A newly released government study found that one in twelve drivers admitted to having driven drunk in the previous year.  The study was conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Although the data was collected in 2008, the results were released last week.

Specifically, the study asked individuals whether they had driven when they believed that their blood alcohol level exceeded the legal limit of .08%.  This figure is particularly shocking when you consider the fact that it is likely that additional people engaged in this highly dangerous behavior but were too embarrassed to admit it.

In addition, a staggering one in five people admit to having driven within two hours of consuming alcohol.  Although this does not necessarily mean that these individuals were intoxicated when they drove, it is still dangerous behavior.  Of this group, the study also asked how many drinks they believed they could consume and still safely drive.  Forty percent of these individuals indicated that they could safely drive after consuming three drinks.  A terrifying eleven percent believed they could safely drive after consuming five drinks.  This behavior explains why injury and wrongful death from drunk driving are still so common:  apparently, at least twenty percent of American drivers simply do not understand the physiology of alcohol consumption, and are accordingly putting us all at risk.

Another facet of the study shows the profound disconnect between individuals’ logical evaluation of risk and the behavior they engage in themselves.  Four out of five people in the study stated that they believe that drunk driving is a major threat to their safety.  Indeed, this belief is well founded, as statistics compiled by the Federal Department of Transportation show that around a third of motor vehicle accidents resulting in fatalities stem from drunken driving.  Yet these individuals are still engaging in the practice themselves.  This goes far beyond negligence, to a willful disregard for the lives that will cross the paths of their paths.

Individuals seem willing to tolerate dangerous behavior in their friends, as well as themselves.  Like those who admitted to driving drunk, one in twelve people admitted to having ridden in a car with a drunk driver within the past year.  One group in particular was prone to this behavior:  young men aged 21 to 24 years.  Of this group, one in four admitted to riding with an impaired driver.

As NHTSA Administrator David Strickland eloquently stated, “We have to do more as a country to close the gap between believing that drunk driving is a threat and actively doing something about it.”  The first step is to make drunk drivers pay for their actions, and the devastating consequences.  If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by a drunk driver, it is crucial that you take action.  If this behavior is ever going to change, we must send a strong message that our society simply will not tolerate this abuse.  We urge you to speak with an experienced Chicago car accident attorney about your options.  Your courage and resolve could save lives.

Drunk driving is a particular problem over summer holiday weekends.  That’s why police nationwide will be putting on a two-week-long assault on drunk driving surrounding the upcoming labor day weekend.  Patrols and checkpoints will be greatly increased for those two weeks, in the hope of catching offenders, preventing accidents, and dissuading offenders from future drunk driving.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

While our Chicago personal injury attorneys are pleased to hear that the situation may be improving, we urge cyclists to avoid complacency.  Many motorists are still stubbornly unaware of the bicycles around them.  This negligence can lead to accidents, injury and death for bicyclists.

Crashes involving cars and bicycles are still surprisingly common in Chicago.  In fact, in 2008 alone (the most recent year for which complete data is available), there were 1,494 such crashes.  During that same period nationwide, accidents between cars and bicycles killed over 700 people and injured another 52,000.

That’s why defensive bicycling is so important.  Our Chicago personal injury attorneys would love to see more bicyclists taking the steps that can protect them from the common, but inexcusable, negligence of motorists.  This begins with always wearing a helmet – the single most important thing any bicyclist can do to prevent injury and death.  In addition, bicyclists should always ride on the road, not the sidewalk, and ride with traffic, not against.  In addition, there are a number of common accident scenarios that cyclists can take steps to prevent.

Avoiding cars entering the roadway from the right is a simple but essential safety precaution.  In fact, the single most common accident involving bicyclists is one where the cyclist is struck by a car pulling out of a driveway, alley, or side street on the right-hand side of the road.  This is often because cyclists tend to ride as far to the right as possible, to avoid traffic on the road.  Unfortunately, this makes it more difficult for cars entering the roadway from the right to see the cyclist.  Bicyclists must thus remain aware, slowing down if they see cars entering the roadway, using lights or horns, and making eye contact with these drivers whenever possible.

Another peril of biking as far to the right as possible is parked cars on the right hand side of the road.  It is surprisingly common for bicyclists to be struck by car doors opening into their pathway.  Again, awareness and avoiding biking on the far right of the lane can help prevent these accidents and resulting injuries.  Of course, motorists could prevent these accidents by the simple expedient of checking for upcoming bicyclists before opening their doors.  However, our Chicago accident attorneys have learned that you cannot expect others not to be negligent:  you must take whatever steps possible to ensure your own safety.

Biking to the right of cars can also be dangerous in many ways.  Bicyclists should never pass a car on the right, as drivers tend to be unaware that a biker is approaching on that side.  Bicyclists should also never stop to the right of a car at a red light:  drivers are again often unaware of their presence, and can strike them by turning right when the light turns green.  Instead, bikers at red lights should stop in the middle of the lane.

Finally, bikers must bike defensively to avoid being hit from behind.  When biking at night, cyclist should be sure to have a rear-facing light, or at minimum a reflector facing the rear.  Bikers should also check behind them carefully before merging left out of a parking lane, bike lane, or right-hand lane.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

These drugs are marketed under a wide variety of brand names, the most commonly known of which include Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor, Pravachol, and Mevacor. They work by lowering a patient’s LDL, the so-called “bad cholesterol.” Statins can reduce fatty deposits in a patient’s blood, and may also reduce inflammation, which leads to plaque deposits breaking away from the walls of blood vessels, causing blocked arteries: heart attack or stroke. The problem, however, is that no one – not even our nations top research physicians – really understands the relationship between bad cholesterol, inflammation, and heart disease.

Statins arrived on the U.S. scene in 1997. They are now the world’s most prescribed medications. In the United States alone, about 24 million – that’s right, million – people take these drugs. At one time, these drugs were earning manufacturers over $26 billion dollars a year. That figure has dropped slightly, as statins are now available in generic form. The availability of generics, however, and the corresponding availability of cheaper versions of these medicines, has only increased the number of people using them. In 2009, the number of statin prescriptions filled in the U.S. was double that of prescriptions filled in 2001.

This class of medications was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration for “secondary prevention,” or use in patients who had already suffered a heart attack or stroke – used to prevent recurring attacks.

But the rampant increase in use has been driven by “primary prevention,” the notion that statins should be used in patients who are otherwise healthy, but have high levels of LDL cholesterol. These primary prevention patients make up the majority of those on statins today – and it is these patients who are being placed at an unnecessary risk at risk, and may have valid medical malpractice or product liability claims in the future.

The latest round of the debate over statins appeared in late June in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The Journal published three studies, each looking at whether statins are all that they are cracked up to be. The first found that statins do not lower death rates among primary prevention patients. The second cast doubt on a key study used to justify primary prevention prescriptions. The third looked at the many conflicts of interest – ethical, clinical, and financial – that were present in that same study. Indeed, the principal researcher in that influential study (the JUPITER trial) had millions of dollars in royalties on the line. Our Chicago products liability attorneys believe that it will not be long before one – or many – class action suits are filed against the doctors and companies who conducted the JUPITER trial.

Conflicts of interest are simply at the heart of the booming popularity of statins. Indeed, primary prevention use skyrocketed after 2001, the year in which the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute adopted guidelines calling for primary prevention prescriptions for as many as 36 million Americans with elevated cholesterol. But the National Institutes of Health has now acknowledged that of the nine physicians involved in crafting these guidelines, eight had “substantial financial ties” to drug companies that manufacture statins.

This over-prescription is not simply an academic matter: the side effects of statins, which untold numbers of Americans have suffered unnecessarily, are many and varied. At the tolerable end, the most common side effect of statins is simply muscle aches. Although this side effect is mild, somewhere between 5% and 20% of statin patient experience this effect. Some patient also experience headache, nausea, sleep disturbances, weakness, joint pain, memory loss, and diarrhea. Other side effects are not so manageable: tendon problems, depression, sexual dysfunction, peripheral neuropathy, and cataracts.

Then there are the larger problems: pancreatitis, osteoporosis, hemorrhagic stroke, even interstitial lung disease. Additionally, statins can cause muscles to actually break down, releasing a substance that damages the kidneys. They can also increase a patients liver enzymes. This particular effect is so common and serious that all statin patients are advised to have liver function tests after starting the medication and every year thereafter. Shockingly, if the increase in liver enzymes is present but low, the patient is often advised to remain on the medicine. But this increase can lead to permanent, irreversible liver damage. Frighteningly, Dr. James M. Wright of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, sums up our understanding of the effects of statins with this statement: “I don’t think we know all the harms yet.”

In the face of the statin craze, true experts continue to remind us that the best way to prevent heart disease, heart attack, and stroke is to exercise, refrain from smoking and excessive drinking, and eat a healthy “Mediterranean” diet. Perhaps the problem was best summarized by Dr. John Abramson of Harvard Medical School, a vocal critic of the over-prescription of statins. “There’s a conspiracy of false hope. The public wants an easy way to prevent heart disease, doctors want to reduce their patients’ risk of heart disease and drug companies want to maximize the number of people taking their pills to boost their sales and profits.” Indeed, the drug companies have sought every avenue to increase the use of statins, testing their effectiveness (with negative results) on everything from Alzheimer’s and rheumatoid arthritis to prostate and breast cancer, from kidney disease to macular degeneration and even diabetic neuropathy

It is important to note that these new studies do not call into question the effectiveness of statins for those who have already had a heart attack. For those patients, statins are a proven and effective weapon for fighting off additional attacks.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago medical malpractice lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

Lou Gehrig’s disease, technically known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or A.L.S., is a disease affecting the brain and spinal cord, which control voluntary muscle movement.  This leads to problems with strength and coordination, and eventually progresses into the inability to perform basic tasks (sitting, standing), and eventually death.

The study was prompted by reports from the doctors at the Boston University School of Medicine, who serve as the principal researchers looking into brain damage in former NFL players who have passed away, and at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center of Bedford, Massachusetts.  These doctors reported that they had found interesting results in two NFL players and one boxer.  All three men had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, but had markings in their spines showing that they, in fact, did not have the disease.  Instead, they were suffering from a different fatal disease – one caused by traumatic brain injury, and which erodes the nervous system in ways that mimic Lou Gehrig’s disease.

These findings help to explain why athletes and veterans are diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at rates significantly higher than the general population.  Indeed, NFL players are diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease at a rate eight times that of the general population.  Likewise, in 2005, a study found that in Italy, professional soccer players are diagnosed with the disease at a rate six times that of the general population.  U.S. Soldiers also have an elevated rate of  Lou Gehrig’s diagnoses.

If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury (mild to severe), and were then diagnosed with A.L.S., it may be worth reexamining your condition.  If you were misdiagnosed, your treatment can be altered to help you cope with the condition you actually have.  Moreover, depending on the circumstances surrounding your brain injury, you may have a cause of action that can help you defray the costs of managing your condition.  Our Chicago brain injury lawyers can help you analyze your specific situation and help you determine what action you want to take.

This study, with its profound implications, should have an immediate effect on diagnoses in athletes and veterans.  Once the true nature of their disease is understood, they can be more appropriately treated – and, with further research and commitment, perhaps even saved.  These findings should also help advance the search for effective treatments for Lou Gehrig’s disease itself, as it will eliminate from studies and data those who do not actually have the disease.

Lou Gehrig himself sustained multiple traumatic brain injuries.  For example, in a 1934 game against the Norfolk Tars, the Yankee great was hit in the head by a fastball, above his eye.  He was left unconscious, and had to be helped off the field after he came to.  In fact, Gehrig had a history of repeated concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.  This is only in his baseball career – historians suspect that he also suffered traumatic brain injury during his years as a halfback in high school and college football.  Because Gehrig’s remains were cremated, we will never know whether he in fact died from the disease that bears his name.

In addition to Lou Gehrig himself, other famous victims of the disease include theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.  Hawking’s disease has often been described as “atypical,” however, because he has lived far longer than expected.  Notably, it has been reported that the first “sign” of Hawking’s Lou Gehrig’s disease was when he lost his balance, fell down a flight of stairs, and hit his head.  His case could thus be reexamined, as well.

Gehrig, who is famous for his streak of 2,130 games over 14 years, was also notorious for his “commitment” to playing through concussions, traumatic brain injuries, and other injuries.  We now know that his legendary “toughness” is better described as foolhardiness, or even stupidity.  This new study confirms what our Chicago brain injury attorneys have been saying all along – playing sports with a brain injury is an unacceptable risk.  Professional athletes should never take this risk, for their own sake and for the sake of the example they set for our young people.  And young people who are encouraged or ordered to “play through” even mild brain injury, and who suffer long-term consequences up to and including Lou Gehrig’s disease may have a cause of action.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.