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I llinois Expands COVID-19 Workers' Comp Protections to First Responders and Front Line Workers, including correctional officers, grocery store workers, delivery services, warehouse employees, and others engaged in essential services.  Read below to see if you are covered.

Yesterday, the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission issued an emergency amendment creating a rebuttable presumption for First Responders and Front Line workers who contract COVID-19.  Under the amendment, if any First Responder or Front Line worker suffers an injury or a period of incapacity due to COVID-19, it will be presumed that the exposure is work-related and compensable under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act.  In other words, if you meet the definitions in the Act, it is presumed that the employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier is responsible for paying medical bills, temporary total disability wages, and disability payments for any permanent injury, including death.

The amendment does not exclude employees in the covered industries who are working from home.

First Responder is defined as any police, fire personnel, EMT's, paramedics, health care providers, and Correctional Officers.

Front Line workers covered under the amendment include those in the following industries: grocery and pharmacy; food, beverage, and cannabis production; charitable and social service organizations; gas stations and transportation; financial institutions; hardware and supply stores; critical trades; mail, post, shipping, logistics, delivery, and pick-up services; educational institutions; laundry service; restaurants for consumption off premises; home-based care and services; residential facilities and shelters; professional services; day-care centers for children of essential workers; manufacture, distribution, and supply chain for critical products and industries; critical labor union functions; hotels and motels; and funeral services.

The rule will expire in 150 days.

SUMMARY: If you have to work right now and you contract COVID-19, you may have a right to seek work comp benefits.  Call us at 618-931-1100 for help.

 On October 8, 2019, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission affirmed and adopted, with no changes, an arbitration decision entered on September 19, 2018, ordering the State of Illinois to pay our client over $79,000.00 in medical expenses, over $50,000.00 in back temporary total disability benefits, and over $27,000.00 in permanent partial disability benefits, arising from a foot injury that the State argued never happened. The case involved a foot injury the correctional officer suffered while running to respond to an inmate altercation. The officer was running on a street and the heel of his foot struck the edge of a pothole. After months of conservative treatment, the worker eventually underwent surgery consisting of an excision of a calcaneal bone cyst, a tarsal tunnel decompression, and an endoscopic plantar fasciotomy that was converted to an open fasciotomy. The State disputed the case from the very beginning and even argued at arbitration that records did not show an incident on the date that Petitioner was injured. However, the Arbitrator found it relevant that the State chose not to admit into evidence a supervisor’s report regarding the incident, even though such report existed and was within the possession and control of the State at the arbitration.

            Tarsal tunnel and plantar fasciitis cases for correctional officers are very difficult to win, especially when there are disputes about whether and how the accident occurred. Nevertheless, we deposed the treating surgeon and took the case to arbitration and continued to fight for the correctional officer on appeal. This decision results in over $150,000 in benefits that had been withheld for over 3 ½ years. Matt Chapman arbitrated the case on behalf of the officer. Mary Massa argued the case on appeal. If you or someone you know has been injured at work and is struggling to receive the compensation they deserve, please call our lawyers for help at 618-931-1100.

Becker, Schroader & Chapman, P.C. is proud to announce that Matt Chapman, working with John Padilla of the firm Padilla & Rodgriguez, LLP, obtained an $800,000 settlement for a Greenville, Illinois operating engineer who suffered multiple injuries after a fall from a ladder in Brazos County, Texas near Texas A.M University. Ronald Knerrer’s employer sold a concrete silo to Knife River Corporation and Knerrer was on-site to assist in the installation of the silo at the Knife River plant. Knerrer was injured when he attempted to descend a fixed ladder on the silo. Unbeknownst to Knerrer, a Knife River employee, who was tasked with removing a ladder cage that was in the way, also removed the bolts from the ladder, but left the ladder in place. As Knerrer began to climb down the ladder, the ladder fell away, causing Knerrer to fall over 13 feet to the concrete pad below.

Knerrer suffered multiple injuries, including a Grade 1 open right tibial shaft fracture and a left shoulder SLAP type II tear . Both injuries required surgery.

Matt Chapman teamed up with John Padilla, a Houston attorney. The negligence lawsuit was filed and multiple depositions were taken in Texas. Chapman and Padilla also arranged for Knerrer to travel to Texas on multiple occasions for evaluations by experts hired to provide medical and economic opinions in the case. A mediation took place in August 2019 that paved the way for the settlement in September. Knife River agreed to pay $800,000 and all of Knerrer’s medical bills were paid.

There were several legal hurdles in Texas that had to be overcome for a successful resolution. In his search for a co-counsel, Matt was turned down by more than one attorney who believed the case was too difficult . Our firm, along with John Padilla, believed in the case and invested substantial funds to obtain this successful resolution.

TESTOSTERONE AND PROSTATE CANCER: KNOW THE RISKS!

            In the past five years, Becker, Schroader & Chapman, PC has handled several medical malpractice cases arising out the prescription of testosterone replacement therapy, or “TRT”. These cases all share the same fact pattern: a family doctor prescribes TRT without properly testing the patient’s testosterone levels, without screening the patient for prostate cancer, and without monitoring the patient while he is on testosterone. Our expertise in this area and in medical malpractice cases has led St. Louis urologists to refer prostate cancer patients to our firm for help. We have made doctors pay when they broke the TRT rules.

Background

If you have watched any television over the past few years, there is no way that you could have missed the TRT ads. Aimed at men, and their significant others, TRT marketing suggests that testosterone supplements can raise “Low T” and alleviate symptoms of aging, including low sex drive, erectile dysfunction, fatigue, and even depression.  

Doctors have several TRT products to choose from. Androgel and Testim come in packets of clear gel and are applied topically. Depo-Testosterone is an injected directly into the muscles and the body absorbs the testosterone slowly. There are also patches and oral tablets. Even though recent trials of testosterone treatment in older men, conducted by the National Institute of Health, have generated little evidence that TRT can help many of the symptoms for which it is advertised, the TRT market is expected to reach $3.8 billion globally by 2022, up from $2 billion in 2012.

The Risks

The Food and Drug Administration requires TRT manufacturers to warn of several side effects and contraindications. For example, TRT is contraindicated for men with known, or suspected , prostate cancer.   The most common Adverse Reaction listed in the Androgel package insert is an increase in the prostate specific antigen (PSA). The PSA is an enzyme that is produced only by the prostate.

For decades, family physicians and urologists were taught that prescribing testosterone to a patient who may have prostate cancer is like pouring gasoline on a fire.   The TRT will cause the cancer to grow or spread, becoming much more difficult to treat and leading to poor surgical outcomes, including impotence, urinary symptoms, and risk of the cancer returning.

Although there are some recent studies that suggest a weaker link between prostate cancer and testosterone, it is undisputed that androgen deprivation therapy (“ADT”) is standard treatment for patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. Prostate cancer cells – like other living organisms – need fuel to grow and survive. Because testosterone serves as the main fuel for prostate cancer cell growth, ADT stops testosterone from being released or prevents it from acting on the prostate cells. There is no dispute in the literature that ADT works to prevent prostate cancer growth. Since lowering testosterone limits prostate cancer, raising testosterone can have the opposite effect.

Other risks include worsening of benign prostate hyperplasia, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism.  

The Standard of Care

Despite attempts by TRT manufacturers and their paid physician advocates to debunk any health risks, the Standard of Care that family physicians and urologists must follow before prescribing testosterone remains the same. We at Becker, Schroader & Chapman, P.C. know this because we have consulted with board-certified family physicians and urologists who have provided expert opinions on behalf of our clients regarding the standard of care. The rules for TRT are:

•        Total testosterone concentration should be measured on two separate mornings. Anything lower than 300 ng/dl is considered low testosterone.

 

•        A Digital Rectal Exam should be performed to examine the prostate for abnormalities.

 

•        A baseline PSA should be obtained. A PSA >4 or >3 for high risk patients such as African American males is a contraindication for TRT. A referral to a urologist is required for any abnormal PSA.

 

•        The patient should be monitored to see if the TRT is working and TRT should be stopped if there is a PSA increase of > 1.4 ng/mL above baseline.

 

https://www.endocrine.org/guidelines-and-clinical-practice/clinical-practice-guidelines/testosterone-therapy

Our Experience

            We have helped patients whose doctors have failed to follow the TRT rules. Our cases were resolved before trial with payments made by the family physician. If a physician wants to try TRT for a patient, that is fine, but the rules have to be followed. If the rules are broken, the patient’s health is at risk. Our clients have undergone prostatectomies, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment. If the standard of care had been followed, the cancer would have been caught earlier and the patient cured. In fact, we obtained this very testimony from the urologist who operated on one of our clients. In another case, we obtained a substantial settlement after another attorney turned the case down.

            If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with prostate cancer after using testosterone, call us today: 618-931-1100.

 

 

When a car accident is caused by someone else's negligence, the accident victims may address the financial burden by pursuing a personal injury lawsuit.

You have a right to know whether your doctor has ever faced administrative or criminal justice penalties for providing substandard care.

Maritime and railroad injuries continue to take place despite various efforts to curb them. Victims of train accidents can recover compensation for their injuries.

If accident victims are 25 percent to blame for the accident, they could only recover compensation amounting to 75 percent of their damages.