Chicago Brain Injury Lawyer Blog

Health Canal reported on an interesting new research study that caught the eye on a Chicago brain injury lawyer at our firm. The research effort looked at the rates of hospital use by children with various conditions. What they found, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that children with neurological impairments had particularly high hospital rates. The research effort was led by experts from the University of Utah and Harvard Medical School.

The overall results indicate that a particularly high proportion of inpatient hospitalizations in the county are made up of children with neurological impairments. The total data examined include 25 million pediatric hospitalizations—those with brain condition accounted for 5.2 percent of all hospitalizations and 20 percent of all hospital charges. These figures are much higher than would be expected based solely on the total number of children facing these conditions.

The data was published in last month’s issue of PLoS Medicine. Four different years were analyzed in the effort (1997, 2000, 2003, and 2006). In total, 1.3 million hospitalizations were required for children with neurological impairments. Over those years, there was actually a proportionally increasing use of specialty hospitals by those with the impairments. The most common impairments for those hospitalized were cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

A limitation of the effort was that it only measured discharges (not individual patient data). That means that it is not possible to discover if the trend toward more hospitalization was caused by more usage of specialty services by children with these impairments or if there has been an overall increase in the number of children with the brain problems.

One expert familiar with the effort explained that the root of the problem may actually be advances in medical care. He noted, “In the United States, advances in care have led to improved survival of children with NI (neurological impairment), so we expected that children with NI would account for a significant proportion of hospital resources.”

The most fascinating aspect of the study, however, was the overall cost of these hospitalizations. Amazingly, nearly one third of all charges at these children’s hospitals were made to those children with conditions like cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Obviously in many cases families faced with these charges struggle to keep up. Even with insurance there are many demands placed on those caring for the injured children.

The need for prolonged and consisted medical care for those children suffering from brain impairments does not come as a surprise. The Illinois cerebral palsy attorneys at our firm, for example, are very familiar with the lifelong consequences that these problems have on the child. That is one reason why we work so hard to help Illinois cerebral palsy victims receive the resources they need to ensure that all future medical needs will be taken care of. It is sometimes impossible to know with certainty exactly what medical needs a child with cerebral palsy might need down the road. However, if the injury was caused by the misconduct of another it is entirely reasonable for the careless individual, organization, or insurance company to ensure that the child is taken care of in the aftermath of the a mistake.

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Last month an article was published in Neurosurgery—a leading medical research publication—on a new study which found an independent connection between brain damage and oxygen deprivation following a traumatic brain injury. The researchers explained how these injuries remain a leading cause of death, particularly among young people. Considering that younger community members are generally healthy, they are most likely to die in accidents like car crashes—traumatic brain injuries are often caused by those collisions.

The doctors explained that the consequences of these injuries are often made worse by damage that is delayed and develops hours to days after the actual injury. Doctors have long been working to better understand this secondary damage and figure out ways to prevent or minimize it. This new research has found that brain hypoxia (oxygen deprivation) is one of the causes of the harm. Therefore, there may be much to gain from pursuing strategies that minimize that hypoxia and return oxygen to the brain as soon as possible. For example, the researchers suggest that oxygen level monitoring should be conducted at the bedside of all victims of severe traumatic brain injuries. In that way, brain hypoxia may be diagnosed and corrected immediately when it arises, ultimately preventing irreversible brain damage. Our Chicago brain injury attorneys know that preventing the harm is of course the ideal, because there remains a significant difference in life for those who suffer some brain damage and severe brain damage.

The research published last month was the first to strongly suggest that this oxygen deprivation was an actual cause of the secondary damage, outside of other possible causes. Other research had suggested that hypoxia was seen when the damage occurred, but its causation had yet to be conclusively found. However, this latest work suggests that the effect of the hypoxia is independent of others—such as intracranial hypertension. The study which reached these conclusions involved the examination of 103 patients who has suffered traumatic brain injuries. All of the patients had various around-the-clock monitoring, including that which detects oxygen levels in the brain. The ultimate damage suffered by these victims was then measured and compared against others factors—such as their oxygen levels, intracranial hypertension, and cerebral perfusion pressure. Researchers found that damage seemed to be connected to the hypoxia outside of the possible other factors.

The Chicago injury lawyers at our firm understand the significance of this line of research. Hopefully, the hypoxia effect will be further confirmed, and steps will be taken to implement the findings into improved standard care protocols for these victims. Once medical professionals are aware of the effect of oxygen deprivation following injury and have the tools to prevent the hypoxia, then there is no reason not to do what is necessary to use the knowledge to help patients. Failure to adequately take advantage of this information is a form of negligence if it would be reasonable for the professionals to take certain steps which could prevent increased patient harm. So many families have their lives turned upside down by the significant and permanent consequences of these brain injuries. All research which results in better medical tools to help minimize at least some of that permanent harm should be welcomed.

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Our Chicago brain injury lawyers have repeatedly explained on this blog how every brain injury is unique, and the ultimate effects that it has on the lives of victims varies tremendously. When someone suffers a broken arm, it is pretty clear what the consequences will be. They will have limited use of the arm while it is in a cast, and they may have certain vulnerabilities in the arm depending upon its healing. However, in the vast majority of cases the harm and ultimate outcome with the broken bone is the same.

That is not the case with brain injuries.

Instead, victims who seemingly suffer similar head trauma may have wildly different consequences. Some may have temporary problems that return to normal soon. Others may have significant personality, memory, communication, and functioning problems that last indefinitely. In many ways, medical professionals are still in the early stages of understanding the mystery of the brain and the effect of brain injuries. However, seemingly every day new information is being uncovered by medical researchers that offers guidance on why certain brain injuries have different effects than others. Hopefully this new information will lead to a series of improvements in currently available treatments for these victims.

For example, late last week US News & World Report discussed new research which revealed that the level of oxygen deprivation following a traumatic brain injury is a significant barometer of long-term disability and death for the victim. The new study was published in this month’s Neurosurgery and involved monitoring the oxygen supply in about one hundred brain injury victims. Out of that group, forty three had significant complications classified as resulting in severe disability, a permanent vegetative state, or death. The researchers found that the greater the decrease in oxygen supply (known as hypoxia), the worse the result for the patient.

It is important to note that this hypoxia effect was found independent of other factors. Therefore the brain oxygenation levels are clearly a significant an independent cause of poor outcome following a traumatic brain injury. This new information will likely affect current treatment for brain injury victims. The lead researcher of this latest study explained that “the results support a recent guideline revision calling for monitoring of brain oxygenation during intensive care for patients with severe head injury.”

Our Illinois traumatic brain injury lawyers know that this type research has implications on future lawsuits filed by brain injury victims. For example, once new information is uncovered about the best practices for a certain medical condition, then it may affect the reasonableness standard to which medical professionals are held. Most suits involving victims with these injuries are rooted in negligence law where the reasonable person standard (or a variation of it) applies. That standard is altered depending on the knowledge of a certain community at the time. In the medical community, if doctors change their practices to account for new information about treating an ailment, then that change will affect the legal analysis when a patient suspects that they did not receive the level of care to which they were entitled.

In Other News: Two of our companion blogs--The Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog and Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog--were nominated for inclusion as one of the Top 25 Tort Blogs of 2011. The award is part of the LexisNexis project which seeks to feature blogs that set the standard in certain practice areas and industries. The voting to narrow down the field is currently underway, and we would love to have your vote. All you have to do is add a comment at the end of the post about the Top 25 bogs.

Please Follow This Link To Vote: Vote for Our Blog. Thanks for your support!

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Our Chicago brain injury lawyers recently shared the results of new research that painted a somewhat depressing picture of the current ability of medical professionals to treat the complications that result from head trauma, oxygen deprivation, and other injuries that cause brain trouble. The complexity of the brain continues to befuddled our top-notch medical experts who are working to figure out new ways to help patients who have suffered brain injuries. The lack of proper treatment for many victims, means that the consequences are quite high for those who suffer brain trauma.

While many experts have reported on the lack of proper treatment, this week came with a bit of good news, as medical experts released results which indicate some progress in treating these injuries. As reported in Physician’s Weekly, a new study has found that patients taking cholesterol-lowering statins to treat their brain injuries were found much more likely to survive when compare with those who did not take the drug. The research project was conducted by experts at Johns Hopkins and was published in The Journal of Trauma this month.

Statins are a class of drug for cholesterol that works by inhibiting an enzyme that is involved in the production of cholesterol. The research team analyzed senior patients who had moderate to severe brain damage and found that within that group those who were taking statins were much more likely to survive. The only exception was for those who had documented heart disease—those patients were not found to have the same statin benefit.

As encouraging as these results are, it is important to keep them into perspective. There remain no specific treatments know for traumatic brain injury. This latest work is not necessarily a treatment in itself, but it may point the way toward a method of helping these patients down the road. At this point, researchers do not believe that lowering cholesterol actually improves recovery from brain injuries. Instead, they suspect that other properties of the statins are responsible for the increased life expectancy of those taking the drugs. Obviously the next step is to investigate the specifics of the drug to determine what it is about them that actually helps in these situations.

Previous work has already linked the anti-inflammatory effect that statins produce on helping stroke patients survive. The benefit has also been found for those suffering other types of trauma as well. The best guess at this point is that the drugs actually curb the body’s immune response which prevents health brain tissue from being destroyed. This limits the brain damage to the already harmed areas. On top of that, there is a chance that the statins may block chemical byproducts and extra white blood cells from crossing over the blood-brain barrier.

Whatever the case may be, our Illinois brain injury attorneys welcome the news of advances that may improve the lives of those suffering from these injuries. We have worked with many residents, young and old alike, who have suffered an Illinois brain injury. Many families have their lives turned upside down by these preventable tragedies and it is important to ensure that they strike as rarely as possible.

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Brain injuries can occur from a large variety of events and may result from an incident where the victim suffers a blow to the head, but also may result from an incident where the victim is injured but the injury is not to the head itself but the overall damage to the victim causes brain damage. Our Chicago brain injury attorneys have helped out victims, and their families, of all types of brain injury receive compensation for these brain injuries when they were caused by the negligence of another. The person causing the injury could have been a doctor that failed to act appropriately given the situation, could be a stranger to the victim that caused an accident in which the victim was injured, could be an employer that allowed conditions to get to a point where the victim was injured on the job, or could be anyone else that acted in a way where their negligence led to the victim’s injury.

One specific type of brain injury is referred to as a traumatic brain injury. This encompasses brain injuries that the victim acquires during their life (not ones they are born with) and refers to those injuries where either an object pierces the skull and enters into the brain, or where the victim’s head strikes or is stricken by an object. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s website, the term traumatic brain injury does not only refer to severe and permanent brain injuries that were caused by a piercing or a striking, but also refers to minor injuries associated with this type of injury.

If you or a loved one suffered an injury to your head and maintained consciousness, or felt that the symptoms were not severe enough to worry about, you may still have suffered a traumatic brain injury. Other symptoms may include headaches, confusions, dizziness, lethargy, memory problems, blurred vision, as well as a range of other similar symptoms. So even if you feel that your injury may not be too severe, if you are experiencing these symptoms it is best to see a doctor to check you out and make sure that you are okay. Often times with traumatic brain injuries the victim will need surgery to remove ruptured blood vessels or bruised brain tissue, so please check with your doctor if you think you may have suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Often times, a brain injury lawsuit will not only seek damages for the medical expenses that resulted from the incident but will also ask for pain and suffering damages when the victim’s life and lifestyle have been affected in a way where they are no longer able to enjoy life in the same way that they did before the injury. Our Illinois personal injury law firm has helped out victims of traumatic brain injuries, that resulted from another person’s negligence, all over the state of Illinois. Our Illinois brain injury attorneys have seen all types of brain injuries (traumatic and non-traumatic brain injuries) and are here to help you or your loved one receive just compensation for all that you have suffered through as a result of the brain injury.

According to PRWeb, a jury verdict awarded $12.2 million in damages to Emily Liou, a San Mateo County 17 year old who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car-pedestrian accident. The accident occurred on March 28, 2006, as Emily was walking home. She had just left her friends after singing Karaoke. As she was crossing El Camino Real in a marked crosswalk, a woman with her child driving a Toyota sedan, struck Emily knocking her to the ground. The resulting injuries left Emily in a permanent vegetative state.

According to her attorney, “Emily was struck in a marked crosswalk located at the crest of a rise in the road, which does not come into view until a driver is about 100 feet away. Additionally, the crosswalk is located at an ‘uncontrolled’ intersection, meaning that there are no lights or stop signs controlling vehicular traffic. El Camino Real, which Caltrans (the California Department of Transportation) calls State Route 82, is among the busiest roads on the peninsula.”

Discovery during the case produced the following information -- within the past 15 years, three other pedestrians had been killed in the same crosswalk. The trial lasted four weeks. The jury found that the California Department of Transportation was 50% at fault and divided the remaining fault between the driver (30%) and Emily (20%).

According to Brainandspinalcord.org, brain injuries 20% of traumatic brain injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents. In addition, 15-24 year olds face the highest risk of traumatic brain injuries due to vehicle accidents.

Continue reading "California Teen Receives $12.2 Million Verdict for Traumatic Brain Injury" »

Reuters reports that a University of Illinois researcher has helped create a new brain implant made of silk and tiny electrodes and helped conduct studies assessing its effectiveness. Because the silk is biodegradable and water-soluble, it dissolves on the brain, leaving the electrodes in place and allowing the device to record brain signals more accurately than other brain implants and minimize damage to the brain. The silk brain implant also could have application to people suffering from serious brain traumaor a neurological disorder such as epilepsy or a spinal cord injury.

The Chicago brain injury lawyersat Levin & Perconti think these new findings are of particular interest to clients who have suffered spinal cord injuries as a result of the negligence of others. These injuries can occur from motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall incidents, and workplace accidents, or because of mistakes by health care providers, such as by failure to relieve spinal cord compression. As The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke explains, spinal cord injuries often begin with sudden, serious blows to the spine that fracture or dislocate vertebrae. This can compress the spine. Spinal cord injuries destroy the nerve cell extensions that carry signals between the brain and body, and when a person suffers a severe spinal cord injury, they can become completely paralyzed. However, people that suffer from less severe spinal cord injuries still retain some ability to convey messages from their brain to their body.

The silk brain implant can help both categories of people affected by a spinal cord injury. As Reuters reports, the silk brain implant has the potential to reroute signals from the brain to prosthetic devices, enabling people with spinal cord injuries to move independently once again.

Shelley Moore Capito, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, recently introduced legislation that would help veterans suffering from brain injury. The Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Access to Care Act would allow veterans in rural areas access to better care and treatment for their injuries. Oftentimes, veterans are limited in where they can receive appropriate care, and are forced to travel long distances to select VA hospitals that have the proper technology to treat traumatic brain injury. According to the article on WHSV.com, twenty percent of the injuries to soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars involve some sort of brain injury, making access to proper treatment important to veterans across the country. To view the status of Capito’s bill to protect the victims of traumatic brain injury, follow the hyperlink.

A research study shows that brain tissue may grow at a site of a traumatic brain injury by an injectable biomaterial gel. The research shows the biomaterial gel made up of both synthetic and natural sources may have a possibility to urge the growth of a patient’s own neural stem cells in the body, which can help mend the brain injury site. This could be the first step towards brain tissue regeneration. There has been an increase in brain injuries due to combat, which helped with the research. However, doctors believe that this research could be applied to head injuries caused by car accidents, falls and gunshot wounds. Recent brain injury studies have focused on using hypothermia or neuroprotection with pharmacological agents, but these have had little success. The new method shows that the hydrogel may be injected into the lesion site to direct the response of neural stem cells in the brain to supposedly redevelop normal brain tissue at the lesion site. To read more about the brain injury study, please click the link.

60 of the top medical professionals in America came together to draft the first ever National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan (PABI). PABI is working with the Sarah Jane Brain Project to help prevent and inform individual about children with Brain Injuries. President of the North American Brain Injury Society, Dr. Savage said that brain injuries are the largest killer and disabler of children and young adults; over one million children and young adults suffer brain injuries each year. Hospitals in each state will work together to address the issue; in Illinois, the University of Illinois at Chicago hospital was selected. To read the entire article click “Brain Injuries”

According to Anthem Insurance Companies Inc., cognitive rehabilitation is a medically necessary treatment for those patients with traumatic brain injuries. Over 20% of injured American soldiers are now experiencing traumatic Brain Injuries and need to be treated for those injuries. The Brain Injury Association , the voice of those with brain injuries , is asking for President Obama to come through with a promise he made as Senator and direct Secretary Gates to enact TRICARE coverage to those who need cognitive rehabilitation from a brain injury that they suffered while serving overseas. Click here to view the entire article on “brain injuries” .

Last week, the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ announced the opening of several Veteran Service Offices across the state. The offices will act as a resource where veterans can access state and federal benefits. Among the most notable of the new services is a Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder program. It is the first state program of its kind in the U.S. and it will provide brain injury screening and 24-hour support to Illinois veterans suffering from these injuries and conditions. Read more about the Illinois brain injury program for veterans.

The Chicago brain injury lawyers at Levin & Perconti recommend that all bicyclists wear helmets for protection against traumatic brain injury. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), it is also very important to wear a properly fitted helmet when preparing to ride. The NHTSA website recommends several things when choosing a helmet. First, choose a helmet that has been tested and approved by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Also, make sure to buy a helmet that fits well before you even adjust the straps. They also recommend buying a helmet that you like, you will be more likely to wear it if you feel good in it. Finally, never wear a helmet that is cracked.

An op-ed published by the New York Times draws attention to the fact that people do not know a lot about traumatic brain injury. Until the recent death of actress Natasha Richardson, many people had not realized the devastating effects a brain injury can have upon a person. According to the article, sports facilities where people could have a higher risk for brain injuries do little to educate staff about how to respond to brain injuries. The article also points out the lack of government funding for brain injury research.To read the full article on traumatic brain injury, please follow the link.

A brain injury advocacy group from a hospital recently launched a brain injury website. The website will be a portal for people who have suffered serious brain injury and brain damage. Among the features of the website is a section where victims of brain injury can create blog posts. The website is aimed at people who have been affected by brain damage and to create awareness surrounding serious brain injury. To visit the brain injury website, follow the link.