being placed in recent years on farm safety protocols in Illinois, the potential for serious accidents with tragic outcomes remains high. Often it's due to these accidents occurring in rural areas where emergency responders are not able to arrive in sufficient time to administer care. Beyond that, farm accidents are often simply attributed to the unique nature of the work being done.

Such was the case in the recent death of a Gilson farmer from what authorities can only describe as a horrible accident. The man, who was the owner of a popular Christmas tree farm in the local area, was attempting to clear a tree on his mother's property when a falling portion of the tree pinned him against the steering wheel of the tractor he was operating. Police and emergency personnel arrived at the scene to find him dead. While he'd been unable to move from his spot atop the tractor, injuries to his head made investigators believe that he was probably killed instantly from a blow to the head as the portion of the tree feel onto him.

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 Posted on September 20, 2013 in Firm News

People who place elderly loved ones in the care of nursing homes in Springfield put a great deal of trust into the home’s caregivers. The violation of that trust through abuse can be heartbreaking, and often can have tragic consequences. What makes nursing home abuse all the more egregious is that it is perpetrated against victims that have little to no capacity to defend themselves from it. In such cases, it may up to the family and friends of those victims to fight for them. However, the difficulty in taking up that fight is knowing in whom one can trust to handle these claims of abuse.

A disturbing trend has recently been highlighted in California regarding potential neglect in the investigation of allegations of elder abuse in nursing homes. A former Department of Health worker familiar with these investigations has shed light on the department’s past mishandling of claims, with many complaints filed away for years before action was taken. While new leadership of the department has initiated changes in the handling of nursing home complaints, the former investigator continues to be concerned about what he perceives to be a misguided emphasis on resolving complaints quickly rather than correctly. He points out new department policies that encourage investigators to close cases rapidly, with some even being investigated by phone rather than in person. While the department acknowledges that some cases have been mishandled, it defends its new policies, saying they have greatly reduced the number of backlogged complaints.

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