Brain Injury Law Blog : Head Injury : Coma : Personal Injury : Las Vegas Nevada Lawyer & Attorney Tim Titolo

The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) spokesperson reports that there are some ways to help prevent low back pain and protect your spine. Prevention tips from the AANS:

- Maintain a healthy body weight.

-  If you smoke, quit. Smoking and extra weight can not only damage the spine, but are factors that can negatively impact spine surgery.

- Maintain proper posture while sitting, standing and walking.

- Use proper lifting techniques to avoid injury. Bend your knees when picking up and lowering the object, keep a straight back, and do not twist. Do not lift heavy objects that are beyond your strength ability.

- Make sure your mattress and bed pillow support your neck and back.

- Do exercises that stretch and strengthen the muscles of your abdomen and spine. Strong back and abdominal muscles can help you maintain good posture and keep your spine in its correct position.

- If you suffer from persistent, chronic, or recurring back pain, consult your doctor. In most cases there is a conservative, nonsurgical treatment that can resolve the pain. However, if left untreated or allowed to progress, back pain may lead to serious and severe disability. 

The Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine recommends an excercise machine designed specifically for back muscles as a solution.  Such exercises can only help reduce pain and disabilities caused by back pain. He recommends those who suffer severe hurt begin with stretches on the ground with low to medium effort.
 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

When someone forcefully shakes a baby, the child's head moves uncontrollably because the neck muscles aren't well developed and provide little support.  EACH YEAR, THOUSANDS OF YOUNG children suffer brain injury or die from being violently shaken. Children as old as 5 are vulnerable to shaken-baby syndrome (SBS), but infants between 2 and 4 months are especially at risk.

Time Magazine recently reported that the stressful effects of a faltering economy, skyrocketing unemployment and precarious personal finances can be dire. People take up smoking or use alcohol to cope, they become depressed or suicidal, and they develop stress-related illnesses like heart disease. Now researchers report that the harm may be spreading to children too, when parents' stress leads them to inadvertently injure their children.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1986500,00.html#ixzz0n4NnGujJ

1.  The injuries may cause permanent disabilities such as blindness, seizures, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

2.  Even if the shaking was not intended to injure the baby, it is child abuse. Also, when a baby is shaken its head may hit an object.

3.  Even a soft object can cause injury to newborns and small infants.

4.  Since their heads are large and heavy in proportion to their bodies and the skulls fragile, the shaking also causes whiplash.

5.  Researchers found that in more than 60 per cent of these cases the victims are boys.

 6.  The perpetrators are more likely to be men, either the caregiver or boyfriend of the mother.

 7.  Often, she adds, parents are not aware that their child has been abused and seek help only when they notice mild or severe symptoms such as decreased alertness, extreme irritability, lethargy, poor feeding, vomiting, loss of vision, seizures, and pale or bluish skin. Since there are no visible signs of injury the condition can be difficult to diagnose and may not be identified during a visit to a doctor.

8.  Injuries such as rib fractures however, can be seen with an X-ray.

9.  An estimated 1,200 to 1,400 cases of SBS occur each year in the United States.

10.  Some of these involve young, unmarried mothers with little education and who come from unstable family situations, or mothers who have had multiple pregnancies. 

Carole Jenny, MD, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Director, Child Protection Program, Hasbro Children's Hospital, published a relevant book entitled CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT in 2010.

Key Features include how to:

-Identify an abusive injury and treat it effectively by reviewing evidence and critical analyses from leading authorities in the field.

-Recognize the signs of shaken baby syndrome, sex offenders and abuse in religious organizations.

-Understand the biomechanics of injury to determine whether abuse was truly the cause of a child's injury.

-View illustrations that show first-hand examples of child abuse or neglect. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

BIAA continues providing updates at the legislative level.

CDC Forms Disability and Health Work Group

Largely due to the advocacy of the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition (DRRC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that they will form the first Disability and Health Work Group to advance the health of people with disabilities.  With cross-agency representation, the work group will focus on incorporating disability status into CDC surveys, showcasing best practices, and ensuring relevant issues for people with disabilities are reflected in CDC programs and policies.

BIAA is pleased that these issues will be elevated within the CDC and will offer any assistance needed to further the group’s efforts.

 House Education and Labor Committee Holds Sports and Concussion Hearing

On May 20, 2010, The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to investigate the impact of concussions on student athletes and their academic performance. BIAA was contacted by the Committee early in the planning stages for general guidance of the issue including expertise regarding appropriate witnesses.

In conjunction with the hearing, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report was released finding that concussions in high school athletes are widely unreported and under-diagnosed suggesting a gross underestimate of the overall national occurrence of concussion in high school sports.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Over the years, Chiropractors have taken a lot of heat about their brand of healing.  Insurance companies discredit their treatment everyday.  But Chiropractic care, in this emerging age of preventable care as a way to reduce health care costs, may be ready to make a grand re-entrance.

I previously blogged about a Seven Year Study that revealed Chiropriactic was an excellent care technique.

I work with Chiropractors in appropriate cases where client care can be managed by such a physician.  These doctors often refer patients on to other specialists if the needs arise.

Low-back pain sufferers can seek relief from any number of health professionals, orthopedists, physical therapists and osteopaths among them.

Many choose chiropractors, which typically combine spinal manipulation with such treatments as exercise, massage, heat or electrical stimulation. This approach is modestly  successful in reducing pain of recent onset and improving disability, at least for a few weeks, according to a new Cochrane review. However, the review found no evidence that chiropractic works significantly better than care provided by other clinicians.

Cochrane Reviews investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in a healthcare setting. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting.

Low-back pain is one of the most common and costly musculoskeletal problems in modern society. About 80% of the population will experience low-back pain at some time in their lives. Many people with low-back pain seek the care of a chiropractor.  

For Cochrane's review, chiropractic was defined as encompassing a combination of therapies such as spinal manipulation, massage, heat and cold therapies, electrotherapies, the use of mechanical devices, exercise programs, nutritional advice, orthotics, lifestyle modification and patient education. The review did not look at studies where chiropractic was defined as spinal manipulation alone as this has been reviewed elsewhere and is not necessarily reflective of actual clinical practice. Non-specific low-back pain indicates that no specific cause is detectable, such as infection, cancer, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, fracture, inflammatory process or radicular syndrome (pain, tingling or numbness spreading down the leg).

Twelve randomised trials (including 2887 participants) assessing various combinations of chiropractic care for low-back pain were included in this review, but only three of these studies were considered to have a low risk of bias.

This tells me that chiropractic care is a useful protocol in the effort of reducing pain and healing in many circumstances.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Can Children Under 3 have Measurable Brain Damage?

Florida lawyers Rinaldo Law Group http://www.tampaaccidentattorney-rinaldolawgroup.com/ asks the about brain injury in very young children.

I am a personal injury attorney in Florida. Given your experience, I would be very interested to know if you agree that there are even greater challenges in a brain trauma case involving a child under three years of age. At what age do you believe they are old enough to build a credible case. We have have had some very rewarding but extremely challenging cases in this area in the past so your comments would be appreciated. Thank you.

Other bloggers comment on the issues: For instance braininjury.com states the following:

Brain Injury in children under 3 is difficult to detect in mild and moderate incidences. Unfortunately, head injuries are very common with children, accounting for approximately one hundred thousand hospitalizations annually. Trauma and come injury result from car accidents, bicycle accidents, falls, sporting injuries, and child abuse.

Certain aspects of brain injury are unique to children. For example, it is more difficult to determine the measure the loss of brain function in a child. In adults there are prior academic records, I.Q. scores, and job histories to rely on. At one time it was assumed that children were more resistant to brain trauma than adults because their developing brains could rewire over time. However, mounting evidence seems to suggest otherwise. In fact, it may be that children are more susceptible than adults to permanent brain damage even when the forces involved are equivalent.

The Center for Neuroskills provides a site regarding very young children. The National Pediatric Trauma Registry reported “approximately one-third of all pediatric injury cases are related to

brain injury (1993).”

In these cases, finding a neurologist with specific interest and experience in pediatric neurology is a must. William Singer M.D. is out of Massachusetts and is a highly sought pediatric neurologist. I have worked with him on a number of my pediatric cases.

MassGeneral Hospital for Children pediatric neurologists treat children with seizure disorders, developmental delay, chronic headaches, attention and learning disorders, metabolic, and genetic disorders. These problems are often complex and may involve multiple physical and emotional factors.

Drs. Silken and Singer provide outpatient consultations in their offices, not on-site at Newton-Wellesley. Appointments may be scheduled by calling the numbers listed below. Both physicians utilize Newton-Wellesley’s state-of-the-art neurodiagnostic facilities, including MRI, CT, and neurophysiologic testing facilities.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

When my grandmother got old enough to officially be considered "blind" we decided it was time to take away her car and driving ability.  First off, I bought her the car a few years ago and so she spent her last years driving a new sporty car as opposed to the 20 year old Toyota her late husband left her.  And second, I moved her in with me to help make up for the transportation burden.  We drive her wherever she needs to go.  But a responsible decision needed to be made to get her less than safe driving skills off the road.  For her sake, our sake, and most importantly, for the sake of other drivers and passengers including little babies.

But taking away an elder's ability, or right, to drive is a dire move.  It supports the reality that as we age, more and more is taken away from us.

Dementia from normal aging also requires difficult decisions regarding driving.  Dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior.And since, statistically, those who suffer brain injury are more likely than not to develop dementia, driving may be an issue for those with mild and moderate brain injury.

Caregiver.org blogs "As a general rule, individuals with early stage or mild dementia who wish to continue driving should have their driving skills evaluated immediately (see “Arrange for an Independent Driving Evaluation” below). Individuals with moderate or severe dementia should not drive."

Insurance Company studies state Yes, there is enough small-scale research to tell us that over time, driving and dementia don't mix. The harder question is exactly when driving skills deteriorate? This question is harder to answer and the research is not clear enough to give a simple answer. That is why we recommend an approach that includes observation of driving skills right from the point of diagnosis and planning ahead for the time when the person must stop driving.

The American Academy of Neurology has issued a new guideline to help determine when people with Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia should stop driving. The guideline is published in the April 12, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Dementia reveals itself in many ways.  For example Dementia symptoms include difficulty with many areas of mental function, including:

Language
Memory
Perception
Emotional behavior or personality
Cognitive skills (such as calculation, abstract thinking, or judgment)

 The guidelines also found that caregivers should trust their instincts. A study found that caregivers who rate a patient's driving as "marginal" or "unsafe" were often proven correct when the patient took an on-road driving test. On the other hand, patients who deemed their own driving as "safe" were not necessarily accurate in their own assessments.

Caregivers and family members play a role in identifying warning signs from unsafe drivers with dementia. These include:

Decreased miles being driven

Collisions

Moving violations

Avoiding certain driving situations, such as driving at night or in the rain

Aggressive or impulsive personality traits.

Read the full report and guidelines at www.neurology.org/cgi/rapidpdf/WNL.0b013e3181da3b0fv1.pdf.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 Click on this link for the entire report and illustrations The impact of litigation on car safety.

 The impact of litigation on car safety.

Beginning in the 1960s and ranging from gas tanks, side-impact design, air bags, seat belts, and power windows, the civil justice system has worked hand-in-hand with regulation to protect Americans while spurring generations of safety innovations.

This report marks the beginning of renewed efforts to not just defend, but promote the importance of the civil justice system and the important work trial attorneys do every day.

The American Association of Justice, the national group of plaintiff trial lawyers, compiled the following data and produced a report outlining the safety impact trial and litigation has had on corporate promotion of profit over safety to consumers.  The last century has seen safer cars and corrected consumer safety issues.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

BIAA reports the following"

BIAA Endorses the Christopher Bryski Student Loan Protection Act

This week, BIAA joined Congressman John Adler in support of a bill that would ensure a method be in place when applying for Federal or Private student loans to designate who will make decisions on your behalf regarding all medical, financial, and legal matters in the event you are catastrophically ill, catastrophically injured, temporarily disabled, permanently disabled or deceased. 

On June 17, 2004, 23 year old Christopher Bryski fell forty five feet to the ground in a recreational accident. He sustained a severe Traumatic Brain Injury and was in a coma for approximately 4 weeks. After emerging from the coma Christopher remained in a persistent vegetative state for almost two years before passing away on July 16, 2006.

At the time of Christopher’s accident, he was in his third year of academic study at Rutgers University and needed to supplement his federal student loans with a private alternative education loan through a private lender, in which his father was a co-signer and is still liable after his death for the amount of the loan.

The bill introduced by Congressman Adler would address this important issue for parents and caregivers in the following ways:

Any private educational lender (i.e Citibank, Wells Fargo, Chase, PNC, etc.) shall:

·         Discuss with the student and the cosigner of the loan the benefits of creating a power of attorney, in the event of the death of incapacity of the student or cosigner

·         Define clearly and concisely the obligations of the cosigner, including the effect of death or incapacity of the student or cosigner

·         Discuss with the student and the cosigner the benefit of credit insurance in connection with the loan, however the private educational lender may not require credit insurance or deny a loan on the basis that the borrower or any cosigner has not obtained credit insurance

·         Gives power to the Federal Reserve to define death or incapacity in conjunction with the Secretary of Education and institute standards regarding the borrower’s or cosigner’s obligation if the borrower or cosigner were to die or become incapacitated

·         Federal PLUS Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans:

·         Discuss with the prospective borrower the uses and benefits of creating a durable power of attorney in the event of the death or incapacity of the borrower or the student on whose behalf the loan is borrowed by the parent borrower

·         Amends Entrance Counseling requirements for Federal Loans:

·         Provide information during entrance counseling that describes the loan discharge rules in the case of death of disability, and the possibility that private loans may not be discharged upon death or disability

·         Provide information with respect to creating a durable power of attorney and its benefits and uses

BIAA applauds Representative Adler for his commitment to this important issue and will continue to monitor the status of the bill and advocate on its behalf.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In following up my last post on the Endoscopy trial, a jury has awarded a historic $500,000,000 -Five Hundred Million - punitive damage award.  The original compensatory damage award was a combined $5,100,000 for both plaintiff's husband and wife for husband's contracting Hepatitis while a patient at the Endoscopy Clinic.

This verdict makes the last Nevada award against a pharmaceutical company pale at only $99,000,000 against Wyeth in 2005.

I predict, as set out in my first commentary on the trial, that appeals and post trial motions will be pending for some time.

Today's Las Vegas Review Journal set out many of the details of the trial including an initial offer to settle for $1,700,000 by plaintiffs; and  one of the drug company is Israeli based.  The award, says attorney Robert Eglet, is one of the largest in the United States.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Endoscopy Clinic-Hepatitis Trial results in $5.1 million award.  Punitive Damages have been approved and will be disclosed soon.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reported the following.

LAS VEGAS -- A Clark County jury will debate punitive damages Thursday in the case of two drug companies found liable for a Las Vegas man contracting hepatitis C at a southern Nevada endoscopy clinic. The jurors on Wednesday ruled in favor of Henry Chanin, awarding him $3.2 million, and awarding his wife, Lorraine, $1.8 million. Chanin’s attorney had argued for an $8.5 million reward.

Chanin sued Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare, accusing the companies of intentionally selling excessive vials of the drug propofol to the clinic.

His attorney argued the company's actions led clinic employees to inject him with five times the amount of propofol needed during his treatments, increasing his chances of exposure to hepatitis.

The jury found the companies liable on a count of failure to warn and a count of breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.

A total of 106 people were infected and thousands more were tested in the two years following the first reported case in December 2007, according to the Southern Nevada Health District.

I commented on the trial previously.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (1)
• Share Link

As I have previously stated in past posts, sporting events like boxing, martial arts and football can lead to brain Injuries.

In Roman times gladiators fought to the death (and sometimes not) for sport.  Have we really become less sadistic in watching "athletes" give eachother brain damage for the sport of it?

Well recently posted was a story that brings Hockey to the forefront of the brain injury causing sports.    Boston Bruins assistant captain Patrice Bergeron's Bruins teammate Marc Savard is slowly recovering from a Grade 2 concussion he suffered March 7 in Pittsburgh, the result of a blindside hit by the Penguins' Matt Cooke. The Bruins have come to the realization that they will be without their top playmaker for the remainder of the season, which is a crushing blow to a team fighting for a postseason berth.

Savard remains at home, and the only moving around he's been doing is going to the hospital for examinations; according to coach Claude Julien, Savard has made little progress.

Patrice Bergeron knows firsthand what it's like to suffer a head injury.

His career was in question after he suffered a Grade 3 concussion on an Oct. 27, 2007, hit by the Philadelphia Flyers' Randy Jones that cost him the last 72 games of the season. Fortunately Bergeron recovered, returning to the ice last season, and is completely back to form now.

Any time Bergeron sees or hears about a hockey player suffering a head or neck injury, the news hits close to home for the 24-year-old.

Reggie Fleming, a defenseman and left wing known for fighting as much as scoring in a long career from 1959 to 1974, was found by Boston University researchers to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease known to cause cognitive decline, behavioral abnormalities and ultimately dementia. Fleming died in July at age 73 and was the first hockey player known to have been tested for the disease.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

The way home for war weary troops is a revolving door between the States, Iraq and Afghanistan.  MSNBC recently reported the tragedy of Major Jeff Hall's and Joe Callan's multiple deployments to war torn zones with brief breaks at home in the United States.  For many U.S. vets, life becomes a revolving door of war, home, then back to combat — where they again face the same dangers and stresses.

Nearly 300,000 troops have served, three, four or more tours of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq.  The signs, symptoms and consequences of multiple blast injuries to the brain and PTSD show up when soldiers come home and too often are misunderstood and neglected.

With two long wars — Afghanistan is in its ninth year and Iraq just entered its eighth — the U.S. military finds itself straining to maintain a steady flow of troops. More than 2 million men and women have been deployed to serve in both conflicts, and more than 40 percent of them have served at least two tours, according to military records.

For these men and women, life becomes a revolving door of war, home, then back to combat — sometimes within months — as they face the same dangers, the same stresses and the same agonizing separation from family. Some soldiers are gone so often, they're more comfortable being away.

The article looks deeper into the issues surrounding these military men and women.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

I recently blogged about the long term effects of traumatic brain injury and the article entitled Traumatic Brain Injury - Football, Warfare, and Long-Term Effects.

In September 2010, the New England Journal of Medicine revisited traumatic brain injury awareness.  Focusing on the increased awareness of traumatic brain injury in the lives of ordinary people and those close to them, The Journal mentions contact sports and combat blast injuries.  The article is written by medical doctors who are pointing out how public awareness is growing.  Blogger Beth Miller writes that even for "normal gals" like her, the facts of Traumatic Brain Injury are becoming real.

This is a problem when representing people with Traumatic Brain Injury.  Too often they look fine.  You need an established traumatic brain injury attorney on your side.  Your attorney must know th signs, symptoms and consequences of traumatic brain injury.

And it should be accountable.  For too long general brain injury knowledge has been underrated.  Now that our son's, daughters, fathers and mothers are returning from combat and blast injuries with traumatic brain injury.  Now that our athletes, young and not so young, are getting traumatic brain injury from football, boxing and other sports.  We also need to understand the ramifications and costs of traumatic brain injury.

Similar to the public's slow but eventual understanding that cigarette smoking causes cancer, people need to appreciate the personal costs of traumatic brain injury.  The costs to the public  of treating cancer - whether in the form of higher insurance rates or tax paid subsidies to hospitals giving out medical care to those who cannot afford it - needs to resonate.

The New England Journal of Medicine does a nice job revisiting the Long term effects of traumatic brain injury to all of us "normal" people.  Take a read.

The inside of the skull, the article reminds us, is made of boney ridges.  When the head is violently moved, it sends the brain on a collision course with the inside of the skull.  This, often non-impact, movement typically encountered in a car accident, blast injury or sport contact, bruises and injures the brain.  However reseach concerning lesions (injury) has been a historically controversial topic.

Long Term Consequences

Many complications of traumatic brain injury are evident immediately or soon after injury.  The long term effects not so much.  Attorney and Blogger, Micahel Kaplan, has lately taken up the cause of repeated trauma in cases of sporting contacts.  His latest blog talks about youth sport concussion law.  Bruce Stern, another blogger and attorney, discusses how brain injury can effect work and occupation.

Be sure your lawyer is not simply a "car wreck" lawyer.  Be sure he/she is a traumatic brain injury lawyer.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link