Chicago car accident attorneys at Abels & Annes have filed a personal injury lawsuit in Cook County on behalf of an injured pedestrian. The automobile vs. pedestrian collision which took place on June 18, 2009.
The defendant was driving his truck northbound on Monticello approaching Leland in Chicago, Illinois. He stopped at a stop sign for northbound Monticello at Leland. The pedestrian was walking eastbound across Monticello in the marked pedestrian crosswalk and when he had crossed almost the entire street the defendant suddenly accelerated and struck our client. The plaintiff was fully within the marked crosswalk when he was hit. The force of the impact threw our client to the pavement.
The driver was issued traffic tickets by the Chicago Police Department for failing to yield the right of way to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and for failing to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian.
Following the collision our client had an immediate onset of back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain. He was transported from the scene of the collision by ambulance to Swedish Covenant Hospital.
Over the next couple of days the pedestrian’s condition worsened and his back pain started radiating into his right leg. Due to his increasing pain and discomfort he sought follow up treatment with a physician. He was prescribed pain medication and therapy was recommended.
After several months of treatment the client was not experiencing significant relief of his injuries. A lumber MRI revealed herniated/bulging disks at L3-4 and L4-5 which pressed against the L4 and L5 nerve roots and a herniated/bulging disk at L5-S1. Due to the nature and extent of his problems, the doctor referred him to a pain specialist.
Our client continued his therapy and went to see a pain specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. An initial epidural steroid injection was performed at the L5-S1 level on July 21, 2009.
Despite a short period of relief from his symptoms, his low back pain radiating into his right leg flared up requiring him to seek care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital‘s emergency department. At Northwestern a repeat epidural injection was performed at the L5-S1 level on August 24, 2009.
After the second injection he condition improved for a period of time. However, once he ended therapy his low back pain radiating into his foot flared up. Due to his increased pain and discomfort he sought more follow up treatment. The doctor ordered another course of physical therapy, use of a home electro-muscle stimulation unit, and another set of injections. Epidural steroid injections were administered on February 10, 2010, March 3, 2010 and March 10, 2010.
Following this series of injections the plaintiff had an improvement of his symptoms. Since the final injection he has suffered one or two episodes of pain in his lower back per week.
Due to the accident our client has sustained over $46,000 in medical bills. He also has incurred over $10,000 in lost wages.
No settlement has been reached so a lawsuit was filed on behalf of our client.