Recently in Brain Injury Category

The City of Chicago is set to approve or deny a $6.25 million settlement with one of Dwight Washington’s victims today, reports ABC Chicago. If approved, it would be the first, and quite possibly, the largest of multiple settlements arising from a single drunken driving incident that occurred back in 2011.

The victim in this case, Richard Chang, was pinned under the city-owned Ford F-150 and suffered brain damage. He had to relearn how to walk and talk. Because of residual damage, he is unable to continue his previous career as a computer scientist. According to the Sun-Times, lawsuits are still pending for three other victims, including a 26-year-old nanny that pushed the 20-month-old girl that she was watching out of the way before becoming seriously injured herself.

The City of Chicago is finally looking to settle, six years after the police enabled an attack that left Christina Eilman permanently mentally and physically disabled. Most Chicagoans are probably familiar with Eilman’s case by now. She caused a disturbance at Midway airport in 2006 after suffering a bipolar breakdown. Officers arrested her and eventually released her in one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods. She was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and then fell from a seventh-story window, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Why might the officers be at fault? Though it seems many officers determined her to be a run-of-the-mill malcontent, others thought that she might need mental health care. Her stepfather warned the department that she was bipolar over the phone. They apparently thought it was a prank. Her mother also warned them. Her statements were never passed on.

The bill on high school sport concussions unanimously passed this week in the State House with a vote of 112-0 and has now been moved to the Senate, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Under the measure, school districts across the state would be required to adopt certain guidelines that seek to protect student athletes from concussions.

Referees in sports games will have to counsel coaches when a student athlete shows any indications of a concussion and make sure that the student gets evaluated by a medical professional under the guidelines from the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). Parents will also have to agree and sign off on these guidelines prior to allowing their children to engage in any sports at schools.

Former Chicago Bears offensive lineman Kurt Becker pushed a House panel on Wednesday to support the legislation focused on raising awareness about head trauma and providing concussion safeguards for student athletes in high school. Becker also shared the recent suicide of his former teammate, Dave Duerson, and noted that repeated head trauma may have contributed to Duerson’s death.

“The end result is that concussions are a very serious matter in contact sports,” Becker told the panel. The Chicago Sun-Times reported the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee ended up unanimously passing the bill, which has now been sent to the full House for a vote.

Chicago city council members are voting on a rule that prohibits student athletes who exhibit signs of a concussion from returning to a sport unless they have permission from a medical professional.

Public schools in Chicago are already asked to remove young sports players from the field if they show any symptoms of a concussion, including memory loss, headaches and dizziness. However, the new rule will also keep students from participating in sports practices or playing until they provide a note from a certified sports trainer or doctor that says they can return, according to Chicago Breaking News.

Former Stone Park police officer George Nissen, 47, settled a medical malpractice lawsuit with the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center for $16.2 million, according to the suburban Proviso Herald. The Melrose Park resident also will receive $1.5 million from a nursing agency that was named as a defendant in his suit.

The settlement, approved by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, must now get final approval from the Circuit Court of Cook County.

The lawsuit filed against the producers of the film "Transformers 3" on behalf of Gabriela Cedillo, who was left permanently brain damaged after an accident during the filming of a stunt, is still moving ahead.

But the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration cleared the producers of violating workplace safety rules, the Chicago Tribune reported. The state agency called the accident "unforeseeable" last Wednesday and will not fine the production company, according to IOSHA spokesman Marc Lotter:

Chicagoan Gabriela Cedillo thought working as an extra on the set of another "Transformers" sequel would be one small but important step toward her dream of becoming an actress. But it turned into a nightmare during a stunt gone wrong; now her family has sued Paramount Pictures for negligence, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

She reportedly has no memory of the accident that left her unable to walk or speak. Gabriela Cedillo was struck in the head by a severed tow cable that smacked into the hood of her car and then through her windshield during the filming of a stunt in Chicago on Sept. 21.

CNN reported on a recent study finding that more than half of those who suffer a traumatic brain injury will develop depression in the year following the injury. Results of the study were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

That means it might be a good idea to ask your Illinois injury attorney whether you should also undergo a psychological screening if another party is liable for your brain injury.

Only 45 percent of those who do become depressed after a traumatic brain injury receive adequate treatment. Charles Bombardier, professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine and lead author of the study, discusses the seriousness of the study's findings:

"We're not talking about normal day-to-day changes in mood, but symptoms that last for more than two weeks."