Brain Injury Lawyer Blog 24/7

Published on: December 6, 2012

Woman is Injured in Car Accident

by Stephen Bilkis

A personal injury action arises out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred at the intersection of Oceanside Road and Erwin Place in Oceanside, New York. Among other injuries, the woman suffered a traumatic brain injury.

On June 30, 2010, the Court denied the opponents’ motions for summary judgment to dismiss the woman’s complaint. The Nassau Court determined that, as the woman had yet to testify at her sworn examination before trial, the accused men’s motion for summary judgment must be denied as premature. The Court also determined that because both accused men have failed to demonstrate that the Town of Hempstead Building Zone Ordinances do not apply to them, the motion and cross motion must be denied. Finally, the Court also held that, because the driver’s operation of his motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol arguably may be deemed by the trier of fact to be a superseding cause of the woman’s injuries, the accused men’s motions for summary judgment to dismiss the woman’s action based in negligence must be denied.

The core of the woman’s allegations against the accused men relates to certain bushes located between the residences, which bushes are alleged to block the view of traffic. The woman alleges that the overgrown nature of the bushes, which she claim are in contravention of height requirements provided in local ordinances, contributed in some measure to the occurrence of the serious traffic accident.

Published on: November 21, 2012

W. Virginia Seeking to Help TBI Victims at Home

by Stephen Bilkis

The state of West Virginia is seeking a federal Medicaid waiver so it can offer a program that will help people with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) remain in their homes, rather than forcing them into nursing homes or other facilities.

Earlier last month, the West Virginia state Supreme Court upheld a County Circuit Court ruling that issued a requirement that the Department of Health and Human Resources had to seek the waiver from the federal entity and that they had to get funding for the program.

A DHHR spokesman told a Lawyer that the program will begin when the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approves the waiver. Though the agency can’t pinpoint when the waiver will be approved, they did say it plans to provide services to 75 people in the first year, 100 in the second year, and 125 at the third year of the program.

Published on: November 17, 2012

War Zone MRIs Aid Brain Injury Treatments

by Stephen Bilkis

At the climax of last year’s fighting season, more than 300 U.S. troops received mild traumatic brain injuriesor concussions every month. Often those injuries resulted from exposure to a blast. Troops not killed or gravely wounded by blasts were often left stunned or even momentarily unconscious.

Concerned that many soldiers were suffering mild traumatic brain injuries or concussions, the military put new treatment procedures in place last year. Regulations now require that any soldier or Marine caught near a blast has to be pulled from active combat for at least 24 hours, and they must be examined for signs of concussion. Those displaying symptoms – such as dizziness, headaches or vomiting – remain on rest duty until the symptoms disappear. This can take up to a week or two.

The concern that led to this change revolved around the thought that troops need time to recover, and that exposure to a second blast before a brain has healed, could cause permanent damage. Manhattan and Long Island doctors remark that it is pivotal that military officials are attempting to provide combat operation manuals that incorporate the wellbeing of soldiers.

Published on: September 20, 2012

U.S. Representative Giffords’ Office Closing Gap in TBI Care

by Stephen Bilkis

Staff members in the employ of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) have become key advocates in the campaign to ensure health-care guarantees for Americans who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI). They are advocating that other citizens should be entitled to the same high quality care that the congresswoman is receiving in her recovery from a January shooting.

Last month, Giffords’ chief of staff released a letter urging Health and Human Services to prioritize defining the minimum package of “essential benefits” in the new health-care law that will be required of insurance plans for individuals and small businesses. This new law is expected to be operational by 2014.

Giffords’ Staff members are also planning to join encourage the Defense Secretary to expand the range of “cognitive rehabilitative therapies” that Tricare, the military’s insurance program for active-duty and retired service members, covers in cases of brain injury.

Published on: September 5, 2012

This is an action for personal injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiffs

by Stephen Bilkis

This is an action for personal injuries allegedly sustained by the plaintiffs herein as a result of purported exposure to lead-based paint at premises owned by the moving defendants. Susan Adams is the plaintiffs’ mother and she has commenced this action in her representative capacity as parent and natural guardian of Steffen Adams, an infant. The other plaintiffs, Shane Adams and Justin Adams, also the children of Susan Adams, have reached the age of majority.

An attorney from he Bronx said that in the Bills of Particulars verified by plaintiffs’ counsel, the plaintiffs Shane and Justin Adams alleged multiple neurological, cognitive functions, neuro-behavioral, developmental and psychological injuries including neurological damage, brain damageand Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) as a result of exposure to lead while residing at the defendants’ premises. Significantly, the plaintiffs’ Complaint alleges lead paint exposure during three (3) different time periods at three (3) different residential leasehold premises. Defendants Rizzo and Scaravillo were owners of premises known as 212 Seward Street at which plaintiffs resided between 1988 to 1990. The Cifra defendants owned 302 Mildred Avenue at which plaintiffs resided from 1991 to 1992. Defendant Luttinger owned 501 John Street at which plaintiffs resided from 1990 to 1991. The allegations of brain injury advanced by Susan Adams on behalf of Steffen Adams are verbatim identical to those of Shane and Justin.

Thereafter, Susan Adams was deposed, and upon commencement of this deposition, counsel for all parties stipulated, as is the custom and practice in this district, that all objections except those as to form were reserved until the time of trial and that the deposition would be held pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Practice Law and Rules. At the beginning of this deposition, plaintiffs’ counsel, James Nixon, made certain pronouncements and imposed significant unilateral limitations on the scope of the questioning he would permit Susan Adams to answer. Almost immediately, Mr. Nixon undertook a course of conduct at the deposition whereby he restricted the witness from answering questions, made demands for production of records supporting the questioning counsel’s “good faith” and otherwise engaged in conduct that, severely limited and unfairly and improperly obstructed the defendants’ ability to conduct the deposition.

Published on: August 5, 2012

War, while terrible, can often bring many innovations

by Stephen Bilkis

War, while terrible, can often bring many innovations, such as new medical concepts, according to sources. A committee of British clinical neurosurgeons in World War II sought to develop a standardized terminology for states of impaired consciousnessand published a glossary of their work. This committee included several preeminent neurosurgeons and others were quick to adopt their terminology. The original publication did not have a graded scale of levels of consciousness, but the glossary was used to help build such a scale. Eventually, the Glasgow Coma Scale was created in 1974.

The GCS has been used for decades and has become a widely-accepted way of measuring consciousness, studies have learned. There are some who do not like some of the details of this scale, however, and the way it is used has changed since its first implementation. Differing levels of stimulus and response were experimented with in an effort o create a universal scale that most physicians could agree upon.

Criteria such as sensitivity to pain, reflexes, and eye motion were all taken into account. Eventually, it came to be understood that all patients with a GCS score of 7 or less were comatose, while many with a score of 8 could also be called comatose, with the maximum score being 15, at fully unimpaired consciousness. doctors in The Bronx and Brooklyn have learned the final value of the GCS is in early evaluation of the primary effects of a head impact, and it helps to track the progress of an injury in order to treat any complications that might arise.

Published on: July 28, 2012

Traumatic brain injury, not caused by flying objects, can be divided by physicians into primary and secondary types

by Stephen Bilkis

Traumatic brain injury, not caused by flying objects, can be divided by physicians into primary and secondary types, according to doctors in The Bronx. The force that causes the injury directly damages blood vessels, brain cells, and other parts of the brain, which in turn cause secondary damages like inflammation, and changes in neurochemistry and metabolism. The study of these secondary injuries has lead to a number of pharmacological therapies that can help limit this type of damage.

The primary damage is anything that is a direct result of the force that caused the injury, which deforms the tissue at the moment of injury, New York Brain Injury Lawyers have learned. This is blood vessel damage, damage to brain cells, and other brain injuries that have a different effect depending upon the parts of the brain that are harmed in the initial impact.

Secondary traumatic brain damage is a complication of the primary damage and often includes cerebral swelling, changes in pressure inside the skull, and infection. Secondary brain damage is sometimes reversible with treatment. Study of these injuries have enabled pharmacologists to develop therapies that can do a lot to mitigate the harm done by a head impact. These studies in Brooklyn have also shown Lawyers, among others, that brain injury is not a single type of injury, but one that has many different manifestations that can occur and combine in any number of ways.

Published on: May 26, 2012

Coalition Developed to Explore TBI Treatment on the Scene of Accidents

by Stephen Bilkis

Approximately 1.4 million Americans will suffer a brain injurythis year. An unprecedented collaboration of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first responders, state health officials and university researchers will hopefully help save Arizona residents who are among that number who could suffer brain injury in the coming year.

Groundbreaking studies and life-saving developments are melding into a series of pre-hospital treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI). These treatments, as studies suggest, are to be administered immediately at the scene of the accident.

Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona fire departments, ambulance companies, Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center and the University of Medicine, announced their collaboration during an extraction demonstration by Glendale Fire Department.