Residents in nursing homes typically require constant, around-the-clock care. They frequently have significant medical needs, they may be confused or disoriented, and they can do very little to care for themselves. There are state laws in place that require a certain number of caregivers to be present in a nursing home depending on how many elders reside there and the level of care they need. When these legal standards are violated, residents may not receive the care they need to stay safe and in the best health possible. This can be a form of medical malpractice.

If you believe that your vulnerable loved one is being neglected in an understaffed nursing home, you may want to reach out to an attorney who can investigate further. Your loved one - or in severe cases, their survivors - may be entitled to compensation.

What Are the Risks of Understaffing in Nursing Homes?

When nursing homes do not have adequate staffing, there may not be enough caregivers to safely monitor and care for the vulnerable residents. Some types of injuries and harms are very likely to occur when there are not enough caregivers present. Predictable harms include:

Some “bar fights” would be better classified as “bar assaults and batteries.” The term “bar fight” makes it sound as if two or more adults mutually decided to engage in physical combat when that is frequently not the case at all. Often, only one party wants to fight and initiates an attack, leaving the other party no choice but to defend themself. These bar attacks can result in serious injuries to the person who did not want to become involved in a fight.

If you were attacked in a bar and suffered injuries, you may have multiple options for recovering damages. It is important to get the appropriate medical care and then speak to an attorney as soon as you can. Witnesses will need to be interviewed while their memory is fresh, and any relevant footage from security cameras needs to be preserved promptly.

How Can I Recover Damages After a Bar Fight I Did Not Start?

There are two (or more) parties who could be liable to you. First, there is the person or people who initiated the attack. In some cases, the bar itself could be liable. An attorney can help you decide who to file a claim against. You may be able to file claims against multiple parties depending on the situation.

Rideshare drivers are normally not professional drivers. On most rideshare platforms, drivers are independent contractors with few or no qualifications but a valid driver’s license. While those with poor driving records should be rejected by companies like Uber and Lyft, this is by no means a guarantee that your rideshare driver practices safe driving habits. From the back seat, you may not have a clear view of what your driver is doing. Often, the passengers are not able to spot a rideshare driver’s unsafe driving habits until it is too late and an accident has already happened. If you are injured in a rideshare accident, there are a few steps you can take to help preserve your personal injury claim.

What Should I Do After a Rideshare Accident?

You may know what to do if you get into an accident while you are driving, but your course of action should look a little different if you get into a crash while in a rideshare. You can start by taking these steps:

• Medical care - As with any auto accident, seeking medical attention is important. Adrenaline can run high after a car crash, and because it acts as a natural pain reliever, you may not notice an injury right away. It is a good idea to let a medical professional assess you.
• Driver information - Make sure you have your driver’s name, then jot down a physical description. Careless rideshare drivers will occasionally attempt to escape liability by claiming that someone else was driving using their account.
• Witnesses - If anyone else witnessed your rideshare accident, take down their contact information and ask them to write down what they saw.
• Police report - A police report is particularly important when a rideshare is involved. However, be mindful of what you say. Be careful not to say anything that suggests your own actions played a role. Even in a rideshare, it is possible that the driver’s insurance company will try to limit or bar your recovery by putting blame on you.
• Report to the company - Make sure you report that you were in an accident to the rideshare platform. You can probably do this in your app.
• Insurance - Do not speak on the phone with the driver’s or rideshare platform’s insurance company until you have an attorney. Insurance companies frequently try to take advantage of unrepresented parties by offering lowball settlements that may not even cover your costs after everything is added up.

Perhaps the most important thing you can do is immediately contact an attorney for further advice and direction.

It can be very difficult for parents to choose a good daycare center for their children. Every parent wants their child to be safe and happy when they are not there to care for the child personally. Some signs of a dangerous daycare can be difficult to spot, and very young children may not have the skills to describe what goes on after you leave. It is important for parents to continuously monitor their children for any signs of abuse or neglect, including suspicious injuries. It can be equally important to keep a close eye on the facility itself. If you notice certain signs, you may want to at minimum, find a new daycare. Other signs may indicate that it is time to seek help and call a lawyer.

What Are Some Signs That a Daycare Is Not Safe?

Distinguishing between a sign of danger and the expected results of children playing in a group setting can be tricky. It may be a good idea to keep a written log of any questionable signs so that you will more easily notice patterns over time. Clues that a daycare center may not be the safest place for your children include:

• Staff turnover - If a daycare center cannot seem to keep staff members around very long, there could be a problem. Qualified and concerned childcare providers tend to leave very quickly if they find that the facility they are working at is not complying with DCFS regulations or is otherwise unsafe. Additionally, the constant need for rapid hiring can lead to important steps - like the background check - being omitted.
• Multiple complaints - Any business can find itself on the receiving end of an angry Yelp rant, no matter what they do. However, if you are seeing multiple complaints from different people and on different platforms, this is a good sign that most of them are probably accurate.
• Child behavior - You know your child better than anyone. If you start to see troubling behavior changes, particularly if they seem to revolve around going to daycare, something could be very wrong. If it is not typical for your child to become upset when you try to drop them off, or to “act out” after you pick them up, you may need to investigate further.
• Dirt - Children have a way of making big messes, especially in a group. That said, the daycare should appear clean each morning. If the facility is constantly dirty, there may be hygiene-related safety concerns.
• Low communication - Getting a response from the people caring for your child should not be like pulling teeth. If messages and emails are going unanswered, or you have trouble getting someone on the phone during the day when you need to, this should raise an alarm.

When in doubt, it is always better to investigate. The cause of your concern could turn out to be nothing at all, but if it does turn out to be a safety problem, you will be glad that you acted. If your child has already been harmed, get them any care they need and call an attorney.

It seems counterintuitive, to say the least. One would think that with more people working from home and avoiding large gatherings, there would be less traffic, equating to fewer opportunities for drivers to hit each other. You may be surprised to learn that the opposite is true. 2021 was the most dangerous year to be out on our roads in over a decade. Motor vehicle crash fatalities have only increased, despite there being generally less traffic. There are a number of theories floating around to explain this shift, most of which directly relate to how the pandemic has changed the mindsets of many drivers. Reckless driving behaviors, experts suggest, are on the rise.

Getting hurt in a car accident during a public health crisis can make your entire situation more difficult to deal with. If your crash was caused by a careless or reckless driver, an attorney may be able to recover financial compensation on your behalf.

How Is the Pandemic Contributing to More Dangerous Roads?

It all comes down to psychology, according to experts from Johns Hopkins and Temple University, among others. In the midst of a crisis, people are likely to be in a heightened emotional state, which can lead to reckless driving behaviors. All those cars out on I-294 at rush hour may not be stuck bumper-to-bumper quite like they were pre-pandemic when many more people had to commute, but the lack of traffic has not triggered a lack of road rage. If anything, road rage-related incidents are becoming increasingly common.