Being sick or injured is an intimidating experience, and placing your life in the hands of doctors is not only scary but can also be dangerous. Medical doctors in specialty training (residents) routinely work 80-hour weeks. Now, there are efforts to unionize these residents to improve working conditions. Will it also lead to better patient outcomes?

As a medical malpractice attorney, I see troubling errors by doctors who move too quickly and don’t read the patient’s chart carefully (or at all) or who are spread too thin and don’t take the time to truly listen to their patients… ...

Hospital ownership should not affect a patient’s potential outcomes after admission. However, a study of 51 hospitals’ data shows that private equity investment has been associated with a significant increase in adverse events among Medicare patients during treatment at those facilities.

According to research by Dr. Zirui Song from Harvard and Joseph Dov Bruch from the University of Chicago, hospitals owned by private equity firms between 2009 and 2019 experienced the following outcomes:

• a 25% increase in surgical infections and bed sores;
• 38% more central line ...

While a child’s birth should be among the happiest days of a parent’s life, the possibility of a birth injury can cause major concern. Birth injuries happen not only at delivery; they can occur before, during and even after the baby arrives. If you are worried about potential issues for your child at any point in the birthing process, there are significant and vital steps to take:

• Document everything: The video of your child’s birth can be more than a memento. Video, photos and other forms of documentation will capture key moments before, during and after the birth. Parents should ...

“The Home Edit” star Clea Shearer bravely announced she has aggressive breast cancer, which is a shock for anyone, even more so because she was younger than 40. Shearer said she had asked repeatedly for an appointment with her OBGYN after finding a lump, but could not get in, so she refused to let her concerns wait and asked her primary care doctor to order the mammogram that led to her diagnosis. Her Stage 2 diagnosis, of course, if delayed any further, could’ve been even more dangerous. Shearer was fortunate to have self-detected her lump, and her fierce self-advocacy may have saved ...

Low-income victims of automobile collisions rely on Medicaid to cover their medical bills. But what happens when the hospitals and doctors who provide these victims medical care never send the bills to Medicaid? What happens when medical providers try to profit from their misfortune rather than submit the bills to Medicaid, even when the victims provide their Medicaid cards? What happens when the hospitals refuse repeated requests to do so?

Rather than billing Medicaid, unethical hospitals and doctors deliberately bypass Medicaid and place a lien, an interest over an asset or ...

In recent weeks, our team at Romanucci & Blandin filed a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for permanent vision damage caused by the prescription medication Elmiron (pentosan polysulfate sodium, or PPS). It is just the latest of lawsuits against one of America’s most notorious lawbreakers and its subsidiaries, like Janssen Pharmaceuticals, whose products have caused cancer (Talc), addiction (Opioids), bleeding events (Xarelto), kidney damage (Invokana), metal poisoning (hip implants), and male breast growth ...

More than 250,000 people die every year in the United States due to medical mistakes, according to a 2016 study by Johns Hopkins, making those mistakes the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. For patients who are victims of medical mistakes, there are strict time limits in each state for filing a lawsuit. These are known as statutes of limitation and statutes of repose. If a lawsuit is not filed within these time limits, it can be dismissed, even if it is otherwise valid. The specific statute of limitations, in any case, will depend on the facts and circumstances of ...

For over 30 years, I have been fighting for victims of catastrophic neglect and misconduct. In the last decade, we have seen a tripling of cases in the medical neglect arena - doctors, nurses, and health systems making repeated life-and-death mistakes, leaving babies, children, and adults permanently and unnecessarily harmed. Research has shown that medical negligence is now the third leading cause of death in the United States. 

A case we recently settled exposed some of that negligence in the healthcare ecosystem that ultimately cost a young mother her life. With the case now ...

When people go to a hospital, they assume the medical professionals there will treat their illnesses skillfully, and they will return home in better health than before they left.

Sadly, this is not always the case. In fact, sometimes patients not only leave with new ailments and must be readmitted, but an unfortunate number die from their hospitalization.

According to a 2010 government study, published by Consumer Reports, “mistakes and other medical harm contribute to an estimated 15,000 deaths each month. And that’s just among Medicare patients.”

The nonprofit ...

We’re pleased to congratulate Pop Warner -- an organization that enrolls more than 285,000 children ages 5 to 15 in its football leagues and has produced more than two-thirds of the players now in the National Football League -- on its recent announcement.

Pop Warner has become the first youth football organization to officially limit contact during practices. Based on the advice of the group’s Medical Advisory Board and views from regional and local administrators and coaches, these rules will be in place for the 2012 season:

1. 1. No full-speed head-on blocking or tackling drills ...

It’s a perfect day for girls’ soccer. The young athletes on the field are energized, ready to play their hardest, and not to disappoint the parents and friends who are counting on them. Underlying this wholesome picture on high school soccer fields and local parks is an epidemic: the rising number of concussions suffered by female players.

As far back as 2007, The Journal of Athletic Training reported, “In high school soccer, girls sustained concussions 68 percent more often than boys did.” Additionally, the Journal found that “girls also took longer for their symptoms to ...

Suicide is an overwhelming tragedy. It leaves heartbreak and questions in its wake. In some cases, there is a note, which may do little to ease loved ones’ pain but can help solve the mystery of “why.” Junior Seau, 43, the former New England Patriots linebacker, who recently died of a gunshot to the chest, left no note. But could there be clues?

Chicago Bears football player Dave Duerson killed himself last year, in the very same manner as Seau. But Duerson answered the “why.” He had been convinced his years on the field had damaged his brain and left instructions to have it studied.

Much will continue to be written about brain injuries acquired on the field by professional football players. Grown men make a career decision to engage in a dangerous sport where the objective is to win at all costs, leading to on-field concussions that can be fatal.

Given the sport’s dangers and brutality, often likened to gladiator spectacles, is it ethical to watch the games? The New York Times posed that question in its always thought-provoking Sunday magazine column, “The Ethicist.” First, let’s consider the facts.

• The sport is played recklessly, celebrating the most ...

As long-time advocates of safer sports for kids, we have repeatedly called for a ban on all metal baseball bats. It was with sadness that we learned about the young suburban Chicago 12-year-old who died in a freak accident from a brain injury while playing the sport he loved.

Eric Lederman, of Oswego, collapsed last week after a baseball hit him in the neck during a game.  He suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage and died within 24 hours. The situation is a reminder of just how dangerous youth sports can be.

While deaths in youth baseball are rare, so are studies on the matter. One study ...

Imagine that you had hip replacement surgery only to discover that your new, all-metal hip had been recalled. That is the nightmare facing virtually 30,000 patients right now in the U.S., leading to thousands of medical malpractice lawsuits.

The real issue in this case is that the hip manufacturer appears to have withheld the findings in a Food & Drug Administration (FDA) report about safety issues with the hip. This happened long before the recall.

A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, DePuy Orthopaedics, made a decision not to publicize the agency’s findings to doctors, patients and ...

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a major public health problem. It especially affects male adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24, as well as older adults of both sexes aged 75 and older. Children aged 5 and younger are also at high risk.

What is TBI? A form of acquired brain injury, it occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. The damage can be confined to one or more areas of the brain and can result from a closed head injury or a penetrating head injury. A closed injury occurs when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, but the object does not break through the skull. A ...

Imagine that you’re about to undergo a surgical procedure. You’re anesthetized, but you feel confident because you’ve put yourself in the hands of a doctor you believe you can trust. Furthermore, the hospital where your procedure is taking place has state-of-the-art technology equipment.

What you don’t see is that the computer screen your physician and attending nurses are focused on is one for their own personal use. Examples include a doctor who makes personal calls on his smartphone during a procedure and a nurse checking airfares during surgery on her iPad or even ...

We all know that skiing, sledding and skating are fun, healthy winter sports, but they have the potential to cause severe personal injuries unless proper safety precautions are practiced. Common injuries from falls include sprains and muscle strains, dislocations, fractures and even brain injuries.

The U.S. Product Safety Commission reports that in 2010, more than 440,000 people were treated in hospitals, doctors’ offices and emergency rooms for winter sports-related injuries.

Snow-skiing and snowboarding injuries accounted for the most injuries. Sledding and ...

Many of my friends and colleagues know that I chose personal injury law as a profession because of the traumatic brain injury my best friend in high school suffered while playing football.

Due in part to the impact of that incident and my growing knowledge of how dangerous a sport football is, I refused to let my son, now in college, play high school football. The last thing I wanted was for him to be so talented that he would become a professional football player.

A story in the December issue of Sports Illustrated backs up that assumption. The magazine checked on the members of the 1986 ...

We’ve written a lot about brain injuries in professional sports. Some of it has been critical of players themselves – often football players – who continue to play despite repeated concussions. The long-term effects of repeated blows to the head have led some sports superstars to suffer severe depression, and even worse, commit murder or suicide.

Today, we’d like to tell you about two professional athletes who suffered multiple concussions and had the courage to leave the sport they loved and find another career.

Chicago-area native Chris Nowinski played football at ...

Did Chicago Bears great Walter Payton have a serious brain injury – one that was never really diagnosed and acknowledged? Did some of the moves he made as a running back on the field contribute to a dark side that led him to have suicidal tendencies, depression and an addiction to painkillers?

Through our law practice, we know all too well the causes and effects of brain injuries. It comes as no surprise to us that there are questions swirling around the release of sportswriter Jeff Pearlman’s new book, Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton. Why didn’t Pearlman ...

An increasing number of Illinois high school football players who have suffered concussions on the field are not playing this year – at the advice of their doctors. We applaud the brave decision of these young athletes and their parents, who have opted to forgo the sport they love – and one that could pave the way for a college scholarship – to allow their injuries to heal.

Their decision comes in the wake of a new Illinois law requiring that any high school athlete who shows signs of a concussion be cleared by a medical professional before returning to the field. A recent Chicago ...

If you are in an accident and suffer a personal injury, the last thing you need to worry about is the credentials of the physician caring for you. That’s why we were pleased to learn that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has signed the Patients’ Right To Know Act into law.

Under the new law, Illinois consumers will soon have access to an in-depth history of doctors, including whether they have been fired, convicted of a crime or have made a medical malpractice payment in the last five years.

For more than a decade, doctors’ groups blocked that bill -- until ...

We at Romanucci & Blandin were shocked to read in the Chicago Sun-Times that two-thirds of the state’s same-day surgery centers inspected this past year were cited for violations that could expose patients to deadly bacteria and viruses.

Dangling masks, exposed hair and sinks with no hot water to clean medical instruments were among numerous situations recorded by inspectors at 14 of 21 centers that were inspected. All of the centers cited have subsequently corrected their problems, say state health officials. Thirty-six surgical centers still haven’t been inspected since ...

We at Romanucci & Blandin applaud a recent Illinois Appellate Court opinion that reversed a lower court’s decision, making it easier for all hospital patients who contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to obtain medical records to pursue legal action.

The Court’s review arose from a case in which our firm represented two families whose breadwinners contracted MRSA at Advocate Christ Medical Center. One of the patients died.

In its ruling, the court rectified the injustice of the Circuit Court of Cook County by holding that information regarding MRSA ...

It’s not surprising to us that youth are still being injured on the baseball field by balls hit off a metal bat. The latest injury happened to a boy in South Dakota in late April, when 11-year-old Trey Brown suffered a brain injury after being hit in the head by a ball hit off an aluminum bat.

We’re not surprised because, even though Little League International banned the use of composite bats, they didn’t rule out other metal bats. They should have!

Trey Brown came home from a local baseball game complaining of a headache and soon began vomiting. His parents took him to the hospital ...

Could hospital noise, which has been shown to impede patient recovery, be used as evidence in a medical malpractice lawsuit? Only time will tell, but it’s no secret that hospitals are looking for ways to decrease noise levels.

While bad food used to be the number-one hospital complaint, it’s now the noise level, according to a front-page story in the Chicago Tribune. Noise can make patients sicker or, at the very least, inhibit their recovery. The story notes a Johns Hopkins study showing sound levels have increased significantly since 1960.

Noise in hospitals increases heart ...

This is a MUST-read for anyone who has to be hospitalized. The operative quote -- "Every hospital should have a plaque at its entrance that reads, ‘There are some patients whom we cannot help; there are none whom we cannot harm’” -- should be remembered by all. Approximately 10 people die from preventable medical mistakes in local hospitals every day and another 100 are injured. Be aware. Very aware.

The backstory: the government released the first report of its kind last week, listing errors and other adverse events among Medicare patients across the nation. Some say there could ...

While a great deal of attention has focused on concussions caused by football injuries, studies show that women may be at even greater risk because of their smaller frames and neck muscles. Furthermore, women can take longer to heal, especially if they are of childbearing age.

Concussions -- when the brain shakes around in the skull -- are serious no matter which sex or what age you are. Over one million people get concussions every year, though most of them are mild. Another half a million suffer severe concussions.

Recognizing the symptoms of a concussion is critical. If you have a ...

Chicago personal injury firm Romanucci & Blandin has learned about a new study that shows alarming results: high school athletes are four times more likely to suffer a concussion today than they were 10 years ago.

According to a study by Andrew Lincoln, who heads the Sports Medicine Research Center at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, in 2008, there were about five concussions for every 10,000 times kids got hit on the playing field. This compares with slightly more than 10,000 in 1997.

It’s unclear what drove the numbers up, but researchers say it’s likely a combination of ...

Our Chicago law firm has learned that the Illinois House of Representatives is considering legislation that would increase awareness of football-related head trauma and provide concussion safeguards for high school student athletes. Bravo to them for trying to pass a long-overdue law.

Former Chicago Bears offensive lineman Kurt Becker urged a House panel yesterday to back the legislation, citing the suicide just days ago of his former teammate Dave Duerson. Prior to his death, Duerson made arrangements to have his brain donated for trauma research with the hope that more can ...

It’s a frightening statistic: as medical malpractice attorneys, we were surprised when we read about a new study by the Archives of Surgery that found one in 16 surgeons has considered killing themselves within the past year because of burnout and stress over past medical errors.

The study also shows that surgeons, ages 55-64, had stress levels triple the national average.

Researchers reported that it wasn’t the thought of suicide that endangered patient health, but that burnout did appear to affect the quality of care. The survey also showed that only a fourth of the surgeons ...

Chicago City Council is considering an ordinance that would force public schools to prohibit youths who sustain a head injury or who show signs of a concussion from field play.

As Chicago injury attorneys, we applaud the ordinance, which is supported by Finance Chairman Ed Burke and Education Committee Chairman Latasha Thomas. At a public hearing on the matter, the chairman of Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Department of Neurological Surgery, Dr. Hunt Batjer, called the proposed crackdown “an important ordinance.”

Dr. Batjer said that girls’ hockey and soccer posed ...

Last week, Romanucci & Blandin filed a lawsuit on behalf of Robert F. and Cheryl L. Schutter, parents of Jake R. Schutter, age 11, against Easton Sports, Inc., d/b/a Easton-Bell Sports, Inc. Our client, an 11-year-old boy, suffered hearing loss as a result of being struck in the head by a baseball hit by an Easton Sports’ aluminum baseball bat.

In the lawsuit, we alleged that the bat was unreasonably dangerous because of the “trampoline” effect these bats are designed to create. The lawsuit generated quite a response in the blogosphere. Some of the comments were supportive ...

Let’s make a simple point: the catcher is wearing protective equipment behind the plate to protect himself mostly from foul balls.

The batter is wearing a helmet, at a minimum, to protect himself from errant pitches when he is unable to duck out of the way in time. The pitcher who stands the same distance away as the batter is unprotected from a ball that travels faster off the bat than it arrives at home plate -- which means the pitcher has less time to perceive and react to a ball than a batter would.

We all know that metal bats perform better than wood bats. period. If they did not, we would not be ...

A new study of 1,543 Marines who are returning war veterans shows that those whose deployments were marked by boredom, lack of privacy, and days off, as well as those with mild TBI, were three times more likely to engage in antisocial behavior upon their return.

Conducted by researchers at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, the findings take on added significance, given that fewer troops in Afghanistan will see active combat.

The NFL helped fund a study that has led scientists to make a connection between head injuries in athletes and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). In research conducted on the bodies of former athletes, the study results indicate that the new disease is similar to but not the same as ALS.

Dr. Ann McKee, a neurology professor at Boston University, who conducted the study, calls the new disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTEM). She says it is likely caused by repetitive head trauma that athletes can be exposed to in sports.

To reach her conclusions, she studied the brains and spinal cords ...

A big high-five to the California Interscholastic Federation for its surprise announcement on Wednesday that high school baseball teams must follow new safety standards for metal bats!

The Federation made the announcement in the wake of serious accidents that brought national attention to the bats’ safety. The state legislature had been considering a law that would have placed a two-year moratorium on the use of metal bats. Assemblyman Jared Huffman, who introduced the bill, said he postponed a vote for months while working with the CIF to implement safety changes. The CIF will ...

It came as no surprise to attorneys at Romanucci & Blandin that local doctors encouraged the transfer of baseball bat beating victim Natasha McShane to her native Belfast, Ireland, for another surgery and rehabilitation. Brain injury victims typically do better in a familiar environment.

Natasha, who suffered a senseless beating on April 23, is eating, walking with assistance and has started to say words, according to her family. Some of her vision is still impaired, and her final prognosis is still uncertain. During her difficult recovery period here, Chicagoans went out of their ...

In softball, little league, senior league and college baseball, most of the bats are made out of aluminum. Proponents of aluminum bats say that metal bats hit the ball harder and farther. But in truth, metal bats aren’t safe. They should be banned, especially for use by youth leagues.

Brain injuries, chest injuries, and even deaths have resulted when metal bats were used by children. Metal bats may increase the speed of the ball, but is a higher batting average worth the risk? Isn’t it ironic that, when it comes to professional baseball, players say that wood baseball bats are a must?

Kudos to the Chicago Sun-Times for launching a front-page series, written by Rick Telander, on a newly identified brain disorder called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, that affects football players who suffer multiple concussions. CTE is produced only by blows to the brain, and at least for now, it can only be discovered in a dead person’s brain.

In a recent issue of Scientific American Mind, Dr. Douglas Smith, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote that the injury doesn’t just suddenly appear but builds up over time ...

As most of our blog visitors know, we are outspoken critics of the use of metal baseball bats by youth leagues because of the catastrophic head injuries and other injuries they can and do cause. Some of our visitors tell us they not only respect our point of view but have climbed on the “ban” bandwagon and now support our campaign.

That means that a few metal baseball bats must be sitting around collecting dust. So before you toss that metal bat in the trash (and contaminate our environment), consider recycling. Metal bats are recyclable! In fact, the aluminum in metal bats can be recycled ...

Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, is outraged that an estimated 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors and that over 180,000 people are injured every year by preventable medical errors.

The best way to reduce medical malpractice claims, says Antonio M. Romanucci, is to reduce the incidents of malpractice. “More people die from preventable medical errors than from diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “And the number of preventable medical errors is very close to the number of accidents that lead to death.”

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) cannot be cured, so it is all the more important for people to prevent such injuries by using common sense.

For example:

• Always wear a seat belt in a motor vehicle
• Use an appropriate child safety seat or a booster
• Never drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Always wear a helmet when on a bicycle, motorcycle, scooter, snowmobile and other open, unrestrained vehicles
• Wear a helmet when participating in contact sports, horseback riding, skiing, snowboarding, skating and skateboarding.

There is no real difference between the terms “concussion” and “mild traumatic brain injury,” yet the term doctors use makes a big difference in the seriousness with which the injury is treated, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics.

During the study, doctors tracked 268 children admitted to a hospital in Ontario, Canada, after suffering a head trauma. One-third of them were given the diagnosis of “concussion,” while the others got some variation of “traumatic brain injury (TBI).” Those with a diagnosis of “concussion” were 1-1/2 times as ...

Is there a link between football players’ brain injuries and mental decline among players later in life? Evidence is mounting. Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, in Chicago, is pleased to see that the U.S. House of Representatives is holding hearings on this issue, at which former player Tiki Barber and family members of injured players have testified.

At the hearings, Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, would not say whether he thought there was a link between football and cognitive decline among NFL players. However, he did say that the issue of brain injuries in football warranted federal ...

Each year, some 1.4 million people in the U.S. sustain a traumatic brain injury, according to attorneys at Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, in Chicago. Some 50,000 die from those injuries.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of such an injury may range from “mild,” i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness, to “severe,” i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury. A TBI can result in ...

• Medical malpractice has no place in the healthcare debate. Healthcare reform is about making sure that every American has access to quality, low-cost healthcare, not about limiting the legal rights of innocent patients harmed by medical negligence.
• Tort reform does not improve the quality of our healthcare system or produce cost savings. Forty-eight states have already enacted at least one medical malpractice tort reform measure. Yet, these legal restrictions have done nothing to improve our health care system—forty seven million Americans still have no health care, costs ...

Should there be a cap on medical malpractice awards? No, said two-thirds of the respondents to a Chicago Tribune online survey published in the paper’s June 23, 2009, edition. There were 2,010 “no” responses and 1,045 “yes” responses, the Tribune reported. Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, has long opposed caps on damages.

Among reader comments printed in Wednesday’s Tribune:

• “There should not be caps. The numbers are arbitrary. Why should someone be compensated less because a negligent doctor hurt him than if a negligent driver did?”
• “Medical malpractice caps sound ...

Attorneys at Romanucci & Blandin have learned that Tony Award-winning actress Natasha Richardson may have suffered a traumatic brain injury while taking skiing lessons outside Montreal. Some reports have indicated that she was seriously hurt.

Her injury is a sad reminder that any head injury can have repercussions. Reports said she fell on the slopes and showed no visible signs of injury, but later reported feeling unwell. She was treated at a Montreal Hospital and flown to New York City for continued care.

This accident is a sad reminder that prevention is key. As a safety precaution ...

As the war in Iraq winds down, veterans will begin returning home in increasing numbers, often with brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other problems related to duty. In Chicago, the Police Department’s crisis intervention program is responding to an increase in veteran-related calls and stepping up efforts to help those whose psychological wounds can harm everyone around them, especially their families. The Cook County courts are also developing a plan that would help keep veterans out of the criminal justice system.

As a law firm that concentrates on helping ...

March 5, 2009 – The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday voted 6-3 to uphold the traditional right of consumers to sue a manufacturer if they are harmed by a defective product. Attorneys at Romanucci & Blandin in Chicago hailed the decision as a victory for consumers.

The ruling affirmed a nearly $7 million jury verdict in favor of Diana Levine, a Vermont musician whose right arm was amputated after she was injected with an anti-nausea drug. The ruling applies to more than 11,000 drugs on the market in the U.S., including over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs.

Tony Romanucci, a ...

Those of us at Romanucci & Blandin were stunned to read about the death of a 16-month-old boy who died from a severe brain fracture on January 12, the result of his being thrown to the floor by a 22-year-old teacher’s assistant in a Lincolnshire, Illinois, daycare center. Any catastrophic injury is tragic, but when the victim is a baby, it’s all the more egregious.

Initially, it was believed that the child died from a seizure, but further investigation by authorities revealed that the assistant, who was supposed to be caring for him, allegedly threw the child to the floor because she ...

Improved treatment for victims of brain injuries is the goal behind a new study funded at $4.3 million by the National Institutes of Health. The five-year study will collect information from more than 2,300 patients who have moderate to severe head injuries, typically suffered when the head violently strikes an object or when a sharp objects pierces the skull.

Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, which treats 50 to 75 patients with traumatic brain injury each year, is one of 11 healthcare facilities in the U.S. to participate in the study. The study is considered the largest and ...

Sadly, it appears that race is an important factor in determining who gets better health care. A new study published in the Archives of Surgery shows that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to receive quality care than whites when they suffer traumatic brain injuries. Although hospitals are supposed to treat everyone the same way based on injury severity, the report says they do not.

The study, which was based on data from 376,000 patients at 700 hospitals, indicates that whites who had insurance were more likely than blacks and Hispanics to survive after being treated for a head wound ...

The government is more than quadrupling monthly payments to some veterans suffering brain injuries, as the number of such war wounds mounts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new compensation is based on the assessment that even some troops who have the mildest form of traumatic brain injury could end up with chronic headaches, memory loss, anxiety or other symptoms that will hurt their chances of getting a job or job advancement -- thus reducing their lifetime earnings by 40 percent.

In a regulation announced Tuesday by the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials changed how they ...

Each year in the United States, approximately 1.5 million Americans sustain Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) ranging from mild to severe; 51,000 people die from TBI; and 230,000 people are hospitalized due to TBI and survive. Romanucci & Blandin has extensive experience representing victims of TBI.

A brain injury, which can happen in a split second, usually causes an injury that lasts a lifetime. One good resource for information is the Brain Injury Association of America. To get adequate help, you need to understand brain injury. Getting legal representation from a firm with ...

Romanucci & Blandin has been a major proponent behind the ban on metal baseball bats in Little League play. We are now one step closer to achieving that life-saving reality.

Rep. Robert Molaro of Illinois has introduced HB4140, which would ban the use of non-wood bats by organizations for children under 13. We hope that Committee Hearings will be held soon and then on to Springfield for a vote. In the near future, we will publish all available data on the risks of using metal bats in baseball.

This blog entry is to advise our readers of the bill’s introduction.