Chicago Injury Blog

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 the severity of the injury, 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. In addition, blacks with insurance had a higher mortality rate than insured whites.

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The last thing on your mind as you rush to the polling place on Election Day is a car crash. Yet statistics show that you have an 18 percent increased risk in death and a significantly increased chance of suffering a catastrophic injury.

So whether you plan to vote for Barrack Obama, John McCain or another candidate for President, the lawyers at Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, in Chicago, urge you to take extra precautions when you get behind the wheel, especially if you’re rushing to the polling place or driving on an unfamiliar route.

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Public Justice Foundation (PJF) is back before the U.S. Supreme Court in Philip Morris USA v. Williams again, filing an amici brief opposing the tobacco company's latest effort to avoid the jury's $79.5 million punitive damages award in that case. Tony Romanucci, a partner in the Chicago personal injury firm of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, serves on the board of the PJF.

The case arose out of the untimely death of Jesse Williams, an Oregon man who died from lung cancer caused by his smoking of Philip Morris' cigarettes. After being diagnosed with lung cancer, Williams told his wife that the "cigarette people" had deceived him, that he felt betrayed, and that "they were lying all the time." An Oregon state jury awarded $821,485.50 in compensatory damages and $79.5 million in punitive damages, the equivalent of two-and-a-half weeks profit for Philip Morris. The Oregon Court of Appeals and the Oregon Supreme Court twice upheld the award as entirely proper.

Continue reading "Public Justice Foundation Fights for Justice for All" »

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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 the way they evaluate the injuries. They now judge a person to be 40 percent disabled in such cses rather than 10 percent. The lower rating was set by a 1961 regulation. The change means that an unmarried veteran, who now recieves $117 monthly in compensation, could recieve as much as $512. Troops with spouses and children also would get more money.

Mild traumatic brain injury is basically a form of concussion that results from severe shaking of the brain after a blast. It can cause blurred vision, irritability and other problems.

The change takes effect in 30 days, and those recieving compensation under the old system can have thier cases reviewed.

Roughly 1.7 million American troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a RAND Corp. study estimated early this year that up to 320,000 may have suffered a traumatic brain injury.

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Tony Romanucci, who has extensive experience in traumatic brain injury (TBI) litigation, has thrown his support behind an Ordinance introduced by Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti on Sept. 10 at a Chicago City Council meeting to ban the use of metal baseball bats by organized youth leagues.

Tony, who helped organize a news conference preceding the Council meeting, spoke about the dangers of using metal bats. Other speakers were Christina Russo, the mother of a teenage son whose face was shattered when he was struck by a baseball hit by a metal bat, and Dr. Ricardo Senno, M.D., a specialist in the rehabilitation of TBI patients.

Tony also distributed copies of a letter of support from New York City Councilman James Oddo, who introduced similar legislation which was passed and upheld earlier this year by the New York Appellate Court. A photo of the news conference participants is posted in the Romanucci & Blandin Firm News, under Press Releases, 2008.

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In the first runway incursion incident, a commuter jet narrowly missed a general aviation aircraft during a nighttime landing at Fresno Yosemite International Airport in California.

In the second runway incursion incident, a pilot of a general aviation aircraft landed on a closed runway at the Reading Regional Airport/Carl A. Spaatz Field, in Reading, Pennsylvania.

In the aircraft separation incident, two commercial jets came within 1 minute lateral separation over the Atlantic Ocean in a non-radar environment where 15 minutes of lateral separation is required.

Romanucci & Blandin is doing its best to report these incidents as we feel that the overcrowding of the skies and cost cutting practices of all of our airlines may lead to disaster. Please make sure you are always reminding your federal legilatures as to how important aviation safety is and to keep in mind that runway expansion projects, new radar equipment, debris seeking equipment are all important to our continued safety in the skies.

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Kudos to the Public Justice Foundation’s “Access to Justice Campaign,” which has just won a major victory against AT&T in the Washington State Supreme Court – defeating federal preemption, mandatory arbitration, a class action ban, and a secrecy provision for consumers being denied their day in court. Antonio Romanucci, of Romanucci & Blandin, is a Board member of Public Justice.

Ruling in McKee v. AT&T, the state's high court rejected AT&T's effort to nullify state consumer protection laws through a contract that banned class action litigation and required individual mandatory arbitration over the company's illegal billing charges.

Thousands of AT&T customers in Washington State had been billed for "city utility surcharges," even when those customers did not live in municipalities that are subject to the surcharge.

The vast majority of the customers might never have known that they had been wrongfully charged the tax in the first place. Although the claims add up to millions of dollars in the aggregate, AT&T customers would not have been able individually to find lawyers willing to handle a claim involving overcharges of only $2 per month. As the Washington Supreme Court recognized, those claims could only be meaningfully pursued as a class action.

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Baseball – America’s favorite past time – is equated with good old-fashion fun, but in recent years there have been a number of brain injuries stemming from the use of aluminum bats in baseball games from Little League on up.

Ringler Radio host, Larry Cohen and co-host, Mike Casey, the organization’s board chairman, recently interviewed Tony Romanucci to discuss this controversial topic. The discussion included real life cases, Tony’s efforts to pass a bill in his home state of Illinois to exclude aluminum bats from youth baseball games and a look ahead at what is being done to make baseball safer on the baseball diamond. To hear the interview, click here.

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It’s been called a public health issue that often doesn’t register on America’s radar screen, but a front page story in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune underscored the problem of “backover” vehicular deaths of small children. Romanucci & Blandin believes the issue is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Continue reading "Backover Accidents of Children Gaining Attention of U.S. Safety Experts" »

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The Bush administration is working hard on tort reform -- not through Congress but through the Supreme Court. Now that Bush has a majority most of the time, the Court has been issuing increasingly conservative decisions that preempt state laws with respect to consumer safety. Already, one decision, Riegler v. Medtronic, is protecting the medical device industry so long as they sought federal approval for their product to be sold to the public. Even the doctors are worried. When the doctors worry about medical safety it is time for you to worry also. Please read the attached article prepared by the Download file">New England Journal of Medicine.

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Romanucci & Blandin was pleased to receive word that the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee on Education and Labor is investigating the U.S. Department of Labor’s longstanding failure to collect accurate data on workplace injuries and illnesses. Testimony presented to the committee this week in Washington calls into question the agency’s claims that workplaces are getting safer and healthier.

“Without accurate injury and illness statistics, employers and workers are unable to identify and address safety and health hazards, and policy makers are unable to assess the state of workplace safety in this country,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the committee. “We simply must not allow a lack of information to permit hazardous working conditions to go unaddressed, putting workers’ limbs and lives at risk.”

Continue reading "Under-reporting of Workers Compensation injuries distorts nation’s safety report card" »

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The Chicago Sun-Times story on Sunday about the progress being made by a 16-year-old Gary girl who last year suffered a brutal physical attack, cast a spotlight on what happens when someone suffers a severe brain injury. Attorneys at Romanucci & Blandin are all too familiar with the scenario because so many of our clients have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

In her mind, the victim sought solace in a safer time – back to when she was 6. In the newspaper story, her father likened her situation to a computer rebooting and coming back in a safe mode. Just like any computer that has crashed, once it comes back up, only certain information can be accessed

Continue reading "Brain Trauma Leaves 16-year-old Nearly Helpless" »

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Posted In: News That Affects You , Traumatic Brain Injury

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