Chicago, Illinois Personal Injury Blog

Earlier this month, two city council members joined forces to implement safer practices within Chicago's elementary, secondary and high schools. The health issue at the center of their proposal is concussions, which students of all ages frequently suffer from due to sports injuries.

Illinois schools currently do have a policy in place regarding concussions. At this point, school policy prohibits students suffering from concussions to return to their sport if there is any physical sign that they are still injured. Safety advocates in Chicago want their area schools to be required to protect students' health and future development even further.

Cerebral palsy is a disorder that affects a person's motor abilities and muscular coordination. It develops due to brain damage, which often occurs when infants are born and they have been deprived of oxygen for a damaging amount of time. The condition is not curable, but there are various treatments and physical therapies that help patients live more comfortable lives.

With any treatment, it is important to ask questions and learn about the potential risks involved. Recent warning pieces regarding a relatively newer cerebral palsy treatment prove that point and how it's necessary to weigh potential benefits against potential risks when deciding on medical treatment.

Most people think that Botox is used only for aesthetic purposes, but the drug is also being used on cerebral palsy patients. According to experts, the injections have proven effective in making cerebral palsy patients' movements easier and smoother. Experts report that Botox injections also reduce the amount of drooling that results from the neurological disorder. Sources report that the benefits of Botox for cerebral palsy patients last for an estimated 22 weeks after the injection.

Could today's use of cesarean sections be nearing medical malpractice? In the last fifteen years the percentage of women able to get a C-section in a successive labor went from 30% to 10%, according to studies.

Current debate surrounds the ethics behind the common use of cesarean sections in U.S. hospitals versus the option for a vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC).

Illinois follows suit with this dangerous trend in the increased rate of C-Sections. While the Center for Disease Control's goal is to get the VBAC rate up to 37%, only one hospital in Illinois currently succeeds in hitting that target.