Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

The Chicago injury attorneys recently blogged about the disgraceful and self-serving study produced by the Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform. Last week, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association characterized the Chamber’s report as a shallow attempt to weaken the civil justice system to help its Wall Street and big business financers. This week, leaders of more of Illinois’ legal groups are criticizing a different Chamber study - the Chamber’s annual study on legal fairness. Illinois attorneys are calling it inaccurate, unfair, and stating that it should be looked at more like a public relations campaign than an actual reliable report.

President of the Illinois State Bar Association, John G. O’Brien, suggested that one has to consider the source, which is a cynical, money-driven organization that has no interest in the legal system. Mr. O’Brien added that he found the Chamber’s characterization of Illinois “insulting.” The recently released 2010 State Liability Systems Ranking Study is based on phone and online interviews conducted between October 2009 and January 2010. The study asks corporate lawyers and executives at companies that make at least $100 million each year – obviously they selected a very choice group to question! And their survey ranked Illinois 45th out of 50 states for “legal fairness.” Additionally, Cook County, where our attorneys frequently practice, was named the most unfair court jurisdiction in the nation.

Further, Illinois ranked 43rd out of 50 on juries’ fairness. The Chicago personal injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti question how one can judge the fairness of a jury. Inherently, is not a jury of ones peers the fairest method of decision envisioned by the founders of our country?

President of the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform added that Illinois has rolled out an unwelcome mat to business and added that the state’s legal climate discourages economic growth. Illinois Trial Lawyers Association stated that the survey is bankrolled by companies like AIG, which gave nearly $25 million to the Chamber in the last decade to sit on its board. Of course, the Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti question the fairness of such statements. The Institute for Legal Reform is bankrolled by companies who were bailed out by taxpayers, yet the Institute opposes taxpayer and citizens’ rights to seek justice in a civil setting.

Click here to read articles featured in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, including the Illinois legal groups’ response to the study.

The Illinois injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti have been watching the status of several bills that will affect our clients and have noticed that they have been stalling pending the passage of the historic health care bill. While the Chicago medical malpractice attorneys are relieved that our lawmakers are finally addressing comprehensive health care reform, we are anxious about the status of several other bills. We agree with the American Association for Justice and are confident that the healthcare bill’s passage will now allow for progress on other bills that we’ve been watching.

Some key measures that have stalled in the House and the Senate that the Illinois medical malpractice attorneys at Levin & Perconti are focused on include:

(1) The Medical Device Safety Act (H.R. 1346, S. 540), which would allow medical product liability victims to bring product liability lawsuits in state court against makers of faulty medical devices.

(2) The Notice Pleading Restoration Act of 2009 (S. 1504), which would restore the “notice pleading” standard that was the standard for many years in federal court and overturn the Supreme Court’s cases requiring personal injury plaintiffs and other plaintiffs to put enough facts in a complaint to establish a “plausible” claim in order to withstand a challenge by the defense. As Chicago injury lawyers, we are paying close attention to this bill. Requiring injured victims who sometimes have little to no information as to who caused their injuries at the time of suit to file a detailed complaints puts a large burden on plaintiffs and limits their access to justice.

(3) The Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010, which would make it easier for American consumers injured by defective products, such as the controversial Chinese-manufactured drywall, to file product liability lawsuits against foreign manufacturers of defective products.

To read more about the stalled bills that affect negligence lawsuits that Illinois injury attorneys are watching.

Click here to search for the status of any House or Senate bill.

Progress was finally made last week when the historic health care bill was signed into law. During the arduous debates involving the health care law for nearly a year, the only points that opponents of health care reform would discuss were “tort reform” and “frivolous lawsuits.” Despite mountains of facts to the contrary, 40 million people uninsured, and skyrocketing health care costs, opponents to the health care bill and many Republican lawmakers argued that trial attorneys and plaintiff injury litigation were to blame for all of our nation’s health care system’s problems.

So, the entire argument of health care opponents was that too much medical malpractice lawsuits and personal injury lawsuits were the cause of our country’s broken health care system. And what has happened now that monumental health care legislation has been signed into law? The health care opponents hired lawyers and filed lawsuits of their own.

The Chicago injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti agree with the American Association for Justice and acknowledge that there is nothing inherently wrong with using the legal system to solve disputes when no other solution is available. In fact, the Chicago medical malpractice lawyers agree that the judicial system was created by the Founders for this very purpose! However, it is awfully hypocritical for lawmakers to push for “tort reform” and limit everyday American citizens’ access to civil justice while also using the court system to push their own self-serving agenda. It is shameful that such individuals are continuously trying to limit the type of justice that individuals harmed by negligent doctors or nursing home abuse can obtain through the justice system while using the court system for its own movement.

To read more about the tort reform hypocrites, click on the link to the article featured on Huffington Post.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is concerned judicial qualifications. He is proposing House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 57, which would add an experience requirement for a person to meet in order to become a judge. Specifically, a judicial candidate would have to have been a licensed attorney for at least 10 years before becoming a circuit judge, 12 years before becoming an appellate justice and 15 years before joining the state’s Supreme Court. According to an article in the State Journal Register, Madigan stated that “it’s basic, sound policy that before people become a judge and have rulings that affect other people, they should be licensed attorneys for 10 years.” The Amendment would give Illinois the toughest judicial experience requirement in the nation. The judicial community as well as the Illinois State Bar Association are backing Madigan’s proposal. The attorneys at Levin and Perconti agree that it is critical to have highly qualified and experienced judges as this will aid their clients in achieving the best verdicts possible in Illinois courts.

Kaufmann v. Schroeder, No. 109738, is a case that presented a question as to whether a trial court had properly dismissed plaintiffs' claims of negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent infliction of emotional distress arising out of allegations that doctor employed by defendant-municipal hospital committed unwanted sex act on plaintiff, where dismissal was based on expiration of one-year statute of limitations period found in section 8-101(a) of Tort Immunity Act. While plaintiff argued that applicable limitations period should have been two-year period found in section 8-101(b) of Tort Immunity Act, Appellate Court, in affirming dismissal, found that section 8-101(a) of Tort Immunity Act applied since doctor's actions were unrelated to providing patient care, and plaintiff's injuries otherwise did not result from her patient care. (Dissent filed.) This Illinois Supreme Court Ruling will have an effect on the tort immunity act.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which acts as a front group for corporations and advocated for policies that drove our country’s economy to collapse, is now calling for more of the same policies. The Chamber of Commerce released its annual lawsuit climate rankings today by its Institute for Legal Reform – calling for less oversight and less accountability for the Wall Street, drug, and insurance companies that fund the corporate front group. The survey screams unreliability as it relies on the opinions of corporate defense attorneys that profit when their companies are shielded after hurting American consumers. The Chamber is financed by companies like AIG, which gave nearly $25 million to the Chamber in the last decade to sit on its board. The same AIG that the U.S. government bailed out with taxpayer dollars after the insurance group failed to set aside reserves for large financial risks that it took in selling derivative contracts. The Chamber has also been very vocal in pursuing so-called "tort reform," an attempt to limit the rights of those personally injured by negligence.

Peter J. Flowers, president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, replied that the Chamber’s report “is just another shallow attempt to weaken the civil justice system to help its Wall Street and Big business financers its Wall Street and Big business financers.” Hopefully, the American people remember what they have seen what happens when the Chamber’s largest clients – like AIG, insurance and drug companies – are not held accountable. Year after year, academics, consumer groups, and other experts have ridiculed the Chamber’s report for its errors and lack of methodology. The report has been called inaccurate, unfair, and bad for business.

Click here to read a detailed analysis of the annual rankings.

An Illinois negligence lawsuit against an Illinois strip club can proceed after a decision issued by the Illinois Supreme Court. Chicagobreakingnews.com reported that the Illinois Supreme Court decided that DuPage County Diamond’s Gentlemen’s Club near West Chicago had a duty to prevent two intoxicated patrons from driving away. The Illinois Supreme Court ruling has made way for an Illinois negligence lawsuit filed by the families of one of the patrons and a woman who were killed in a subsequent alcohol-related accident. The drunk driver was convicted in 2007 of aggravated DUI and reckless homicide and is serving a 12-year prison sentence; however, the negligence lawsuit against him and the operating company of Diamonds Gentlemen’s Club is still pending.

While the DuPage County strip club does not have a liquor license, strip club patrons are allowed to bring their own liquor and the club sells them mixers. The drunk driver and his passenger had been drinking heavily at the club and were ordered to leave after the drunk driver was witnessed vomiting in the bathroom. In its opinion, the Illinois Supreme Court stated that the operating company “knew that the [drunk driver] was intoxicated and clearly knew he was driving from the premises.” Of the premises liability lawsuit, the victim’s attorney stated that it was a perfect storm of bad conduct.

The St. Charles Sun also reported that the owners of Diamonds Gentlemen’s Club could be held liable. The drunk driving accident involved an SUV traveling on Route 25 when it crossed the center line and slammed head-on into an SUV driven by a 27 year-old Yorkville woman who was two weeks away from giving birth.

The Chicagobreakingnews.com article about the premises liability lawsuit is available here.

CNN.com recently reported that a former in-house attorney who resigned from Toyota has internal documents that are potentially damaging to his former employer. According to the former counsel for Toyota, the documents are very damaging. The former in-house counsel defended Toyota in product liability lawsuits and negligence lawsuits from 2003 to 2007. The former product liability attorney says that he quit because Toyota was withholding information that the company was legally required to disclose to product liability plaintiff attorneys. The article is what every product liability attorney feared – the product liability attorney who left Toyota says that there is a regular pattern and practice of not producing memos, minutes, reports, and e-mails to personal injury plaintiff attorneys. Documents that were withheld can be used to establish liability against Toyota in product liability and personal injury lawsuits.

For many years, Toyota consumers complained of sudden acceleration. As many as 2,600 consumer product complaints were filed. Only now has any product recall been issued although internal documents now indicate that Toyota traced its problem to its software as far back as 2005.

The Chicago injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti have blogged a lot recently about the Toyota vehicle recalls. Recently, the Chicago product liability attorneys highlighted an article focused on how the Toyota vehicle recall has helped to prove the need for trial attorneys. Trial attorneys act as a check and help to give a voice to consumers who have been ignored by companies and the government.

Click here to read more about the Toyota attorney’s allegations about withholding documents.

The St. Clair Record recently reported that a wrongful death lawsuit settled for $700,000; the defendant, L.A. Weight Loss, will make payment to the two children of a woman who suffered fatal liver failure after using supplements recommended to her by the Weight Loss Centers. According to the wrongful death lawsuit, the victim sought help losing weight in 2004 and was given and used supplements not tested or regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). She then developed symptoms of liver disease and sought treatment a hospital where she was diagnosed with liver failure caused by the supplements. She died before she could receive a liver transplant.

While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has broad authority to regulate drugs, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 mandated that the FDA treat dietary supplements as foods rather than drugs. So, unlike drugs which are subject to safety testing, dietary supplements are not subject to safety and efficacy testing and there are no approval requirements. The FDA is limited to only taking action against dietary supplements after they are proven to be unsafe products. Manufacturers of dietary supplements are permitted to make specific claims of health products, referred to as “structure or function claims” on the labels of dietary supplement products. They may not, however, claim to treat, diagnose, cure, or prevent disease and must include a disclaimer. The way dietary supplements are regulated may be why there are personal injury and wrongful death claims from drugs, such as these weight loss supplements. In order to better protect people from the dangerous products they may ingest, the FDA needs to be able to test the safety of products prior to their release on the market.

Read more about the wrongful death lawsuit settlement here.

The Washington Post recently reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking a second look at the safety of spices. Federal regulators recently met with the spice industry to determine methods and practices to make the supply safer. Ideally, the spice industry would take proactive steps to prevent contamination, such as using one of three methods to rid spices of bacteria: irrigation, steam heating, or fumigating with a pesticide. This is a pressing and important food safety issue because the FDA does not have specific guidelines for screening lead in dried products. At the FDA, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition is the branch of the FDA responsible for ensuring the safety of and accurate labeling of nearly all food products in the United States.

Spicemakers have been in the news in the past over product safety issues. Last year, a man who claimed to have received salmonella poisoning at a buffet restaurant filed a personal injury lawsuit against a spicemaker. In April of last year, a spice recall was instituted after nearly 50 people in multiple states became ill due to spice linked to salmonella. The strain of salmonella was of particular concern because it was both rare and dangerous.

As described above, salmonella-stricken spices caused severe personal injuries last year and the Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti are glad that the FDA is reexamining spice safety. Our Illinois product safety attorneys represent victims in matters against corporations or manufacturers who have sold or manufactured unsafe products to consumers – and “products” in this sense includes unsafe food.

For more information on reexamining potential spice contamination, click here.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce and its investigations subcommittee have summoned the chief executives of WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group, Humana Inc. and Aetna to testify about medical claims denied for individuals with preexisting conditions as well as recent rate hikes.

The lawmakers have written letters to the CEOS of the four largest insurance companies, asking these companies to provide information about claim denials for policyholders with preexisting conditions and refusing coverage for potential customers with medical conditions. Congress also wants the insurers to list their average premiums and average increases, information about the companies' maternity care coverage in the individual market, and information to justify rate increases.

The Chicago medical malpractice attorneys at Levin and Perconti are members of the American Association for Justice and will remain on top of these issues. Our Illinois personal injury attorneys constantly work to protect not only their clients’ rights to healthcare, but the right of all America's patients to healthcare.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is adding its strongest product liability warning to the label for the drug Plavix. The warning will caution that some patients do not respond to the blockbuster blood thinner. The Los Angeles Times reported that the boxed warning indicates that the drug is dangerous only in the sense that it does not work in certain patients and may leave them vulnerable to heart attacks and strokes. Last year, the FDA warned that popular drugs like Prilosec or Nexium can weaken the effect of Plavix. Plavix is used for prevention of vascular ischaemic events, acute coronary syndrome, and for the prevention of thrombosis after placement of a stent. Plavix is marketed worldwide in nearly 110 countries, with sales in the United States of $6.6 billion in 2009. It has been the 2nd top selling drug in the world for a few years as of 2007.

The FDA regulates almost every facet of prescription drugs – testing, manufacturing, labeling, advertising, marketing, efficacy, and safety. A drug that is approved by the FDA is said to be “safe and effective when used as directed.” The product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti try to keep our Chicago attorneys updated on drug safety or recalls. Earlier this year, the FDA added new product liability health warnings to Meridia, a popular diet and weight loss drug. Although European Medicines Agency advised physicians and pharmacists in Europe to stop using the drug altogether, the FDA added a warning stating that the drug is associated with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in people who use the drug and have a history of heart problems.

To read more about the added boxed warning to Plavix, click here.

The Chicago product liability attorneys at Levin & Perconti have been following the Chinese drywall litigation closely over the past year and wanted to share that the first “test case” of the product liability cases will be heard this week. The homeowners’ case does not have any direct legal influence on the other drywall litigation, but the court is expected to decide about what needs to be done to fix the home and how much it will cost. These decisions could help to establish guidelines that will aid settlement discussions in the Chinese drywall litigation that follows.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Chinese drywall product liability cases, over a year ago, homeowners began experiencing problems with drywall manufactured in China. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) followed the complaints by ramping up an investigation into the faulty drywall product that was emitting sulfuric odors and exposing homeowners to personal injuries such as respiratory problems. The company agreed to strip out to the low-quality drywall and replace it. Unfortunately, the Chinese drywall affected homeowners by driving owners from the homes. Further, the fix is extremely expensive – with local builders estimating that the product liability could cost more than $5 million. Last month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the CPSC issued guidelines for homeowners to identify dangerous drywall. The process consisted of two steps – (1) an initial or threshold inspection to find visual signs of metal corrosion and evidence of installation during the relevant time period and (2) the identification of corroborating evidence or characteristics.

Click here to read more about the “test case” for the Chinese drywall litigation.

Chicago newspaper SouthtownStar explored the nursing home abuse legislation introduced by Chicago lawmakers this week. The nursing home abuse attorneys at Levin & Perconti are happy with the two key features of the reform nursing home abuse legislation – beefing up nursing home staffing in Illinois nursing homes and raising fines on facilities that endanger residents. The nursing home industry signaled that it was not happy with the nursing home neglect bill, stating that the proposal far exceeds the issues addressed by the Illinois governor’s nursing home safety task force.

Illinois state Senators Jacqueline Collins and Heather Steans co-sponsored the legislation, which is backed by groups such as the AARP, unions representing health care workers, the Supportive Housing Providers Association, and Illinois Citizens for Better Care. As an AARP volunteer from Decatur stated, and Levin & Perconti has unfortunately realized for a long time now, thousands of nursing home residents in Illinois are victims of nursing home abuse, assault, and inadequate care. The nursing home group says that the legislation is unreasonable and mentions that the state has cut back on public health surveyors for many years.

Specifically, Senate Bill 685 aims to address these problems by improving the quality of care, creating meaningful regulations for Illinois nursing homes, providing regulations that promote resident safety, improve the quality of care for nursing home residents through provisions like higher staff to patient ratios and enhanced training, and offering less restrictive alternatives to people who do not need nursing home care.

The AARP has set up a Nursing Home Legislation Hotline. Citizens can contact their legislators and urge them to support by the SB 685 by calling 1-888-616-3322.

Click here to read more about the Illinois nursing home legislation.

To read the AARP summary, click here.

Chicago news source Lake Effect News is reporting tonight that there was a severe fire in an Uptown SRO this afternoon. Editor Lorraine Swanson reported that the fire on the seventh-floor left one man with personal injuries of second-degree burns. He also suffered from smoke inhalation. Dozens of other residents exited their units and many residents told Lake Effect News that the building’s alarm system did not go off during the fire; they were ignorant of the fire until the fire trucks pulled up. One witness told Lake Effect News that firefighters were knocking on doors looking for the fire and smoke came pouring out when they found the unit with the fire. Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to find the victim who was lying on the floor.

Fortunately, this fire appears to have been contained to the one unit and did not spread to other parts. If residents’ accounts of non-functioning smoke detectors and fire alarms are true, this fire could have led to tragic results. We will keep watching as this story unfolds.

Click here to read the Lake Effect News story on the Uptown fire.

The injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti are familiar with what tragedies occur when smoke detectors fail. The Illinois fire injury attorneys represented families of six children who died in a tragic apartment fire in 2006 in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Two other children were severely injured in the fire. The Chicago landlords of the apartment building failed to ensure that the unit had functioning smoke detectors. This violated the Chicago Municipal Code. In 2007, the injury attorneys obtained a $6 million settlement on behalf of the families of the Rogers Park apartment fire victims in their lawsuit against the building owners and managers.

To read more about the 2007 wrongful death settlement, click here.

On the morning of Valentine’s day, a tragic deadly fire killed seven people, including four children, in Cicero, Illinois. Further, a Cicero Fire Department firefighter also suffered a personal injury when a chimney collapsed on his head inside the building. Two adults were wrongfully killed near the porch area and five others were found in the attic of the building which had a single stairwell as a means of escape. During the fire, however, the stairwell was blocked and trapped the victims.

Yesterday, the Chicago Tribune outlined the landlord’s alleged murder plan that led to the deadly Illinois fire. According to Cook County prosecutors, the landlord intended to burn down one of his Cicero apartment buildings and collect on the $250,000 insurance policy. He was planning to move to West Virginia and make himself hard to find without a telephone or mail service. He is alleged to have hired the Cicero building’s maintenance man to carry out the plot to torch the wood structure during the day when the children were at school and women were at work. Apparently, the handyman didn’t listen – and set fire at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday.

Unfortunately, the Chicago injury attorneys are not unfamiliar with stories of deadly Illinois fires. The Illinois wrongful death attorneys represented the families of six children who died in a tragic apartment fire on Chicago’s north side. Two other children had sustained severe burns in the fire. The landlords of the building where the deadly fire occurred failed to have proper and working smoke detectors in violation of the Chicago Municipal Code. The Chicago attorneys obtained a $6 million settlement on behalf of the families of the Chicago fire victims.

Click here to read more about the deadly Illinois fire.

Pence v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Corporation, No. 1-08-3668 (2-3-10) found that when the plaintiff parked his car in Metra parking lot, and walked diagonally across the street, and in middle of street tripped on bolt protruding from railroad tie. Metra owed no duty to Plaintiff as he was not a passenger, as he had not yet boarded train and had not purchased train ticket that morning, even though Plaintiff stated that he had monthly train pass and intended to board train. Plaintiff was not in a crosswalk at time of his fall, thus he was not intended user of middle of street and Metra owed no duty of care to him. This case will impact Illinois premises liability law.

House Bill 5381 would allow the circuit court to give required notice to a party by email if the party has an electronic address. Requires that the circuit clerk maintain a copy of the electronic content and a delivery receipt in his or her records. Gives electronic notices the same effect as a hard copy notice. This bill would have a large impact on Illinois lawyers.

Chicago injury attorney Steven M. Levin recently addressed the violence that has been reported and uncovered in Illinois nursing homes in a Letter to the Editor at Chicago Tribune. Mr. Levin commended the Chicago Tribune’s effort in raising public awareness surrounding the safety issues in Chicago nursing homes. The title of the Chicago Tribune article was “Nursing homes’ toll: 86 sex cases, 1 arrest.” Steven M. Levin has represented victims and families of victims in several incidents of Illinois nursing home abuse and neglect and has advocated for nursing home reform for many years. The nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have fought for the vulnerable nursing home victims and have been successful in obtaining many record verdicts and settlements.

The Chicago Tribune noted that many of the Illinois nursing homes where sexual attacks occurred were operated with insufficient nursing home staff. Mr. Levin replied that substandard nursing home staffing is the cause of the majority of Illinois nursing home neglect and safety issues. Mr. Levin added that some nursing home owners focus on census and revenue over the safety of their nursing home residents. In order to end the incessant violence in Chicago nursing homes, we must address the issue of nursing home staffing.

As highlighted in a blog post from earlier this week, Illinois elected officials are stepping up their push for nursing home safety, but there is more that we can do. Readers are encouraged to contact your state representatives to demand legislation providing adequate staffing standards for Illinois nursing homes. You can find out who your state representative is by clicking here.

To read the Letter to the Editor that Steven M. Levin submitted to the Chicago Tribune, click here.

The Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti are happy to share that the State of Illinois is stepping up its nursing home safety push, according to a recent Chicago Tribune article. The Illinois Attorney General stated that her office and the local police are working to protect Illinois nursing home residents by visiting Chicago and Illinois nursing homes unannounced and also conducting safety checks at troubled Illinois nursing homes.

Chicago police have joined forces with investigators and medical experts from the Illinois Attorney General’s office to find unregistered felons and sex offenders living in Illinois nursing homes. When visiting Illinois nursing homes unannounced, authorities are also interviewing nursing home residents and nursing home staff at the Illinois facilities with histories of serious resident safety breaches. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is also working to introduce a comprehensive package of nursing home safety-reform bills in the near future.

The nursing home injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti are glad that vulnerable nursing home residents are finally getting the attention they need and deserve. For too long, residents have been neglected, being abused under the radar. Recently, Governor Quinn’s Nursing Home Safety Task Force completed a 52-page plan to overhaul our state of Illinois’s troubled nursing home system. The task force was formed after a Tribune investigation documented rapes, attacks, and murders at Illinois and Chicago nursing homes that serve the area’s poorest residents. Particularly troublesome in Illinois is its reliance on nursing homes to house younger psychiatric patients, including more than 3,000 with felony records. This is an issue that Levin & Perconti has often highlighted in its Illinois nursing home abuse blog. More than a dozen early nursing home safety bills have already been introduced by nursing home advocates and the nursing home industry.

Click here to read the full Chicago Tribune article about the increased safety push.