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

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health problem in the United States. Each year, traumatic brain injuries contribute to a substantial number of deaths and cases of permanent disability. Recent data shows that, on average, approximately 1.4 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury annually.

Go to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) to access the following facts sheets.  Click here.

Concussion in Sports
An estimated 1.6 to 3.8 million sports- and recreation-related concussions occur in the United States each year. This fact sheet provides an overview of concussion in sports and recreation and steps to take to help prevent these injuries.


Facts about Traumatic Brain Injury
This fact sheet was developed by CDC in collaboration with ten national organizations. It contains up-to-date information about the incidence, causes, risk factors, and cost associated with TBI in the United States.


Facts about Traumatic Brain Injury (Spanish) Datos sobre lesiones traumáticas del cerebro
Esta hoja informativa contiene la información más reciente sobre incidencia, causas, factores de riesgo y costos relacionados con lesiones traumáticas del cerebro.


Traumatic Brain Injury: A Guide for Criminal Justice Professionals
This guide provides an overview of TBI, information on the extent of TBI and related problems within the criminal justice system, and how these problem can be addressed.




Traumatic Brain Injury in Prisons and Jails: An Unrecognized Problem
This guide provides information for TBI professionals about what is known about individuals with TBI in prisons and jails, how TBI-related problems affect them and others while they are incarcerated, and what is needed to address these problems.


Victimization of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury or Other Disabilities: A Fact Sheet for Professionals
This fact sheet was developed for professionals and provides an overview of the topic of victimization of persons with TBI or other disabilities.



Victimization of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury or Other Disabilities: A Fact Sheet for Friends and Families
This fact sheet provides a general overview of victimization and risks to people with TBI or other disabilities.



 

* Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.

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The Nevada Assembly voted 26-15 on Monday to pass legislation that would remove a $350,000 cap on jury awards for non-economic damages in medical liability lawsuits, the Las Vegas Sun reports.

The cap was approved by voters in 2004 after concern was raised that higher medical malpractice insurance premiums were driving some doctors out of the state.

The bill would permit unlimited damages for instances of gross negligence and would give patients an additional 12 months to decide if they want to file a lawsuit (McGrath Schwartz, Las Vegas Sun, 4/20).

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The negligent performance of lumbar surgery may also give rise to litigation. Negligence in the actual performance of lumbar surgery, however, is infrequently documented in the medical
records and may be difficult to prove. On the other hand, such actions as performing a diskectomy or laminectomy at the incorrect level almost always falls below the applicable standard of care and can be independently proven.

Other examples of negligence during surgery include certain aspects of lumbar fusion surgery, iliac vein or aortic perforation, and the failure to repair a dural tear or leak when recognized.

Examples of intraoperative mishaps that rarely rise to the level of medical negligence include dural tears, cerebrospinal fluid leaks, excessive bleeding and inadvertent nerve root injury.
Overall, mishaps during the technical performance of lumbar surgery constitute the fewest instances of medical negligence.Finally, the failure to diagnose and treat a postoperative
complication may give rise to medical care that breaches the applicable standard of care.

Many post-operative complications following lumbar surgery involve either infection or neurological dysfunction. Infection following lumbar surgery, in and of itself, is usually not medical
negligence; the failure to diagnose and treat such an infection, however, may constitute medical negligence. The failure to diagnose and treat a post-operative disk space infection can
also constitute medical negligence. The presence of a postoperative neurological deficit, in and of itself, may not constitute medical negligence, but the failure to evaluate and treat such a
deficit may be medical negligence.

The failure to provide adequate post-operative follow-up care may constitute medical negligence. In general, close followup of a patient following lumbar surgery is indicated, and the threshold for performing post-operative imaging including MRI scanning must be low for evaluating neurological dysfunction or infectious processes.

In summary, back pain and lumbar surgery are common medical entities and may be associated with medical negligence giving rise to litigation.

The actual performance of the surgical procedure may give rise to negligence but only in specific instances that may be independently proven.

More commonly, litigation arises from a failure to diagnose the disease entity prior to surgery or a failure to evaluate properly, diagnose and timely treat the patient in the post-operative
period. For these very reasons, an experienced expert witness is necessary to evaluate cases involving lumbar disease and surgical procedures.

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California-based College Hospitals has agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle charges that two of its campuses improperly discharged and transported about 150 psychiatric patients to homeless shelters in downtown Los Angeles, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's office announced on Wednesday, the AP/Kansas City Star reports (Tayefe Mohajer, AP/Kansas City Star, 4/8). City officials alleged the infractions, by College Hospitals' facilities in Costa Mesa and Cerritos, occurred between 2007 and 2008.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the process was discovered by state officials after Steven Davis -- who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder -- was treated at the Costa Mesa campus and then taken in a hospital van more than 40 miles to downtown Los Angeles and dropped off at a homeless shelter. Officials at the shelter complained to the hospital about its action. The van returned and dropped Davis off at a second shelter, but Davis "wandered away without ever entering," the Times reports. City prosecutors then uncovered what they described as the largest case of "homeless dumping" they have encountered, according to the Times (DiMassa/Winton, Los Angeles Times, 4/9).

Under the settlement, College Hospitals will give $1.2 million to charities that care for the mentally ill and homeless and pay $400,000 in civil penalties (AP/Kansas City Star, 4/8). College Hospitals also will have one year to establish written protocols for releasing patients, including locating resources to care for them and obtaining voluntary consent before patients are transported. The two facilities will be barred from taking patients to any homeless shelter within a "patient safety zone" set up in downtown L.A. Delgadillo said, "Dumping patients who are sick or mentally ill on the streets of Skid Row is an unconscionable act," adding, "It's illegal, it's immoral and it has to stop" (Perkes, Orange County Register, 4/8).

College Hospitals attorney Glenn Solomon said that the hospital denies any wrongdoing and that its actions never amounted to "homeless dumping." He added that the hospital agreed to the settlement to establish a workable policy for dealing with homeless patients in the future. "It's the policy of the hospital ... to discharge each and every patient appropriately," Solomon said (Los Angeles Times, 4/9). He added, "The hospital believes it's a good thing to be at the forefront of developing these protocols" (Orange County Register, 4/8).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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