The University of Chicago Medicine has launched a novel program with Legal Aid Chicago, embedding two full-time lawyers within the health system’s Level 1 trauma center. The initiative, called Recovery Legal Care, will provide bedside civil legal help for patients and families recovering from violent injuries. The teams hope that by offering both trauma-informed and justice-informed care, patients will be able to focus on recovery instead of worrying about health-harming legal needs and economic stability.

“If we are to address violence on the South Side of Chicago, we must first investigate the justice gap that disproportionately affects our underprivileged communities of color,” said program co-director Selwyn Rogers, Jr., MD, MPH, Chief of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery and Founding Director of UChicago Medicine’s Level 1 trauma center. Read more