Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog

Veterans Are At Risk Of Suicide & Need Help

Published on: April 22, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

Three Veterans Die by Suicide in One Week at VA Facilities

Veterans advocacy groups are pleading for the inspectors general of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services to promptly begin a joint investigation after three veterans took their own lives at VA facilities in just one week. According to VA representatives, since 2017 the department has tracked 260 suicide attempts at its facilities, with 240 of those having been interrupted.

As many as 20 veterans are dying by suicide each day. This is a tragically preventable number that reflects one and a half times higher than the civilian population’s suicide rate. Obviously, this group of American heroes is pleading for help.

Surgical Mesh Injuries To Women

Published on: April 22, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

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FDA Says Surgical Mesh Manufacturers Must Stop Selling Unsafe Devices

On April 16, 2019, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered two manufacturers of three different vaginal mesh products to immediately stop selling and distributing their products for not meeting U.S. premarket standards for high risk devices. The FDA also said there was insufficient evidence that the mesh worked better than surgery to repair pelvic organ prolapse (POP).

The three vaginal mesh devices are:

Illinois Cancer Trends Identified From Ethylene Oxide Exposure

Published on: April 22, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

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Department of Public Health Says Cancer Risk Studies Will Continue Southwest of Chicago

On March 29, 2019, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) released news that the Willowbrook Cancer Incidence Assessment study involving the area surrounding the Sterigenics facility in DuPage County found that cancers were indeed elevated. The increased cancer risk presents a public health hazard, prompting IDPH to investigate the implications associated with ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions in the Willowbrook area and recommend for further research.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), EtO is a colorless gas commonly used to sterilize some types of medical equipment and in fact carcinogenic to humans. The Sterigenics plant was ordered in February of 2019 by the Illinois EPA to seal its containers of the chemical and stop using EtO to sterilize devices.

Law For Workers Exposed To Toxic Substances

Published on: April 8, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

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New Proposed Legislation for Illinois Workers Exposed to Toxic Substance Injuries Now Sits with Governor Pritzker

The Illinois General Assembly has passed Senate Bill 1596, which is now at the hands of the new Governor awaiting passage to become a law. The legislation will allow workers to file a claim for benefits after being exposed to harmful substances (such as asbestos or beryllium) and later develop symptoms of injury or disease after the statutes of limitations has run out. The current 25-year time bar has made it nearly impossible for those workers to seek support thru the Illinois civil courts for assistance in recovery from their occupational diseases. SB 1596 would amend sections of the state’s current Workers’ Compensation Act and the Workers’ Occupational Diseases Act and applies to cases in which the statutes of limitations preclude recovery.

25-Year Timeline for Toxin-Related Employer Liability

4 Illinois Immigrant Shelters Will Close

Published on: March 25, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

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4 Illinois Immigrant Shelters Will Close After Repeated Incidents of Child Maltreatment

For more than 20 years, the Chicago area has been the temporary home to many migrant children detained after crossing the border. Some of these young immigrants were either alone or were taken from their immigrant parents to now be overseen by the U.S. Health and Human Services department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement. Currently, the largest caretaker for these children in Illinois is a 130-year-old nonprofit, Heartland Human Care Services, part of Heartland Alliance. ProPublica Illinois published a detailed report on December 21, 2018 which revealed several Heartland facilities had been involved in a series of disturbing federal investigations focused on the alleged abuse and neglect of migrant children.

Heartland is in the news again as the group announced it will close four shelters by the end of May. The shelters to be closed are located in the suburban Chicago community of Des Plaines and located on the campus of Maryville Academy, a Catholic child welfare agency. Heartland officials released a memo stating that the group also plans to add staff, employee care training and other resources at its remaining five facilities located in Chicago’s Rogers Park, Bronzeville, Englewood and Beverly neighborhoods. The closings are likely in response to the current administration’s zero-tolerance immigration push and related challenges, as well as in reflection of an ending lease on these facilities. Heartland officials say they plan to move children out of the Des Plaines shelters starting immediately.

Death Report Released From Child Services

Published on: February 28, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

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2018 Report Shows Nearly 100 Children Died While Involved in Illinois Welfare System

Each year, the Office of the Inspector General investigates deaths and serious injuries of Illinois children whose families were involved in the child welfare system. The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) Office has released a report by Acting Inspector General Meryl Paniak stating 98 children involved with the child welfare agency died in fiscal year 2018. The deaths were investigated between July 1, 2017 and June 30, 2018. No names or exact locations were used in the report but Cook County was home to the highest number of deceased children connected to the system compared to the rest of the state.

Paniak expressed concern in a letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration and the General Assembly saying, “The incidence of child maltreatment is deeply influenced by poverty, violence, mental health and substance use. System-wide collaboration and data-sharing across multiple service sectors—child welfare, juvenile justice, early childhood, education, public health, and behavioral and mental health fields—are essential to improving child and family safety and well-being on a broad scale.”

Companies Behaving Badly Part 7: USA Gymnastics & Michigan State

Published on: February 19, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

As part of a weeklong series, the personal injury attorneys of Chicago’s Levin & Perconti have been highlighting the list of companies named by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) as having the “Worst Corporate Conduct of 2018.” These companies have each engaged in behaviors that have emotionally and physically harmed patients, clients, customers, employees, and young female student athletes.

Larry Nassar, the now imprisoned former doctor for USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University Athletics, has landed both of his employers as the final “bad businesses” on the list. While employed by both the University and big-business funded USA Gymnastics, Dr. Larry Nassar was able to sexually abuse hundreds of young women. Since at least the late 1990s, high level employees at Michigan State had been aware of allegations against Dr. Nassar and had actively engaged in multiple coverups of these incidences.

Last year, Larry Nassar was sentenced to a minimum of 40-125 years in prison as the result of both federal and state charges of sexual assault of both adults and minors, as well as possession of child pornography.

Update: Sterigenics Plant in Willowbrook Has Been Shut Down

Published on: February 18, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

“Emissions are continuing to contribute to ambient levels of ethylene oxide in the atmosphere. This impact creates an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health.”

-John Kim, Acting Director of the Illinois EPA

On Friday, relying on new data from independent 30 day continuous air quality tests ordered by Willowbrook village officials, Governor Pritzker overruled the U.S. EPA and, in tandem with the Illinois EPA, ordered the immediate closure of Sterigenics.

Companies Behaving Badly Part 6: Largest Food Maker Accused of Child Slavery

Published on: February 17, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

As part of a weeklong series, the personal injury attorneys of Chicago’s Levin & Perconti have been highlighting the list of companies named by the American Association for Justice (AAJ) as having the “Worst Corporate Conduct of 2018.” These companies have each engaged in behaviors that have emotionally and physically harmed patients, clients, customers, employees, and young female student athletes.

Today, we’re focusing on the alleged human rights violations committed by Nestlé USA.

A group of former child slaves are forcing Nestlé USA to acknowledge and make amends for their role in not only allowing, but allegedly encouraging child slavery at cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast of Africa. The Ivory Coast, or the Côte d’Ivoire, supplies the majority of the nation’s cocoa and is known for allowing child labor in order to sell mass amounts of cheap cocoa to the world’s chocolate manufacturers.

Companies Behaving Badly Part 5: Blood Testing Company Deceives Patients, Investors

Published on: February 16, 2019 | Levin & Perconti

In 2003, a 19-year-old Stanford University dropout named Elizabeth Holmes launched Theranos, a Silicon Valley startup that promised quick blood tests at a lower cost than a traditional lab. Raising millions from private investors, Theranos claimed that just a few drops of blood sent away to their lab could be screened for a long list of health conditions, all at a cost of less than $3. By 2018, the company was bankrupt and founder Elizabeth Holmes was charged with 9 counts of federal wire fraud, as well as 2 counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The company officially closed its doors in September 2018.

Real Partnership with Walgreens, False Claims of Association with Department of Defense

Business really began to boom when Theranos partnered with Walgreens in 2013. Forty Walgreens locations across the country would carry Theranos’ Edison blood testing device, which the company claimed could quickly and cheaply screen for a myriad of disease. It has been claimed that Walgreens blindly agreed to a deal without personally testing the device’s accuracy to avoid a competitor partnering with Theranos first. Soon after, questions began being raised about the accuracy of blood tests allegedly run on the Edison device. A class action lawsuit filed in California by Theranos patients alleges that the company’s tests falsely diagnosed them with diseases they didn’t have. Clinical scientists suspect that such small samples of blood (which is all Theranos claimed to have needed) would then have had to be diluted to be run on standard blood testing machines. This dilution leads to less accurate test results and is not considered acceptable practice for blood-based lab tests. Walgreens ended its partnership with Theranos and sued them for breach of contract in June 2016.