Illinois Personal Injury Blog

Many Arlington Heights area residents help their aging relatives. It is a privilege to be the caregiver for a loved one, but it can also be stressful and exhausting. Many older adults require medical care that a family is not able to provide, and the family has to make the difficult decision to place their loved one in a nursing home. Many of these nursing homes provide good care, but elder abuse continues to be a problem in area nursing homes.

According to recent reports, the family of an elderly woman with dementia is suing the facility she lived in, along with two caregivers. The family discovered that a video had been made of the caregivers teasing the woman as she struggled with them over a hospital gown. The resident had an aversion to hospital gowns, which the staff knew and they continued to taunt and bully the woman over the hospital gown and snapchat the videos. The family removed her from the facility and hired a private caregiver and also contacted police. The aides were charged with disorderly conduct. The family claims the facility, The Abington of Glenview Nursing & Rehab Center, failed to follow their protocol and file a report with the state. The facility failed to implement its "Abuse Prevention Policy," which in turn led to the woman's elder abuse. The family is suing for over $1 million in damages.

Driving safely requires being attentive and cautious, and a driver who is too tired to be attentive and cautious is an unsafe driver. This is true for all drivers, and it is especially important for people driving large trucks, since any collision they might cause can easily lead to serious or fatal injury for people in smaller vehicles. However, trucking companies compete by offering speedier delivery, which gives them an incentive to push their drivers to work longer hours on the road.

With that in mind, state and federal regulators require trucking companies to limit the hours their drivers may be on the road without rest. Currently, the rules limit drivers to 11 hours of driving time within a 14-hour period. They must have 10 hours off duty before they can start a new 14-hour period, and if they must take a 30-minute break at some point in any stretch where they are driving for 8 hours at a time.

When we place our loved ones in a nursing home, we trust the facility to treat their residents with the dignity and respect they deserve. Sadly, many nursing homes fail to live up to this trust.

The elderly are growing as a percentage of the population, and the nation's nursing homes are growing more crowded. With these changes comes the potential for nursing home neglect and abuse.

Construction workers nationwide, including those here in Illinois, face an endless list of hazards every day. Mitigating all the dangers is a daunting task because each construction site is unique. If your employer prioritizes employee safety, you have a better chance of going home safely to your loved ones every night. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration helps construction company owners to maintain safe work environments by setting strict safety standards.

OSHA underscores the hazards that account for almost 60% of construction worker fatalities, collectively known as the focus four. Learning to recognize these dangers will enable you to take the necessary precautions to prevent injuries.