A 58-year-old mentally disabled woman was trapped in an elevator for more than 20 hours in an apartment complex where residents had complained about safety - and fire-code violations as many as five months earlier.

The woman was resting comfortably at home after being rescued. Relatives of the woman said she was shaken by the incident in which she had no access to food, water or bathroom facilities for nearly two days.

The woman was found by a maintenance man inside the elevator after her case worker was unable to contact her at home.

The woman had been trying to visit a friend on the second-floor of her apartment building when she stepped into a first-floor elevator. The elevator doors closed but the elevator didn’t move, according to reports. The reports also noted that the woman tried to call for help on the emergency-call box, but only heard a dial tone that would not connect a call.

The repairman apparently didn’t hear the woman’s calls for help and when he found the elevator wasn’t working, he posted a notice that it was out of order and left.

About The Author:
Attorney Ted Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Ted Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Ted Bills.

A former high school student is asking his city for reimbursement of medical expenses running to thousands of dollars, saying he suffered extensive and permanent injuries in a gym class game of "Capture the Cone" that got out of hand.

The student, now graduated, was a senior when his eye was damaged at school during a morning gym class and he has submitted medical bills of more than $10,000.

"It’s now several months later and I still don’t have a full recovery of the motion of my left eye.

The student said he went to the school nurse’s office and vomited and was taken by ambulance to a local hospital for a CAT scan. He was released, but visited several eye doctors the next day when he still couldn’t see. He underwent plastic surgery to repair damage to his eye socket, he wrote.

About The Author:
Attorney Ted Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Ted Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Ted Bills.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In more cases than would normally be expected, people who develop type 2 diabetes have a history of carpal tunnel syndrome. The wrist nerve problem sometimes predates the onset of diabetes by up to 10 years, according to a UK study.

Led by Dr. Martin C. Gulliford, a team at King’s College in London examined medical records for 644,495 patients in England and Wales. They identified 2647 patients diagnosed with diabetes between November 2003 and October 2004, and selected a comparison group of 5,294 "control" subjects matched for age, gender, and location.

Medical records for up to 10 years before diabetes was diagnosed were reviewed for the first occurrences of carpal tunnel syndrome. Also, according to their report in the medical journal Diabetes Care, the researchers identified subjects diagnosed with Bell’s facial palsy, a nerve disorder causing temporary paralysis of facial muscles.

Results showed that, after accounting for other risk factors, the pre-diabetes group was 36 percent more likely to have had carpal tunnel syndrome in the past than the control group.

Similarly, Bell’s facial palsy occurred more often in the pre-diabetes group than in the control, but this turned out to be not significant from a statistical standpoint.

Gulliford and his team suggest that high blood sugar levels "and associated metabolic abnormalities may contribute to causing these important focal peripheral nerve disorders before the diagnosis of diabetes."

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, August 2006.

About The Author:
Attorney Ted Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Ted Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Ted Bills.

A federal judge recently awarded $300,000 to a 3-year-old boy after Navy medical personnel failed to properly treat his sickle cell disease. The U.S. District Judge found, after the trial, that the "failings breached thee medical standard of care for diagnosing and treating a child with sickle cell disease."

A standard newborn test conducted on the child showed "probable sickle cell disease," according to court records.

The child was seen, twice, at the naval hospital, but then his parents did not bring him back as instructed by a doctor. Instead, they took him to a Naval clinic where he receievd 3 check ups during his first year.

The Navy, represented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, acknowledged that the clinic failed to treat the sickle cell disease and noted that "The defendant has stipulated that "the standard of care was breached" at the clinic.

Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder that affects red blood cells, creating "sickle" shaped cells that have difficulty traveling through blood vessels. There is no cure, and left untreated, the disease can cause blood clots, bacterial infections, strokes and other ailments.

Proper treatment for a newborn with the disease is three years of antibiotics, according to medical experts cited in the court records.

The child developed meningitis, a bacterial infection of the brain, which led to a stroke, according to the court records and also suffered brain damage and lost what ittle speech he had acquired by age 15-months.

Because the government admitted negligence, the damage award hinged on whether the boy would require lifetime transfusions and whether his brain damage resulted in mental retardation.

The Judge ruled, based on medical experts, that child would not require lifetime treatment.

The Judge also found that, although the child is developmentally disabled, his IQ was well above mental retardation range and then awarded $300,000 for the boy’s pain and suffering.

About The Author:
Attorney Edward A. ("Ted") Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Bills.

A Midwestern teenager has filed suit against his mother to determine the identity of his biological father.

The teenager’s lawsuit cites his legal right to know his father’s identity for health-related matters. The ruling of this parent-child lawsuit could set precedent in the area of family litigation.

About The Author:
Attorney Edward A. ("Ted") Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Bills.

A Georgia jury just awarded $4.2 million to a woman shot during a 2001 carjacking in a Wal-Mart parking lot. The verdict was returned recently against the retail giant and the man convicted of shooting the woman is already serving a 15-year sentence in state prison for the crime. He did not answer the suit.

The woman who was shot had stopped by a Wal-Mart after work at 1:30 a.m. to pick up party supplies. Her 9-year-old son was asleep inside her car which she parked under a light pole close to the front entrance.

When she left the store, the shooter demanded her keys but after she was able to get her son out of the SUV she dropped the keys and ran and was shot in the back with a 38 handgun.

In her suit, the woman complained about a lack of security at the shopping center and was able to provide a list of 398 visits by police to that store for various crimes in the 20 months leading up to her shooting.

"That should have been sufficient to put Wal-Mart on notice that crimes were being committed there," said her lawyer. "Also Wal-Mart had a policy to have security patrols but chose to not put them into place at that store." Wal-Mart officials also destroyed a surveillance videotape of the attack after the shooter was convicted.

A prospective client, after hearing about this story, called our office today to say that, while he had not been shot, his car had been highjacked in the Wal-Mart parking lot and he settled with Wal-Mart for a $1,500 lap top computer.

Moral: It is never a good idea to settle without first talking with an Attorney.

About The Author:
Attorney Edward A. ("Ted") Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Bills.

DaimlerChrysler’s Chrysler unit is recalling about 832,500 Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicles to fix a steering part.

The front suspension lower ball joints on 2002 to 2006 Liberty SUVs will be replaced.

The part can experience excessive wear and in extreme cases may separate, causing a loss of steering control.

The 2002 Liberty has been the subject of six other recalls, and every other model year of the SUV has had at least two.

About The Author:
Attorney Edward A. ("Ted") Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Bills.

A jury in Largo, Florida recently awarded more than $3.8 million to a woman whose brain was injured when an intravenous tube was removed at a hospital three years ago. The woman suffered a stroke and brain damage when removal of a central line — an intravenous tube inserted into the large veins of the neck or chest — at Largo Medical Center caused an air embolism, according to a lawsuit against the hospital and the nurse who removed the line.

The woman suffers from paralysis and cognition problems, her attorney said. The hospital’s attorneys argued that the line’s removal did not cause the injury and that "some or all of these damages" were based on pre-existing conditions.

About The Author:
Attorney Edward A. ("Ted") Bills can be reached at 719.444.1000 or at http://www.SpringsAttorney.com.

Attorney Ted Bills has one mission - to fight for the rights of personal injury victims and those who have been devastated by the misconduct of others - he represents clients with an aggressive approach designed to provide SWIFT justice.

Attorney Bills is a member of the American Bar Association, the Colorado Bar Association, the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and the El Paso County (Colorado Springs) Bar Association. He works in tandem with his clients to provide assertive, business-savvy, legal services that solve problems, reduce delays, and minimize costs.

Nothing on this site constitutes an attorney-client relationship nor does it constitute legal advice. Links are for informational purposes and do not represent endorsement by Attorney Bills.