Bill of Particulars

Doctors Often Prescribe Placebos as Treatment

In a surprising study, it was recently revealed that 55 percent of doctors said they had treated at least one patient in the last year with a placebo, and almost two-thirds of those surveyed said they believed the practice to be ethically permissible.

Two years ago the American Medical Association stated that it was wrong to use placebos without a person’s knowledge.

A placebo effect is considered to be a benefit produced by assuring the patient that whatever is being given will benefit the problem.

Doctors in the British Medical Journal study often prescribed sugar pills or vitamins with the hope that the unproven therapy would help improve the patient’s condition.

NTSB to hold hearings on medical helicopter accidents

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold a three-day public hearing on the safety of helicopter emergency medical services (EMS) operations starting Feb. 3 in Washington, D.C.

The NTSB reported what it terms “an alarming rise in the number of EMS accidents” and that “some of these accidents could have been prevented if our recommendations were implemented,” according to NTSB member Robert Sumwalt and chairman of the hearing. The NTSB makes recommendations to
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that implements ways to make public transportation safer
in this country.

It has been reported that 55 accidents involving medical helicopters and airplanes occurred between 2002 and 2005, killing 54 people and seriously injuring 10 others. One of the recent crashes occurred in Aurora, Illinois, where an infant and three others were killed as they tried to transport the ailing baby.

Robert Clifford wrote about helicopter safety in his monthly column for the Chicago Lawyer, “Safety in the Air.”

Crackdown on Distracted Drivers

Illinois may be cracking down on drivers who are distracted by tasks other than driving. Those who cause deaths while putting on make-up, eating or knotting a necktie while behind the wheel may face up to three years in prison, a $25,000 fine and revocation of their driver’s license for at least one year upon conviction.

That is one of the recommendations of a task force headed by Secretary of State Jesse White that was convened earlier this year. The Distracted Driving Task Force also recommended a ban on texting while driving and prohibiting the use of cell phones while driving through a construction zone or school zone in Illinois.

Chicago already bans the use of cell phones and more than 25,000 violations have been issued since the ordinance was passed.

Illinois lawmakers are expected to be asked in January to consider various measures to help cut down multi-tasking by drivers to make the roads safer. View the Final Report of the Task Force.

Brian Shallcross knew he wanted to be a lawyer as he worked alongside attorneys while helping disabled children in foster care to qualify for Social Security benefits. Then as a case manager with the Illinois Children’s Supplemental Security Income Project, he would work up the cases of these children in their hour of need, attend court hearings and fill out complicated, tedious applications that were well beyond the ken of these youngsters or their caregivers’ ability to complete.

“When I saw what these lawyers were doing, I knew I could be more effective as a lawyer helping people,” Brian says from his desk adorned with photos of his family. “I always knew I wanted to earn a living working on behalf of regular people. Personal injury work is very satisfying because you get to meet people from all walks of life and get to know them and truly make a difference for them. I could never be as happy representing big businesses for a living.”

When Brian is not at work for his clients, he revels in talking about his children, taking them to soccer, swimming or preschool. “I try to make soccer practice when I can,” he says with a smile. Asked if he hopes that his children follow in his footsteps, he says, “If that’s what they want. I just want them to appreciate what lawyers do based on what I do and not what they see on TV.”

Brian obtained his undergraduate degree from DePaul University, then went on to receive his law degree while working full time as a law clerk at Clifford Law Offices. Immediately after graduation, he began work as a lawyer at the firm, assigned to complex personal injury and wrongful death cases.

“I cut my teeth on the John Hancock scaffolding collapse case,” Brian says. That tragedy made national headlines when a scaffold fell off the skyscraper, killing several people on the ground including two daughters in the front seat of their car, and severely injuring their elderly mothers in the back seat as they were on a shopping trip in downtown Chicago.

“That case was a good case to learn tort law because it involved products liability, premises liability and professional negligence with the engineering problems as well as the wrongful death and personal injury aspects of it. The injuries were profound and the case was very complex. I got to know a lot of lawyers and also see how high profile cases involving the media are handled,” Brian said. “There were a lot of moving parts.”

“Above all, Bob Clifford taught me not to get lost in the case. In the end, he said that case is to be handled as any simple tort case: duty, negligence, causation and damages. We focused on that throughout, and he was right.”

Brian is handling a number of other high profile cases in much the same way: a small plane crash in Wisconsin, a man killed by a Blue Island police officer, the wrongful death of a patron at the E2 club fire in Chicago and the private jet crash involving the family of NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebsersol. All of these cases were in the news at the time they occurred.

As a resident of DuPage County, Brian works on many cases coming out of the western suburbs, and he has worked very hard in achieving success for his clients there. Along with Clifford Law Offices’ partner Robert Strelecky, Brian obtained a $5.95 million jury verdict in DuPage County on behalf of a man who suffered severe nerve and muscle damage in his leg after a doctor negligently tore his iliac artery while performing a contraindicated stenting procedure. The verdict was the third largest medical malpractice verdict in the history of DuPage County at the time, according to the Jury Verdict Reporter.

“It is a huge responsibility because in a lot of these cases people’s financial futures depend on you and they don’t know how they are going to pay for their medical bills or their day-to-day living without help. They are trusting you and the civil justice system, and it is your responsibility to make the system work for them.”

It certainly is good to know that a person like Brian Shallcross is on their side.