Chicago Brain Injury Lawyer Blog

Tort reform efforts take many forms. However, our Illinois brain lawyers know that many people associate “damage cap” laws as synonymous with tort reform. That is because more focus has been given to those particular caps than to any other tort reform effort. However, it is important for local residents to know that there are many other issues that might affect the ability of private citizens to access the civil justice system. Most of those efforts have one general goal: making it harder for community members to actually hold others fully accountable for the consequences of their negligent, reckless, and intentional misconduct.

For example, one popular new tort reform measure is often referred to as “Early Offer” legislation. When tort reform supporters discuss this concept they usually talk generally about trying to make the resolution of medical malpractice claims simpler. What the proponents of the bill generally do not want people to do is look at the actual details of the proposal, because, as usual, “the devil is in the details.”

Our Chicago brain injury lawyers recently read the testimony of Joanne Doroshow at a state committee hearing considering the proposal. Doroshow is the executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy. She explained that the proposal would take away victim’s rights in a manner that “is so dismissive of constitutional rights and potentially calamitous for injured patients.”

She continued that the early offer legislation “[F]louts the basic notions of fairness. It would tilt the legal playing field so dramatically in favor of insurers as to essentially eviscerate patients’ right to adequate compensation.”

So what is the problem with the legislation?

The main issue is that the law essentially tries to get patients to “sign into” the early offer system without any real idea about what their long-term injuries might be, usually without having any real opportunity to discuss the ramifications of their conduct with their legal professionals.

Once in this system, the patients will be faced with a string of conflicts, at their own disadvantage. The medical-defendant is able to select doctors to evaluate damages with serious complications for families trying to get future medical expenses covered. In addition, by entering the system the patients give up all rights to non-economic damages.

Every way you look at it, the law attempts to coerce unknowing patients into signing away their own rights.

Brain injury lawyers of all stripe—all lawyers, in fact—understand that a bedrock principle of the legal system is a commitment to fairness. Part of that commitment involves not creating systems that will knowingly coerce certain individuals into making decisions against their interests. It is not enough to say that technically those involved can opt out of the system, particularly when the system sets up a system with trusted individuals applying pressure on those individuals to act against their own interests. The law can be complicated. These types of laws try to take advantage of that complication by getting patients to unknowingly act in ways that are often not in their best interests.

All lawyers, on both sides, should know that these tactics are inherently unethical. They should never be enshrined in law.

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Public Waking Up to Cost, Severity, and Frequency of Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative Announced by First Lady Obama

The Illinois brain injury lawyers at our firm have helped residents hurt in many different kinds of accidents. Premise liability law is implicated when the accident occurred after a slip and fall on someone else’s property. Basic tort and negligence law is at the heart of auto accident cases where residents suffer a traumatic brain injury after a collision. Medical malpractice is involved when doctors, nurses, or other medical teams make mistakes that lead to the brain damage. However, in all of these cases there is one commonality in the legal case; the presence of insurance companies.

The insurance world is at the heart of the civil justice system, because most actual payment following these injuries are made by these companies. This shouldn’t be too big a surprise, because that is the whole point of insurance, to provide payment to those who suffer serious harm unexpectedly. That is exactly why it is the insurance companies who are at the forefront of so-called “tort reform” efforts. These companies want to pay out at as little as possible. Not satisfied simply defending lawsuits where they feel appropriate and making payments based on the decision of the jury, these companies want to stack the deck and simply make it impossible for the jury to reach certain decisions at all.

Unfortunately, however, our Chicago brain injury attorneys know that this insurance involvement can lead to a wide range of problems, often inhibiting a basic sense of fairness—as tort reform efforts suggest.

An underlying problem, according to a new story on the insurance industry in The Atlantic, is these companies have completely lost touch with the whole purpose of the effort. In the past, the whole point of insurance was a community-wide effort, coming together to leverage the resources of everyone in order to provide security for everyone. In the past, it involved mutual benefit for all involved. Everyone made small payments. Payouts were made when any participant faced harm per the terms of the agreement, and when profits were made they were equally distributed to those same individuals.

That model is not quite still around.

That is because, as our Illinois brain injury attorneys know well, the insurance industry has become a major corporate powerhouse. Instead of a community-effort to help all those involved, the focus is on maximizing profits. This has change has also shifting considerable power to the few executives in charge of these companies. Not surprisingly they make rules that handsomely reward themselves. The current CEO of Liberty Mutual, for example, made more than $200 million to himself in compensation over the past four years alone.

The article argues that as the idea of a mutual pooling of resources changed into a profit-making corporate entity, so too changed the company’s former commitment to improving the overall public welfare. In the past, the insurance was owned by those who had an actual stake in the assets. In that way, all had personal incentive to limit payouts by improving on a wide-range of safety changes that they themselves also benefitted from. However that has changed. The article sums up the current situation: “Insurance returned to the business of selling policies to people who had no stake in the assets on which they wagered. Even worse, although the gains accrued to private individuals, the public remained on the hook for any failures.”

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Respected National Think Tank Criticizes Damage Caps

When discussing Illinois traumatic brain injuries most focus is around the medical advances related to preventing and treating the consequences of the harm. In addition, we often mention the legal issues that sometime are at play with those who suffer these injuries. Traumatic brain injuries are often caused by negligent conduct. Whenever negligence is at play, the law often allows those hurt an avenue to seek redress for their losses in an attempt to make them as “whole” as possible after the injury.

But beyond the medical and legal discussions, it is crucial not to forget that traumatic brain injuries have very real day-to-day consequences on individual families and their communities. The real-life effects of these injuries were the subject of a recent article in the Rocklin & Roseville Today. The article shared the story of one woman in that area who fell victim to one of these injuries. The fifty-four year old woman was walking in a crosswalk to get across a street. She was only a few steps from the sidewalk when a large van came upon her. The driver of the van did not see her and so the van slammed into her body.

She suffered a serious brain injury. The consequences were severe. The woman explains that she and her husband own a family farm. Before the accident the woman was counted on to do a wide range of tasks to keep the farm going, from managing the hog born and driving a tractor to doing the family income taxes.

But that all changed after the accident. She notes that she “couldn’t drive a tractor. It just would have taken too much concentration since you have to use both feet. So my husband ended up having to sell his cows and get a (second) job. I wasn’t able to help him farm anymore. So what was he going to do?” Our Chicago brain injury attorneys know that many families in our area have had their work and financial situations turned upside down as a result of injuries like this which happen the blink of an eye—often via car accidents.

The family in this case had three children: two teenagers and six year old boy at the time of the accident. As a result of the injury the children’s lives were also turned around. They were forced to take on much more responsibility. Housework, for example, needed to be done even though the woman couldn’t do many of the tasks herself.

The community as a whole was also affected. The woman had founded a free tax counseling services for the elderly and those with low incomes. However, she could no longer do the necessary volunteer work after the injury. She even had to stop her active role in the local PTA because of the consequences of the TBI.

If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident or any other incident, please remember that help is available. In certain circumstances legal actions might be appropriate to ensure that resources are available to help ensure recover occurs as quickly and fully as possible.

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New Brain Steps Program Targets Reintegration for Children with Brain Injuries

Virtual Brain Injury Support Group Allows Therapy From Home

Brain injuries that affect children are particularly damaging, because they often dictate certain aspects of the rest of the child’s life. Like everyone else, babies and young children are capable of suffering a traumatic brain injury in car accidents, falls, and similar incidents. In addition, newborns also face brain injuries as a result of problems during their mother’s pregnancy and delivery.

When injuries arise during labor it can sometimes be caused by mistakes made by medical professionals. In many other cases the brain injury develops well before the delivery, while the child is growing inside the mother’s womb. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the harm was not preventable. That is because we now know a great deal about how certain actions and exposures for a mother during pregnancy affect the child’s development. Each Chicago brain injury lawyer at our firm knows that as information about risks of conduct and exposure is uncovered, those in a position to lessen the harm should take reasonable steps to do so.

For example, last week Business Week wrote about a new study that seemed to conclusively show that exposure to a pesticide chemical known as chlorpyrifos led to developmental brain injuries in children in utero. The research was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research effort involved taking MRI scans of children whose mothers had been exposed to increased levels of the chemical. What the researchers found was that the children who had been exposed were more likely to have certain brain abnormalities when compared with children whose mothers were not exposed. The brain abnormalities were found in various parts of the children’s brain, including areas related to language, attention, emotions, and reward systems.

The researchers are not yet sure if certain treatments can be provided to help those children who were over-exposed. However, considered some of the issues are structural changes in the brain, reversing any of the abnormalities is unlikely. In any event, the Illinois brain injury lawyers at our firm appreciate that this sort of research is yet another reminder of the need to be aware of these types of exposures and their related risks.

The particular chemical at issue is used in a Dow Chemcial Company pesticide known as Dursban. The pesticide has not been allowed in residential areas for ten years. However, it is still in use in certain rural, agricultural areas. Mothers living in those locations may still be affected by the exposure. That being the case, mothers who suspect that this might be an issue should take steps to ensure that their exposure is limited as much as possible during the pregnancy.

For their part, a representative from Dow admitted that the study breaks new ground. However, they dispute that any conclusively findings can be taken from the research. They suggest that testing on animals exposed to far higher levels of the chemical showed no adverse affects, and so the consequences for the children might be connected to some outside, unknown variable.

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Birth Defects Linked to Various Persistent Organic Pollutants

Family Awarded $4.5 Million Following Birth Injury Lawsuit

It is hard to image any good things that come out of serious traumatic brain injuries. Each Illinois brain injury lawyer at our firm has worked with many local families who have faced significant hardship as a result of these injuries. Virtually no TBI victim would likely turn down the chance to go back in time and prevent the accident or error that lead to their injury. However, it is sometimes helpful to highlight situations where individuals try to make the most of their situation. There are families, throughout the country and in our area, who strive to not only recover as much as possible but to use the tragedy as an opportunity to grow and improve.

For example, NPR shared a story this week on one man’s quest to use his brain injury was a way to be kinder than he was before the accident. In his case, the man was riding alone on a stretch of highway in California four years ago when he suddenly hit some grout on the road. The incident threw him off the bike in a serious accident. He was wearing a full helmet at the time, but those sorts of safety objects cannot offer full protection in the face of the forces involved in those accidents. He suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The injury was severe. He was ultimately in a coma for six-weeks. His wife explains the arduous recovery process. She noted that he was unable to do virtually anything for himself for more than seven months. He needed assistance with everything, and was unable to walk or talk. Fortunately the man eventually began to improve.

Yet, improvement is not the same as returning exactly to what one was before an injury. The man in this case admits that he didn’t feel like he was improving fast enough. He said, “My mind, I feel, is so damaged. It’s kind of made my life very hard to live, really.”

The stress of living through the recovery process once drove the man to attempt suicide. He explains that in one particularly depressive state, while thinking about all of his life that he had lost, he took a drug overdose. Fortunately, his wife found him in time, took him to the hospital and saved his life.

Since that time, however, the man and this wife admit that things are improving, and they are using the tragedies as incentives to work on other parts of their life. For one thing, the TBI victim suggests that he is much kinder now than he was before. Once know for a sarcastic wit that sometime bit hard, he is much nicer to those around him.

His wife also explains that he is more open now than beforehand. Talking about the improved relationship with his nieces before the accident he explained, “All kids bugged me before the accident, that’s the weird thing. I wouldn’t even invite people to our house because they have kids […] And now I love my nieces, I love those girls.

Our Chicago brain injury lawyers understand that these struggles are shared by many who suffer a TBI. Changes in one’s life in the aftermath are often significant, favorite activities often can no longer be performed. It is not uncommon for victims to experience significant depression afterward. All those in that situation should remember that help is available.

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Facts on Traumatic Brain Injury

Personal Injury Lawsuit Filed After 15-year old Injured During Deliveries

Each Chicago brain injury lawyer at our firm was saddened to hear yesterday about the death of well-known former football player Junior Seau. Seau was widely considered one of the best linebackers to ever play the game. Those familiar with the sport know that linebackers take (and give) some of the toughest, repeated hits while on the field. The helmet and head contact involved in tackling is significant, and linebackers’ main job is to make those tackles. Over the course of a long NFL career—and a lifetime of football playing generally—the overall toll of those hits is likely severe.

Those basic head injury concerns are being widely discussed following Seau’s death, because many suspect his playing days—and the brain injury that might have resulted—was the cause of his death. Officially, initial reports suggest that his death was a suicide. He was found yesterday with a gunshot wound in the chest. The manner of death was eerily similar to the suicide of former Chicago Bear great Dave Duerson. Duerson similarly died from a self-inflicted shot through the chest. He left a note specifically indicating that he wanted his brain donated to science to help the research into the long-term consequences of brain injuries. It is unclear if Seau made any recent requests, but a family friend said that he heard Seau say that he wanted his brain donated in the past.

A recent story on the tragedy from 10 News talked about the observations of some experts in the field. A doctor who has spent considerable time studying NFL brain injuries said that he had few doubts that Seau’s passing was linked to brain injuries that he likely developed over his playing career. A previous study on these injuries out of Boston University found that at least 20 former NFL players were identified with clear brain disease following their retirement.

Interestingly, the doctor suggests that the finding about the severity and scope of the problem should spur better treatment for affected players. He noted that, like other injuries, there are ways that brain injuries can be rehabbed. The doctor suggested that about 80% of players can show much improvement after a few months of targeted brain damage rehabilitation. Unfortunately, many players do not get help. As the recent tragedies demonstrate, the consequences of a lack of treatment are deadly.

Our Illinois brain injury attorneys are aware that this most recent tragedy comes amid an on-going lawsuit filed by former players against the National Football League. The lawsuit alleges that the NFL failed to properly warn players about the long-term damage that comes with the sport. Of course the lawsuit doesn’t allege that the NFL is ultimately responsible for all brain injuries that result from the playing of the game. Instead, the suit is centered on what the NFL could have done or should have done to minimize the risk and allow players a better understanding of the long-term consequences they were exposing themselves to when deciding to step out onto the field each game.

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Head Injury Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Ex-Football Players

Former Illinois Athletes File Brain Injury Lawsuit Against Eastern Illinois University

On Thursday the Sacramento Bee published a story on an upcoming symposium that will involve discussion of the latest advances in traumatic brain injury and stroke treatments. The symposium will be held in early May with discussions with some of the leading practitioners in the country working on these issues. Each Chicago brain injury lawyer at our firm appreciates the incredible advances that have already been made in this area and the tremendous potential that exists in ongoing research which may help families with a loved one affected by a traumatic brain injury.

This particular symposium will be held in Austin, Texas on May 4th. It is entitled “Collaborating for Cures: Emerging Translational Research in the Stroke and TBI Care Continuum.” Scheduled topics include cutting edge research on stem cell policy, neuroplasticity, and neuroimaging techniques. Beyond the focus on new research in the area, the event will also highlight political and policy-related barriers and challenges. In this way the symposium seeks to both educate the community on the research potential as well as push for policy changes that might help the ultimate research goals be reached sooner rather than later.

For that reason, a local state senator will give a health and policy related presentation on the potential to improve community health by investing in local community research efforts. Our Illinois brain injury lawyers understand that this is a lesson which is applicable to communities across the country. Real progress in this area will only occur when real resources are devoted to the necessary research to make important discoveries and turn those discoveries into actual treatments for patients.

Stem cell research efforts are a centerpiece of the symposium, because they are at the heart of many different research efforts that might one day help traumatic brain injury victims as well as stroke victims. One of the sponsors of the event is a stem cell research non-profit group. The organization lists its mission as one to “provide educational information to the public and policymakers regarding the medical and economic benefits of stem cell research and therapy. “

Every day more and more residents in Chicago, Illinois, and throughout the country are suffering brain injuries. The brain has long been a source of significant mystery even to leading researchers in the area. However, in the past few decades there has been amazing strides made in understanding of the brain generally. That general knowledge is slowly paying off for those who have suffered injuries as medical researchers figure out how to fix or at least prevent certain brain damage.

If you are in Illinois and have suffered a brain injury—or know someone who has—it is important to ensure that you at least learn about your legal rights. In many situations it is the negligence of others which contributes to the injury. Car accidents, slips, falls, and other situations have unreasonable conduct at their heart. Visiting with a legal professional doesn’t automatically mean that you want to file a lawsuit. Instead, it is just the beginning of a basic conversation so that you can at least be made aware of your options.

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Brain Injury Research Spurred by Military Action

Electroshock Therapy & Brain Damage

Over the last decade few sports have gained in popularity as steadily as mixed-martial arts (MMA). Rising from a sport with a few loyal fans, MMA—led by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)—has attracted millions of followers, making national celebrities of its biggest stars. For those unfamiliar, MMA is essentially a “fight” between two individuals incorporating a wide range of techniques, from boxing and wrestling to karate and jiu jitsu. Of course, considering the physicality of the sport, our Chicago brain injury attorneys know that the risk of severe head injury to participants is particularly high.

The rising popularity of the sport has led those in charge of the effort to take a far more serious look at the actual brain injury risks and ways that those risks can be lowered while maintaining the spirit of the sport. For example, a new story at The Bleacher Report explained that while knockouts are popular with fans, the single event may have life-long consequences for the athlete. The story reminds readers that “the specter of brain injury looms over each and every striking sport.”

On one hand, MMA may actually be safer than sports like boxing. Whereas blows to the head are the main component of all boxing matches, MMA fights include many other moves beyond head strikes. There is much more grappling and subtle submission moves in MMA. These come with their own risks, but at the end of the day that repeated head contact seen over a boxing career is less common in professional MMA fighters.

However, on the other hand, this feature also means that MMA fighters often continue in the sport longer than boxers. As a result, MMA fighter may experience more concussions over the course of a career than others. This can present incredibly significant risks, with debilitating consequences for aging fighters.

Each Illinois brain injury lawyer at our firm appreciates that these risks make it imperative for those in charge of safety for the sport to give serious thought to changes in rules and regulations which take these risks into accounts. For example, in the sport’s earliest days participants did not even use gloves. It was a bare-knuckle fighting. That changed as the sport grew in popularity.

Now some have suggested that the sport implement a new policy where fighters are forced to retire after taking a certain amount of knockouts. It is not uncommon for fighters even in their early twenties to have suffered two, three, four, or more knockouts in their career. Make no mistake, the severe blows that lead to these knockouts cause actual brain injuries. Our growing knowledge of the brain and long-term injuries to the head make clear that, while fighters might seem to recover from these injuries, there are often long-term consequences. Years from now many of these athletes will face severe health issues. It is simply irresponsible to ignore those risks for a few years of fighting.

All of this is not to suggest that MMA officials are ignoring their duty. In fact, MMA may actually be the most regulated sport in the country. This is not surprising considering that the event involves much more violence than virtually all other sports. Yet, as information about the long-term effects of these injuries grows it will become important for officials to constantly keep standards up.

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Former Illinois Athlete Files Brain Injury Lawsuit Against Eastern Illinois University

A recent post at Yahoo Voices offered a comprehensive and helpful critique of the proposed federal legislation that our Illinois brain injury lawyers have spent considerable time criticizing—House Resolution 5. The bill passed out of the U.S. House of Representatives in late March. Among other things the law would cap all pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice cases at $250,000, create arbitrary rules for legal arrangements between lawyers and malpractice victims, and enact restrictions on consumer’s ability to hold drug companies and medical device manufacturers responsible for their conduct.

As with virtually all tort reform measures, H.R. 5 is simply an effort to tilt the legal scale even more in favor of insurance companies, drug companies, and large healthcare conglomerates.

The article explains how proponents of the bill argue that the measure is needed because the current system of handing medical malpractice cases—which can include Illinois brain injury cases—is too costly and ineffective. Bizarrely, proponents also claim that the measure will help improve patient safety.

Of course, one needed look too hard to realize that these supposed motivations behind the measure are illusory. The bill’s chief sponsor, Georgia Congressman Phil Gingrey has suggested that the bill will ensure that those hurt by medical errors receive fair and adequate compensation. Yet, the main thrust of the bill is to arbitrarily limit the amount that all those hurt can receive. No longer would juries be able to decide these issues based on the specifics of each case.

The Congressman has argued that the bill would also “reduce uncertainty” in amount of damages for injured individuals. However, the only situation where this is true is where juries deem the damages suffered to exceed the cap amount. In that way, the only ones to benefit from limiting this “uncertainty” are insurance companies who will be guaranteed to not have to provide full compensation for harms by those in the most serious situations.

Our Chicago brain injury lawyers appreciate that at the end of the day, what matters most of all is patient safety. In a rush to cater to the needs of powerful interest groups, many legislators fail to consider the actual long-term effect of this dangerous legislation. In some ways medical errors have reached epidemic proportions. Twelve years ago in the oft-cited study “To Err is Human” a doctor from the Institute of Medicine explained that the health care industry was “a decade or more behind other high-risk industries in its attention to ensuring basic safety.”

What has changed in those twelve years? Almost nothing.

A 2010 study that attempted to quantify the results of the patient safety movement over the previous decade found “little evidence that the rate of harm had decreased substantially over a six year period ending in December 2007.” In other words, hundreds of thousands of patients continue to be killed and severely injured every year because of errors that are entirely preventable.

Beyond the judicial fairness issue, it is inconceivable that providing medical providers more legal immunity and less incentive to fix the problem will result in better patient safety. More lives may very well be lost as a result of this type of legislation.

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Medical News Today shared information earlier this week on a new research effort from the University of Alabama Birmingham which examined an issue that many fail to consider related to brain injuries. Medical decision-making following the injury is often impaired by the injury iself. This may ultimately lead to a range of complications for those hurt. Our Illinois brain injury lawyers appreciate that this is yet another complication faced by local residents trying to deal with the aftermath of these serious injuries.

The study was published in an issue of the magazine Neurology earlier this month. Part of the research examined the overall connection between brain injury and severity of impairment. Most of the conclusions were obvious and expected. The more severe the traumatic brain injury the more severe the impairment of medical decision-making. In this way, it may actually be the more mild injuries that come with the greatest risks when it comes to medical decision-making. Obviously those who are severely impaired will be recognized right away to be unable to make certain medical decision on their own. Yet, those with more mild injuries may still have trouble making accurate medical decisions. That vulnerability may not necessarily be identified, however, leading to possible harm.

In any event, the research is a reminder both to families and medical professionals of the need to be aware of how a TBI could affect an individual’s ability to make sometimes complex medical decisions in the immediate aftermath of one of these injuries. Choices about rehabilitation programs and treatment for neuropsychiatric problems often must be made immediately after the injury and during the recovery period. Because many TBIs affect decision-making generally, the victim may have trouble making appropriate medical decisions.

This specific research effort involved examination of 86 TBI patients and included use of 40 controls. The TBI group was split into three groups based on the severity of the injury. All participants were then evaluated using standardized measures of medical-decision making ability. That standardized measurement includes analysis of five different areas: appreciation, reasonable choice, expressing choice, reasoning, and understanding.

Those with mild injuries seemed to match up relatively well to the control group on these measures. However the middle group of moderate to severe TBI sufferers performed noticeably worse than the control group on at least three of the five variables. In particular researchers found that the middle group of TBI victims struggled on the variables of understanding, reasoning, and appreciation.

One of the researchers summarized that “This suggest that one month following injury, consent capacity has returned to normal for people with mild TBI, but the structural brain changes characteristic of complicated mild cases may contribute to more significant impairments in decisional capacity that have not resolved 30 days after injury.”

Families and patients dealing with traumatic brain injuries should be aware of these concerns when making decisions about medical care, rehabilitation, and similar issues. There is no quick fix or easy answers when it comes to how to handle these issues but recognizing the possible impairment is a good first step in ensuring it doesn’t affect the injured individual’s recovery.

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Most legal cases that garner widespread public attention are constitutional law cases. The vast majority of legal cases will have decisions that only apply to the individual parties in the suit. For example, if a local resident suffers a traumatic brain injury in a car accident and sues the other driver, the resolution of that case hinges only on what happened between those two parties. The ultimate resolution may be interesting, but it has little effect on others.

Our Chicago brain injury lawyers appreciate that constitutional challenges are different. There is much more interest in cases where constitutional arguments are made, because they often implicate laws passed by state and federal legislative bodies. If the laws themselves are somehow found to violate principles within the constitution, then the effects will go far beyond the individual parties named in the suit.

However, there is often confusion about the specific way that these cases are brought. Behind each major constitutional challenge there are individual plaintiffs who are challenging a law based on their own specific situation. Therefore, technically, even decisions in constitutional cases only apply to individual parties, not the public as a whole.

For example, The News-Leader reported this week on a high profile state constitutional challenge in Missouri. The state Supreme Court heard arguments on a challenge to a state law that placed an arbitrary cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. The legal challenge is an extension of a brain injury case, filed by a family who argued that their son’s permanent injuries were caused by inadequate care being provided by a medical team during his birth. The boy suffers from cerebral palsy, cannot walk or talk, and will need 24-hour care throughout his life. The jury in that case agreed that the injuries were caused by inadequate care. They reached a verdict for the plaintiff and awarded them $1.45million in non-economic damages.

However, because of the cap law in the state, the majority of that non-economic damage award was cut. Following the imposition of the law, the family appealed, claiming that the law itself is unconstitutional.

Of course, much attention in the state has been focused on that individual case, because the implications of the Supreme Court decision will have ramifications in all future cases. Yet, technically whatever the court decides will only apply to the individual families in this case. Even if they rule the law unconstitutional, that judicial ruling does not automatically mean that the law suddenly does not exist. Instead, what it means is that there is legal precedent in the state (at the highest level) which rejects the laws applicability. Technically, the state can still seek to apply the law that is one the books, even after this ruling. However, if they do so, the plaintiffs can appeal the imposition. They are essentially guaranteed a win on their appeal because of the high court precedent which finds the law unconstitutional. Therefore, while these constitutional challenges technically only affect the named parties, the practical effect is to make the law unenforceable.

At the end of the day, these are interesting but moot legal distinctions. Constitutional challenges change the legal landscape for all community members. When it comes to challenges to cap laws, the consequences of that decision will affect all those in the future who may seek to hold others liable for wrongdoing in the civil justice system.

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Med Page Today reported on new brain injury research out of the University of Southern California. According to reports on the project published in the March issues of Archives of Surgery, researchers believe that boosting red cell production may help patients who have developed brain injuries. Our Illinois brain injury attorneys understand that each and every study which offers hope for improving the condition of those with these injuries is good news.

This particular research effort involved testing the effect on traumatic brain injury patients who received a red cell production stimulant known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents. Specifically, researchers found that those who were given the stimulant had a 75% lower mortality risk than those not given the agents. Of course decreased mortality rates to that large of a degree suggests that the red cell effect is quite robust.

The MedPage analysis of the research effort is a bit technical. However, the article explains that animal models suggest that the stimulant decreases secondary neuronal damage on top of improving overall outcomes for TBI victims. As our Chicago traumatic brain injury lawyers have often explained, it is the secondary damage is just as severe as the harm from the initial trauma which causes the TBI. The secondary damage, often referred to as a “tsunami,” leads to subsequent brain damage that is often never able to be reversed. Limiting the tsunami has long been an important medical goal, which would go a long way to improving the long-term living conditions for brain injury victims.

This latest research effort produced findings similar to a retrospective effort that the researchers had previously conducted. In that earlier effort, the investigators examined records of patients who had received the stimulating agent and compared them with patients who had not. A large survival benefit was found in those cases.

This most recent research project was actually spurred by an effort to verify the retrospective research project. This most recent project involved observational studies of patients who were admitted to an area hospital over a two year period. In total, 566 patients were examined. Of that group, 75 were giving the red cell boosting agent. Researchers then compared those individuals with a matched control group. The controls were selected to represent patients as similar as possible to those who had received that agent. There were no differences between the two groups in regards to demographics, severity of the injury, or similar measures. Of course this is important to isolate one single cause—in this case the stimulant—as being the actual factor responsible for any differences in the outcomes of the two groups of patients.

Of those two groups only 9.3% of patients who received the agent died while at the hospital compared with 25.3% of the control group. There was seemingly no major difference in a variety of other complications between the two groups, such as deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolisms, pneumonia, acute renal failure, and respiratory distress syndrome.

The researchers are next hoping to conduct n actual randomized experiment along the same lines as this latest effort. The randomized experiment would offer even stronger evidence, because this effort involved patients who either did or did not receive the agent at the discretion of their own physician, not random chance.

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New Long-Term Brain Injury Study Underway Following NCAA Grant

The Hunt for Better Brain Injury Scans

The U.S. Congress is getting into the act to learn more about how traumatic brain injuries are affecting community members. C-Span provided a summary of recent efforts by the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health to take at look at the issue and see if there was more that could be done to help those involved. In particular, the group of legislators is examining both public and private effort to prevent and treat the injuries and the subsequent disabilities. The hearing this afternoon comes amid growing national attention being devoted to these issues.

Considering the total number of community members affected by this injury, it is no surprise that there has been federal involvement in traumatic brain injuries for over fifteen years. The first federal initiatives to tackle the problem took the form of the Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 1996. Over the next decade and a half various amendments to the bill have also passed which promote education and treatment protocols. The legislation used various approaches to encourage more research into treatment and diagnosis options. In addition, the bill sought to improve the overall awareness effort. Awareness levels are now higher than they probably have ever been. However, that does not mean that there is not still room for improvement. Our Illinois brain injury lawyers know that for many, their first encounter with TBI is when someone they know suffers the head injury.

At the hearing—led by Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Joe Pitts—the committee heard testimony that reiterated the significant scope of the TBI problem. The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was rolled out which indicates that as many as 1.7 million American suffer a TBI each year. In total, falls are considered the leading cause, particularly for the most vulnerable in the community (those under 4 years old and over 75 years old). While falls cause more individual cases of TBI than any other single type of incident, automobile accidents usually cause the most serious TBIs. In particular, brain injuries that end up with a death are far more likely in car accidents than any other causes. Of course, the wide range of causes of TBIs mean that it is somewhat difficult for legislators to narrowly come up with some single solution which would tackle the prevention problem. As it now stands the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spends about $400 million on various TBI programs. Those programs are geared both at prevention and treatment.

The hearing in large part was a discussion of the impact that the funding has had on both goals. The HHS Federal Traumatic Brain Injury Program is a comprehensive effort that helps both the victims of these injuries as well as their families. The comprehensive approach to support is important in these cases because, perhaps more so than with other types of injuries, TBIs truly affect entire families. When one’s personality, memories, and other cognitive functions are impaired, spouses, children, parents, siblings, and other have their lives turned upside down. Having various programs to support all those affected remains and important and worthwhile goal.

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Market Watch published this week on the details of a new traumatic brain injury study that is just getting underway at the University of Michigan. The effort targets injuries suffering by student athletes and is being funded by the NCAA. Our Illinois brain injury lawyers have previously shared information about the lawsuits that have been filed over the last pair of years against the collegiate athletic body. The NCAA suits are similar to those filed against the National Football League alleging that players suffered lifelong damage as a result of the league’s failure to warn of danger and take appropriate action to limit them.

Seemingly in an effort to expand knowledge on these issues that will one day help keep college players safe, the NCAA offered the researchers a grant in an effort to produce an “unprecedented” study on sports concussions. The effort will be a long-term one that will track involved participants over a prolonged period of time. Unlike short-term studies, these efforts usually track a growing group of athletes and for years in order to get legitimate data that shows the potential long-term effect of certain injuries. According to the report, the NCAA will provide $400,000 to start the effort which will be led by the National Sport Concussion Outcomes Study Consortium.

The Consortium hopes to include more than 1,000 athletes who participate in eleven different sports at three schools. The sports include football, soccer, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, water polo, and field hockey. A few non-contact athletes will also be measured including those participating in track, swimming, and diving. Those athletes will then be tracked throughout their lifetime to get an idea of how their lives might be affected by the head injuries. If all goes well, researchers are actually hoping to expand the effort down the road to begin tracing more athletes and at an earlier age (in high school). In that way, involved researchers hope to mimic a groundbreaking effort on the long-term effects of heart disease the revolutionized the way experts thought about cardiovascular risks—the “Framingham heart study.”

The members of the Consortium which will be leading this longitudinal study explain that there is not currently much hard data on the long-term effects of these injuries. A large reason for that is that it simply takes time for research efforts to produce clear results that track athletes over a long period of time. Right now researchers have many case reports, but little controlled studies that measure brain function over time while controlling for other variables.

Our Chicago brain injury lawyers appreciate that we hopefully sit at the precipice of a wave of new brain injury findings. In many ways nationwide attention on these issues has only occurred in the recent past. Many research efforts initiated in the wake of that attention have yet to yield results. It is only a matter of time before more of these studies bear fruit and yield important, new information about how to better prevent and treat these injuries. It is crucial for those in a position to take advantage of these new research findings to do just that.

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Open access to the civil justice system makes everyone safer. Our Chicago brain injury lawyers firmly believe that the courts are one of the few places where everyone—no matter how rich or powerful—is on a level playing field. As such, it is in the courtroom where those who engage in unreasonable practices that hurt others can be held accountable for the consequences of their actions. Knowing that there may be consequences for harm caused to others incentivizes everyone, from individuals to businesses, to act appropriately to avoid the harm.

Unfortunately, some big interest groups have been waging war against this principle for years. Instead of investing in ways to act more appropriately (like, for example, improving hospital safety standards), these interests are seeking to avoid accountability altogether by taking away legal rights from those hurt by their misconduct. In many cases this might include Illinois brain injury victims whose injuries were caused by the negligence of others, including doctors in medical malpractice cases.

Over the last year we have been discussing the latest federal attempt at forcing these tort reforms measures on all state across the country. Packaged as House Resolution 5 (H.R. 5), the measure would impose a string of damage caps, limitations, and other changes on every state in Union—an egregious breach of the principle of federalism and a dangerous proposition for all those who care about fair access to the civil justice system.

The American Association for Justice is now reporting that, after stalling for a year, H.R. 5 appears to be on the fast-track. A vote on the floor of the House of Representatives is expected as early as next week. Those pushing the bill argue that it is necessary to save on healthcare spending. However, the Congressional Budget Office has projected that, at best, only one half of one percent of federal health spending will be affected by these tort reform measures. Even then, far more money can be saved by eliminating errors instead of eliminating legal rights. The Institute of Medicine has explained how as many as 98,000 people die every year as a result of preventable medical errors. The cost of those medical errors amounts to $300 billion annually. That figure dwarfs any savings from tort reform. The $300 billion does not even account for the hundreds of thousands of patients injured by errors who survive but still require extra care as a result of the mistakes.

Instead of meddling with the justice system, lawmakers should direct much more focus on actually make medical care better. This approach not only would save money, but it would save lives without decimating principles of fairness and justice.

Everyone is urged to take a moment to send a message to your member of Congress today to voice your opposition to the bill. Please follow this link to contact your representative and let them know that taking away basic legal rights is not in the best interest of our community or the country. Remember that the vote will happen in a just a few day, so there is no time to delay.

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This week the New York Times—along with many other news outlets—spread word of the latest research into traumatic brain injuries that offers glimpses of hope for tens of thousands battling the condition. In particular, the research findings target those who have often been nearly written off, including those with the most severe brain injuries. According to the story, the particular study which reached these findings constitutes perhaps the most scientifically strong effort so far involving a therapy that helps these individuals.

The study will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine and for the first time may provide medical professionals with a standard treatment for these severe injuries. The study targets patients who are in only partial states of consciousness or a completely unresponsive “vegetative” state. All together estimates suggest that this includes anywhere from 65,000 to 115,000 Americans. However, even beyond this group, most suspect that these treatments will also help those with less severe traumatic brain injuries.

The results are modest, but considering the complete lack of standard treatment protocols for these conditions in the past, it represents an important step forward. Summarizing the progress, a leading clinical researcher explained, “This study puts the traumatic brain injury field on the first step of the ladder to developing scientific treatments. We’ve been trying to get there for a long-time.”

So what is the treatment?

The drug which has been found to help these victims has been around for a long time to treat Parkinson’s disease—amantadine hydrochloride. Speculation about the drug’s effectiveness in the brain injury context has been around for awhile, but there was never much proof for it. However this latest research puts those uncertainties to rest. That is because this is the first effort which uses actual large, double-blind, placebo controlled experiments.

Participants included those with varying degrees of brain injury (though all classified as “severe”). Those involved were split into two groups, both with equivalent levels of overall injury. One group was given a placebo and the other received the amantadine, twice a day. The patients’ progress was analyzed using a range of measures including communication and coordinationability. Because this was a double-blind experiment, the therapists and caregivers who did the measuring and reporting of scores did not know which patients were actually receiving the drug and which the placebo.

Overall, researchers found that those receiving amantadine showed more improvement that those not on the drug. To be clear, the improvement was modest. However, the improvement was seen in just a month’s time which is relatively quick for these sorts of injuries. In the two weeks after the study, when the patients stopped receiving the drug, the placebo group caught up in terms of improvement. This means that while the drug seems to speed up improvement, it is unclear if it improves the total recovery level itself.

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys applaud all of the researchers working in this field. We understand the consequences that these injuries have on the lives of thousands of residents in our area and throughout the country. All efforts which may improve the lives of these individuals should be promoted and supported.

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The Potential for Drugs to Stem Damage Following Brain Injury

Science Daily published a fascinating new story last week on research which is adding knowledge to our understanding of memory formation. Each Chicago brain injury attorney at our firm appreciates that the loss of old memories or ability to form new memories is one damaging effect of serious traumatic brain injuries as well as degenerative brain injuries (strokes, dementia, Alzheimer’s). The complexity of the memory process has made it difficult for those treating these injuries to come up with proper treatment methods that may actually improve the quality of life of sufferers. However, with newer understandings of how the memory process actually works, it is hoped that treatment can eventually be created to reverse the damage.

This latest effort was spearheaded by researchers at the Center for Neural Circuit Genetics. Those involved say that they now believe they understand how individual brain cells can both create new memories while retaining old ones. The results will be published in the late March edition of the journal, Cell. In short, the researchers believe that the memory issues involve a connection between the cellular basis of memory formation and the birth of new brain cells. More specifically, researchers believe that a region of the brain called the “dentate gyrus” plays a crucial role in memory formation.

The researchers further believe that an imbalance between young and old brain cells—neurons—might disrupt the memory formation process. This would have visible effects for the sufferer in the form of lost old memories or inability to form new memories. Experts say this may be common among those who have suffered post traumatic stress disorder or in certain degenerative states that commonly affect the elderly, like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

The particularly study which led to these findings included examination of two types of memory. “Patter separation” are memories that distinguish between two different but similar events—like the different tastes of two ice creams that look similar. “Patter completion” involves the ability to recall memories based on clues—like remembering where you were when trying to two different ice cream flavors.

Our Illinois traumatic brain injury attorneys are thrilled at the prospects that this and similar research efforts create. Working on the legal side of things, we deal daily with residents whose lives are turned upside down by these injuries, which were caused through the negligence or recklessness of others. The situations are made particular tragic in many cases because of the lack of proper treatments to help ease some of the consequences of the injury.

The mysteries of the brain have eluded professionals for quite some time. However, there has been a surge in new information about the workings of the brain and the ways that it can be damaged. It is only a matter of time before this information spawns actual interventions that can actually improve the lives of the brain injury victims that we work with. In the case of memory formation issues, like that discussed here, the research may eventually led to a new class of drugs being created which might be able to target memory disorders.

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New Traumatic Brain Injury Study to Examine Boxing Injuries

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An editorial in the Milford Daily News this weekend emphasized the need for real attention to be paid to pediatric acquired brain injuries (PABIs)—those affecting infants, children, and young adults. Our Chicago brain injury lawyers realize that there has been a sharp increase in news discussing this issue, but the increased publicity is only beneficial when it spurs action to help victims and prevent future injuries. All those in a position to limit these brain injuries must not only be aware that they occur with more frequency than previously thought but they must actually take proactive steps to use the new information.

This particular editorial was written by the father of a six-year old little girl who suffered a traumatic brain injury while only five days old when shaken by a child nurse. The accident broke four ribs, her collarbone, and led to a permanent traumatic brain injury that has affected the child’s life from that moment on. Sadly the victim is not alone, as an astounding 765,000 young people under the age of 18 enter the hospital ever year because of these injuries. Ultimately, over 80,000 people in that group require hospitalization and 11,000 die from their injuries. Those numbers are frightening enough. However, they may be underreported as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admits that those figures do not account for the rising number of sports-related brain injuries that affect young athletes every year.

This is clearly a problem that could use some solutions.

One proposal which hopes to be a starting point at tackling this traumatic brain injury problem is taking the form of a piece of federal legislation—HR2600. Known as the National Pediatric Bain Injury Plan (PABI Plan), the bill would streamline the care nationwide received by these victims. As it now stands, prevention and treatment for these victims is all over the board. There are few agreed upon standards by which to ensure that victims actually receive the best care possible and are given the best chance of recovering their brain functioning as much as possible. Without this standardization, some victims who could improve even more are left to languish while not receiving the best help available.

Part of the reason why there has been a lack of standardization is because the actual causes of these traumatic brain injuries are quite varied. Children often suffer the harm in auto accidents, sports collisions, assaults, falls, child abuse, and similar events. In fact, many of the returning soldiers who have suffered brain injuries would be included in these efforts. Pediatric acquired brain injuries actually include all those who are under the age of 25. Considering that many of our soldiers—particularly those like to be on the front lines—are under 25, they would have much to gain from the passage of this legislation and the standardization of treatment.

Hopefully the PABI Plan will pass this upcoming Congressional session. It is already supported by at least 100 members of Congress. In addition, the funds needed to run the program would come directly out of the budget already allocated to the Health and Human Services discretionary fund. In that way it helps hundreds of thousands of community members without any net cost for taxpayers.

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Illinois traumatic brain injury victims, like all personal injury victims, often have a direct stake in the debate around so-called “tort reform” efforts. Contrary to the public portrayal made by some, at the root of these efforts is a simple premise: made it harder (if not impossible) for certain injury victims to receive any justice against their wrongdoers. Those calling for tort reform are striving for that goal in slow steps on a variety of fronts. Damage caps are called for which limit the amount that a negligent party has to pay, no matter how much damage they cause. Rule changes are sought which increase the requirements of filing suit, acting as a barrier which keeps certain victims out of court altogether. At the end of the day these efforts are not about fairness but saving money for those who are frequent defendants. The companies, industries, and individuals who harm others negligently are focused on their own bottom line, not justice for regular community members.

Knowing the motives of these efforts makes it all the more frustrating for each Illinois brain injury lawyer at our firm to read things like the “Judicial Hellhole” report which seek to demonize certain courts in our state. As the president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association Jerry Latherow explained in a recent editorial published in the State Journal-Register, the “report” is nothing more than a recycled public relations stunt to gin up controversy once again. The goal is always to influence public opinion in ways that allow these interests to hammer through new laws which undermine access to the court system.

Time and again the claims made by this “report” have been shown to be based on junk science.

For example, one argument made is that because Illinois courts are a so-called “judicial hellholes,” then jobs are lost from the state. Is this true? Of course not. A recent National Federation of Independent Business survey of actual job creators found that fear about litigation did not even make the list of considerations that these businesses make when deciding where to expand and bring jobs. Things like tax concerns and energy prices were actual concerns.

It should not surprise readers that the funding for these studies comes from a virtual “Who’s Who” of big businesses that have a lot to gain by demonizing Illinois injury lawyers and taking away rights of those who are hurt buy their misconduct. There is nothing wrong with businesses working hard to increase their profits. However, there is a problem when they feel free to avoid responsibility for their errors as part of their plan to increase profits. If a business or industry acts negligently and hurts an innocent victim, that business should pay for the consequences of their mistakes. It is that simple. If these industries would spend as much time improving their services and safety that they put into attacking Illinois injury victims, they might actually save the money they are hoping to save. Instead, they continue to work to fund ridiculous efforts (like this latest report) in order to sway public opinion to believe things about the tort system that are simply untrue.

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Each Chicago brain injury lawyer at our firm knows that the single most common way that local residents suffer a traumatic brain injury is following an automobile accident. Many children suffer injury while playing youth sports, military members face trauma from bomb blasts while at war, and many seniors have head accidents after a slip and fall. While those causes are certainly prevalent, the single most likely way that a local resident may experience brain trauma is following a car, truck, or motorcycle accident.

This is not all that surprising considering that automobile accidents remain that most common preventable accident of any kind. Car accidents are often the root of most Illinois brain injury lawsuits as well. This is because most car accidents can be traced back to negligence on the part of another party in one way or another. Obviously the bomb blasts which hurt our service members overseas are acts of intentional misconduct, but those injuries don’t actually result in civil lawsuits seeking to recoup the victims for their losses. Conversely, when two cars collide, one malfunctions, roadways are not properly maintained, or similar misconduct takes place, the law provides victims of the accidents an avenue to seek redress.

The Insurance Journal reported this week on a recent settlement made following just such a car accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury. In the case a young man, 18-years old at the time, suffered a permanent and debilitating brain injury after the car in which he was driving was slammed into by another speeding vehicle. It turns out that the speeding car was actually driven by a sheriff’s deputy who was speeding because he was late for work. The man suffered a traumatic brain injury and will need around-the-clock care for the rest of his life. Following the accident the man’s family filed a lawsuit against the driver and the county sheriff’s office seeking compensation for the immense harm.

The case is also an example of the extreme injustice of the bizarre tort reform laws that exist in the state where the accident occurred. The laws of the state (Florida) at the time placed a limit of $100,000 on compensation. That amount was nowhere near sufficient to provide the victim the close care and attention he will need for the rest of his life as a result of the accident—it wouldn’t even cover medical bills from the immediate aftermath of the accident.

However, the only way for the family to receive a fair award is for special legislation to be passed through both chambers of the state’s legislature. That process involves the hiring of lobbyists, the introduction of specific bills, and a wide range of political arguments. The family recently agreed to a $10.75 million settlement with the sheriff’s office’s insurer. However, it remains unclear if the family will receive the settlement money. The bill authorizing the award still has to pass the state house.

It should be noted that this accident actually occurred fourteen years ago. The family has been fighting for compensation for that entire time. What makes it even more ridiculous is that fact that while a bill is required to pass through the state legislature, the state taxpayers will not be paying for a dime of this payment. Instead, the insurer is obligated to pay as per the terms of the insurance agreement. It is unclear how anyone could view this drawn-out, lobbyist-filled process as somehow superior to one where the justice system actually makes a decision upon the guidance of impartial judges and juries.

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Bike Struck By Car Recovers $675,000 in Brain Injury Lawsuit

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Televising or video recording the proceedings in courtrooms is not a new issue. Many have called for the showing of the legal proceedings for decades—either on TV or the Internet. However, actual use of video technology in courtrooms has been adopted only slowly. Most of the recent debate has been about recording proceedings at the U.S. Supreme Court, with many members of the high court remaining staunchly opposed to any such intrusion.

Yet, for all the debate about the cameras in the U.S. Supreme Court chamber, many have forgotten that cameras have already been used in certain state and federal chambers for the last twenty years. In more cases than not, the camera use has been allowed on a state-by-state basis, with most approvals coming in appellate courtrooms. With many exceptions (the O.J. Simpson case being the most obvious) fewer trial court proceedings have been televised and shared with the public. Of course, injury attorneys know that there is a huge difference between televising appellate proceedings and those at the trial level. Many in the general public fail to understand the significant difference between them. But any Chicago injury attorney will tell you that it is usually much easier for the public to understand the fact issues being argued in a trial versus the legal issues decided in appeals.

It is for that reason that calls have been consistently growing for increased use of cameras to allow the public to see actual trials. Many of those proponents will soon get their wish. As reported last week by WGN TV, Chicago is one of a handful of federal courts that will participate in a three year pilot project to record and publish federal civil trial proceedings. Courtrooms in northern California and Massachusetts will also participate in the effort. However, none of the other participating systems are as large as our Chicago federal system housed at the Dirksen Federal Building. Per the terms of the agreement approved recently the by Judicial Conference of the United States, the cameras will shoot directly at three spots: the judge’s bench, the podium where the lawyer addresses the court, and the witness box. The jury will never be shown, and judges will be given the option of having their faces kept hidden if they so chose.

Unlike other jurisdictions participating in this pilot project, the Chicago video feeds will not be streamed live online. Instead, they will be saved, edited, and then placed on the website for the Northern District. Interested parties will then be able to view the clips after the fact. Judges will maintain the power to order certain parts of the proceeding edited out before they are placed online.

Many Chicago injury lawyers have long hoped for more widespread use of cameras at the trial level, usually because they believe that it will help remind the general public about the benefit of the jury system. With medical malpractice caps consistently thrust upon the public as a cure-all, the use of cameras may be a sober reminder that the jury system is the heart of our system and tampering with it is unwise. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, and what effects, if any, there are on trial strategy.

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Bike Struck By Car Recovers $675,000 in Brain Injury Lawsuit

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A recent editorial in the Spokeman-Review argued for the passage of a proposed piece of federal legislation that would target aiding victims of and preventing youth traumatic brain injuries. These injuries have always been problematic, but our Chicago brain injury attorneys have seen the public awareness of these issues increase over the past few years. This is likely caused by more high-profile stories about systemic instance of these brain injuries arising, such as in youth sports and in young military combatants. In addition, scientists are just now beginning to unlock some of the mysteries of the brain, allowing them to better understand how the harm occurs, when it occurs, and why. In that way injuries that otherwise might never have been identified are now within the understanding of a growing body of medical information of the subject.

With growing public awareness comes more calls for policymakers to take action to help tackle the issues. In Washington D.C. that call for action has taken the form of House Resolution 2600. The bill was spearheaded by the father a now 6-year old victim of shaken-baby syndrome—a problem that is rooted in brain trauma. The bill calls for common sense coordination to better identify ways to prevent and treat brain injury victims. As the proponents note, brain injuries are cumulatively much more damaging than any single disease—affecting 80,000 young American each year, killing 11,000 minors annually.

Yet, for the seriousness of the problem, diagnosis and treatment of the situation has been inconsistent. H.R. 2600 seeks to correct this problem by identifying and disseminating best practice information to be used by health care professionals and involved parents. It is hoped that the spreading of this information will go a long way in bringing uniformity to the treatment and prevention of head trauma in youth.

More specifically, the legislation calls for a seven year timeline to streamline effective diagnostic and treatment practices. Brain injury centers would be set up to coordinate the effort, collect data, and share information. The bill does not mandate a particular course of care for victims but instead it simply works to better identify what actually improves the life of victims and what doesn’t. Under the current plan the funding for the project will be carved out of discretionary funds already given to the Department of Health and Human Services. In that way it is budget neutral. Long-term the program is sought to be transferred to each individual state.

The bill appears to have widespread support among lawmakers. There are current over 100 co-sponsors of the legislation. The list of political supporters crosses all aisles, with some of the more ardent liberals and strident conservatives lining up to stand with those hoping to address the issue. The bill, also known as the National Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan Act is expected to pass both the House and Senate when it is released from committee later next year. Advocates hope that it is ready for a presidential signature as soon as this summer. Each Illinois brain injury lawyer at our firm fully support all common sense measures to help victims of these tragedies, coordinate medical care, and disseminate information which will prevent future victims.

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Family Awarded $4.5 Million Following Birth Injury Lawsuit

Family Receives $1.5M Settlement for Birth Injury/Wrongful Death Lawsuit

US News’s “Health Day” section published a story last Friday on a new study which found even more risks of head injuries among youth, teen, college, and professional football players. Our Chicago brain injury lawyers have repeatedly blogged in the past few months on the growing body of evidence that suggests that the physical head trauma that exists as part of these games poses many more risks that originally assumed. This latest research tries to provide more tailored information, as it specifically looked at stroke injury risks in football players and the various alternative factors that may increase the risk of stroke.

The research was conducted by experts from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. The study was a small one, as it used the case study approach instead of the usual mass data analysis of most efforts in this area. The findings recently appeared in the online version of the Journal of Child Neurology. Researchers examined teen football players who had suffered a stroke. They used their examination to determine which factors related to these players might have increased their likelihood of suffering the injury. Unlike traumatic brain injuries which involve the physical contact to the head of the victim. A stroke is a sudden, internal degenerative condition that may cause significant brain damage.

The research identified a long list of factors that may increase the risk of stroke. These include an increase in hyperventilation, use of anabolic steroids, and use of highly caffeinated drinks. In addition, as previously explained, repeated head trauma (beyond coming with its own problems) can independently increase the risk of stroke. Also, obesity was strongly linked to the strokes. Researchers believe the obesity link was particularly important because obesity heightens the risk of independent stroke factors like high blood pressure (hypertension).

The study’s author noted that of particular concern was the fact that youth football can begin for some children who are only five years old. When that is the case, these players may experience repeated brain injuries over a period of decades. That head trauma quite often comes with significant long-term effects. This is the case even when no single trauma is severe enough to draw much notice from outside observers. Also troubling is the fact that the body-mass index of players continues to increase. This means that the force of the tackles in each game are increasing, which may make brain injury even worse.

Overall, our Illinois brain injury attorneys know that this research is yet another piece of evidence of which all those involved in youth football should take notice. We have already explained repeatedly how repeated traumatic brain injuries, particularly undiagnosed concussions, can have significant effects on players for the rest of their lives. This study adds yet another risk. As if there wasn’t already enough incentive, coaches, administrators, trainers, parents, and other observers must take note of these risk factors and take every reasonable step possible to keep our young players safe. No game is worth a lifetime of brain trouble, particularly when preventative steps can be taken which would eliminate much of the risk.

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Two More Former Football Players File Illinois Concussion Lawsuit Against NCAA

Head Injury Lawsuit Filed on Behalf of Ex-Football Players

Over the past several decades there has been a significant boom in an academic arena often referred to as “Law and Psychology.” Of course the topic includes a vast swath of legal issues all connected to applying new advances in psychology to various parts of the creation and application of laws. For example, many legal scholars, including Chicago legal professor John Bronsteen, are leading the way in advocating for policymakers to make decisions in part based on psychological information about personal well-being and happiness. Many of those scholars had previously discussed the way that psychological knowledge should influence criminal sentencing.

Recently, the “Godfather” of many of the most important 20th century advances in experimental psychology published a new book that explores one way that psychological findings can impact personal injury cases. In his latest tome, “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Daniel Kahneman explains how the heuristic known as “anchoring” may skew results in certain personal injury damage awards if damage caps are implemented. Brain injury lawsuits would often fall under the damage limits proposed in many states and at the federal level.

The principle of anchoring refers to the fact that when people are asked to quantify something—such as a brain injury damage amount—they are influenced by figures that they are exposed to beforehand. This is true even when those figures have no real connection to the items being quantified. For example, in the classic anchoring experiment, participants are asked two questions in this order:

1. Was John F. Kennedy older or younger than 55 years old when he was assassinated?
2. How old would you guess John F. Kennedy was when he was assassinated?

Half of the study’s participants would be asked an alternative version of the first question where 55 years old was replace with 40 years old. Surveyors always find that what age people guess in the second question is influenced by the form of the first question. In other words, the older the age suggested in question one, the older the guess in question two. On one hand this is logical in that participants might assume that the first question is a “hint” indicating what the actual amount is close to. However, researchers have found that the distorting effect of the first question applied even when it was obviously wrong. For example, even where the first question asked if JFK was older or young than 95 years old, the effects were found. What this means is that when asked to quantify something not necessarily known cold, people are heavily influenced by even arbitrary quantities that they are exposed to.

In Thinking, Kahneman suggests that anchoring may lead to unintended consequences when injury lawsuit damage caps are instituted. He suggests that when juries are told that the cap of any damages cannot be higher than $1 million, then jurors may use that cap as an anchor. In that way, awards that might otherwise be lower are arbitrarily inflated close to that cap amount. Contrary to popular belief, therefore, smaller defendants who might otherwise be forced to pay more modest sums will be adversely affected by the cap.

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Legal Experts Line Up Against H.R. 5

New Website to Voice Opinion on Proposed Federal Laws

The Levin & Perconti team was thrilled this week to learn that the Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog was named the Top Tort blog of the year by LexisNexis! It is a tremendous honor for which we owe thanks to our terrific readers. Thanks to all of your help in the latest online blog, the blog received the most votes and was named the top tort blog of 2011.

We had previously asked for help during the nomination round, when the top twenty five blogs were selected. Following that nomination round, an online poll was established to select the ultimate winner. More information about the contest and links to the other great blogs that were involved can be found at the LexisNexis Litigation Resource Community.

All of our Chicago injury lawyers were humbled to receive the honor, but we are happy that so many readers continue to check out the information available on our blogs. We work hard to provide useful, timely, and interesting information in a wide range of areas for injury victims, other personal injury lawyers, and all other local community members.

Thanks again for your continued support.

The Glen Ellyn Trib Local reported this week on a local community college professor who was honored by an Illinois brain injury group for his work helping head trauma victims in the classroom. As our brain injury attorneys consistently mention on this blog, victims of even minor brain injuries often have subtle but significant effects on their entire life. Those effects frequently involve challenges in retaining new knowledge. When these injuries affect children they often have learning difficulties for the rest of their lives, with untold impact on their future career plans and many other aspects of their life.

The learning challenges faced by these victims often require teachers and instructors to take special steps and engage in innovative techniques to help these individuals succeed educationally. The Illinois Brain Injury Association recently honors a College of DuPage instructor for his efforts in this very area. The professional taught heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration classes. He recently retired after thirty years on the job, and this award was in honor of his years of helping those with different learning styles.

One of the man’s students who himself suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) nominated the teacher for his work. The student was a former deputy sheriff patrolman was suffered his brain injury in a traffic accident while on duty. He had a long road to recovery and was unable to continue with the sheriff’s department after the accident. The student victim had to spend a year and a half at the hospital and in rehabilitation. As a result, he decided to pursue a career in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). However, following the TBI he faced many educational challenges, and was forced to relearn many basic skills—including walking and talking.

Many brain injury victims are faced with the daunting prospects of finding new careers after their injuries. The problems are made even worse when the victims have families who were counting on them to provide support. In this case the student’s family had a history in the trade industry, and so he decided to pursue an HVAC career. However, he was concerned that his learning challenges would be a problem. Fortunately, the student was fortunate to work with the college professional who was more than understanding.

The teacher understood his unique challenges, adapting certain learning protocols and working with the student hands on to ensure that lessons were carried out in ways that were most beneficial. Thanks to the professor’s help, the student completed his HVAC certificate, and is now working towards his associate’s degree. In fact the student continues work in the class as a lab assistant helping other students with their coursework.

The professor humbly accepted the praise by noting that he felt his adaption to help brain injury victims was part of his job. He noted that there is an increasing need for more innovative teaching methods, as more and more individuals are facing brain injury challenges. The teacher explained that many soldiers returning from active duty have suffered brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorders which require teachers to account for their specific situations.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Study Questions Efficacy of Military Brain Injury Treatments

Brain Injury Therapy Available for Iraqi War Veterans

This week Lexis Nexis announced the finalists in the Top 25 Tort Blogs of 2011 contest. Thanks to all of the nominations two of our blogs made the cut and were selected as some of the best legal blogs in the country. Both the Illinois Injury Lawyer Blog and Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog made the list and will now advance to the final round.

Our entire team at Levin & Perconti is proud of the honor. We work hard to ensure that all of our blogs are consistently updated with informative, interesting, and helpful information from our corner of the nation and throughout the country. Consistent online interaction is an important way that we keep abreast of important developments and connect with our community.

Now that our blogs have advanced to the final round, we are asking for you help one last time. For the rest of this week, votes are being collected to winnow down the current list to a single TOP tort blog of the year. Lexis Nexis has created an online poll where searchers can select a single blog with votes being calculated at the end of the week. Before voting you may be prompted to “log in,” BUT you can do so using your Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, or Twitter account. That means that you do not even to fill out new information.

The voting for the contest ends this Friday at Midnight Eastern Time. Please take a second to click this link, and Vote for the Illinois Injury Blog or Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog.

Many thanks for your support and continued readership of all of the Levin & Perconti blogs.

Our Chicago brain injury lawyers know that it is often misleading to categorize legal actions with blanket labels, because those labels often mask the true complexity of many underlying medical problems. For example, an article published recently in Family Practice News discussed the truth about traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Contrary to the public perception of some, TBIs are not a single problem but actually a catch-all term for a wide range of issues. This important distinction has implications on both the legal issues connected to these injuries as well as the medical treatment options for traumatic brain injury victims.

In the new article the doctor explains that developments in treating many brain injuries has been slow coming, in part, because doctors have been a bit naïve in thinking of the harm as all coming from one disease. He went on to note that, “People have argued that we are treating traumatic brain injury as if we were treating cancer as a single disease. Maybe we need to do classifications.” It is only logical to assume that failing to identify the different types of brain injury would mean that those differences are ignored or downplayed when treatment options are researched. Yet understanding the intricate details unique to each type of brain injury is likely crucial to developing treatment plans that are actually effective.

For example, the author explains how there are various ways for a patient to be identified as having a traumatic brain injury following use of the well-known “Glasgow Coma Scale.” Those possibilities include: diffuse swelling, diffuse axonal injury, epidural hematoma, contusion, subdural hematoma, and subarachnoid or intraventricular hemorrhages. Failure to understand brain injuries in terms of various subgroups may result in underutilization of certain helpful treatment.

The doctor identified one example. In clinical trials conducted as part of the National Acute Brain Injury Study, the benefit of early hypothermia to stop the spread of brain damage was not identified as effective. The cooling of the body was thought to act as a neuroprotectant, stopping the chain reaction of brain damage that often results in tragic injuries than can never be repaired. However, when analyzed by subgroup, it became clear that those patients who had hematomas had clear benefits from the hypothermia. Conversely, those patients with diffuse brain injuries seemed to do worse as a result of the body cooling. Together the results seemed to wash out when brain injuries were examined as the same. Clearly then, failure to understand the distinctions when it comes to these injuries may mean that good treatments are ignored and that actual harmful treatments are not identified.

Each Chicago medical malpractice attorney at our firm understands that these same distinctions may be crucial in determining the appropriate standards of care that should be applicable in all cases where the conduct of medical professionals may be at issue in the case. Treating all brain injuries as if they are the same has very real ramifications of the patients involved and reasonable steps must be taken to ensure that these mistakes in identification do not lead to harm that could have been prevented.

See Our Related Blog Posts:

Walk Draws Crowd to Raise Awareness for Traumatic Brain Injuries

Soldiers Brain Injuries from Blasts in Afghanistan Take A Toll

On this space we often discuss legal cases involving brain injuries, advances in brain injury medicine, and share information about support groups for victims. Yet, our Chicago brain injury lawyers also realize that from time to time it is important to step back and provide basic information about these injuries, how they are treated, and how they come up in a legal context.

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) refers to all head injuries caused by sudden trauma. That trauma usually results when the head makes a violent collision with another object or the ground. TBIs often arise is sports, slips and falls, auto accidents, and similar events. This form of brain injury should be distinguished from degenerative brain injuries, like those characterized by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

TBIs exist along a spectrum of severity, with various consequences and symptoms for victims. Mild TBI leads t headaches, confusion, dizziness, vision problems, fatigue, sleep problems, mental slowness, and similar concerns. These symptoms may only last temporarily. However, more severe TBIs can have significant consequences. Severe TBI symptoms include vomiting, convulsions, unconsciousness, slurred speech, coordination loss, and numbness in the extremities. In all cases, it is absolutely crucial that medical help be sought as quickly as possible. When not treated properly, preventable damage can often worsen and lead to lifelong problems

What are the Available Treatments?

Most TBI treatment is focused on stabilization of the patient. That is because it is often difficult, if not impossible, for the initial brain damage caused by the trauma to be repaired. Oxygen deprivation to the brain is a significant caused of deterioration, and so much treatment focuses on ensuring that there is proper oxygen supply to the brain and body. In addition, blood flow must be returned to the organ with blood pressure properly controlled. In more severe cases, CT scans are performed to specifically understand that state of the victim’s brain. In that way, tailored treatment can be provided depending on the harm. That treatment often includes physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech assistance, psychology, social support, and similar aid.

What are Brain Injury Lawsuits?

When our Chicago injury lawyers refer to brain injury lawsuits, it actually includes a wide range of legal cases. Areas of the law and areas of medicine are not directly aligned, and so there is not always perfect overlap when discussing the legal implications of certain types of harm. In general, these cases are usually rooted in the law of negligence, either caused by misconduct in the community (like a car accident) or in the hospital (medical malpractice). In rare cases a different area of the law may be implicated by a brain injury lawsuit—such as products liability. When a product (including a pharmaceutical drug) causes a brain injury, the legal rules that apply to that situation would be different that those that apply to negligence. At the end of the day, though, all brain injury victims who suspect that their harm may have been prevented had another acted in a more reasonable way should visit with a legal professional to get tailored advice and learn if it is appropriate to seek legal recourse.

Continue reading "Traumatic Brain Injury Basics" »

Our Chicago brain injury attorneys were interested to read about a statement that was just issued by the American Academy of Pediatricians, in which they stated that the group did not consider boxing a safe sport for children or teenagers to play. According to CBS News, the leading pediatricians found that boxing was a sport that had a very high rate of concussions, and that because of the risk of concussions in the sport that it was not safe for younger people to play. The group also believes that even the use of head protection does not eliminate the risk of concussions, and that the sport is not safe for kids or teenagers even when they use head protection for boxing.

The reason that the risk of repetitive concussions is a worry for pediatricians is that there is a great deal of scientific evidence that repetitive concussions can lead to severe and permanent brain injuries later in life. Many former athletes have developed later in life brain injuries after being involved in sports where they suffered from multiple blows to the head. Following any blow to the head, everyone needs to be thoroughly checked out by a doctor to see if they suffered from a concussion, or another type of head injury, and any athlete that suffers from a hit should only be allowed to go back on the field, ring, or court once they have been cleared by a doctor who has determined that it is safe for them to return to play. If a victim of a blow to the head gets right back in the game, when their body did not have time to recover fully, there is a much higher risk that another hit could leave that person with a severe or permanent brain injury.

Pediatricians worry about this problem with sports and head injuries even more so with children and teenagers. The reason for this heightened concern with concussions in children is that because younger people’s brains are not as fully developed as older individuals and can be much more susceptible to head and brain damage. Because of the level of brain development in younger people, the damage from concussions can be more severe and the healing time for the body to completely recover post concussion is often much longer than it would be for an adult.

The combination of the danger that multiple concussions can have on children or teenagers with the high risk of head hits associated with boxing, is what led pediatricians to release the statement that, according to them, boxing is not considered a safe sport for children and teenagers. Many boxing advocates feel that boxing can be a good outlet for younger people and that the risks associated with the sport are not strong enough of a reason to entirely discourage kids and teenagers from boxing. If you or a loved one have a child that has suffered a brain injury from receiving a hit to the head and then being sent right back out to play without receiving medical clearance, please contact our Illinois personal injury attorneys to discuss the options available.

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.

Ice skaters, skiers and snowmobilers rejoice as snow continues to fall this winter season. But it is during these snowy months when winter sport enthusiasts become at high risk for brain injury.

Those participating in winter sports should wear a helmet to prevent head injuries. While helmets do not prevent concussions, they do protect the skull from factures. A report found that helmets reduce the risk of head injury among skiers and snowboarders by 35 percent.

Even pedestrians need to be cautious over the winter. Icy surfaces can cause pedestrians to slip and fall. The winter can also create dangerous driving situations for cars and trucks.

Although most head trauma accidents are minor, it’s important to be cautious following a head trauma to prevent further personal injury. Brain inury can cause the brain to swell, damaging brain and nerve tissues.

A victim of a head trauma should be carefully observed for early signs and symptoms of brain injury. Signs and symptoms can develop hours or even days after a head trauma. Early symptoms include severe headache, confusion, loss of balance, vomiting, slurred speech, and seizures.

Immediate treatment is necessary to determine if a victim is suffering from more severe symptoms such as uneven pupil size, convulsions, or blurred vision. These symptoms can be long-lasting or permanent in some cases.

Continue reading "Winter conditions increase the risk of 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.

The Chicago personal injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti represent individuals and families in cases involving serious brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries can happen in a number of ways- in automobile accidents, participating in sports activities, through medical malpractice and even in a fall. The Brain Injury Association of America estimates that every year, 1.4 million people sustain traumatic brain injuries. While not all injuries can be avoided, there are steps people can take to protect themselves. For instance, we always recommend defensive driving to prevent car accidents. We also recommend that people wear helmets when participating in sports such as skiing, biking and football. If you believe that a loved one has a suffered a brain injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, please feel free to call Levin & Perconti to speak to a brain injury lawyer.

Pathways, a new film by Brandon and Tiffany Verzal, records the trials and tribulations of several patients in their struggle to recover from traumatic brain injuries. The 75-minute documentary sheds light on the extensive and grueling rehabilitation process. It focuses on the lives of four patients of varying ages, including their two year-old daughter, Alexis, who suffered a severe brain injury at a daycare. Her injury is consistent with shaken baby syndrome and authorities believe that Alexis may have been thrown by her day care provider, who begins trial next month.

The film premiers this week and is set to hit the film festival circuit.

Click the following link to the article in the Lincoln Journal Star for more information on Alexis, her family, their struggle to recover from traumatic brain injury, and this enlightening new documentary.

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.

An Illinois man who suffered a traumatic brain injury 17 years ago, recently released book about his experiences. The brain injury survivor is still able to work but must make constant reminders to himself. He titled his book 21 Seconds because someone suffers a traumatic brain injury every 21 seconds in this country. To read more about his daily fight to recover from his brain injury, click here.

A study was done to determine whether high school football players were receiving hits that were more likely to cause head trauma and brain injuries than college players. This study was done in Illinois, at the University of Illinois –Champaign. The study showed that high school tackles cause 10% more G-force to the person, making them more likely to get a concussion. The study believes that the increased G-force is from high school players being smaller and not tackling properly. Almost 6% of high school football players suffer brain injuries and many more brain injuries go unreported. To read the entire article, click here on “Football Causes Many Brain Injuries for High School Athletes”

ABC News correspondent, Bob Woodruff, is back in Iraq after over a three year hiatus. On January 29, 2006, while taping a report, Mr. Woodruff suffered a traumatic brain injury. The brain injury happened as a result of a bomb that struck the convoy that he was riding in. He spent a month in a coma because of the serious brain injury. He is now back on the news covering soldiers who are suffering from traumatic brain injuries. He has also started an aid fund to raise awareness of soldiers who suffer from brain injuries as a result of war. To read more about “After Suffering Brain Injury, TV Journalist Back in Iraq” click here.

A new medical trial is taking place at Parkland Memorial Hospital, in an attempt to protect people injured from suffering traumatic brain injuries. Giving patients estrogen, they believe, could protect against brain injuries after a traumatic injury. The trial is going to involve only males, some getting the drug and others getting a placebo. The drug must be administered within two hours of the accident to prevent the possible brain injury; this has led to an ethical debate about whether they can give the drug to people who don’t consent. The read more of this article “Medical Trial in Place to Protect Injured People from Brain Injuries” click here.

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”

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.

According to the Centers For Disease Control, each year, 1.4 million people suffer a traumatic brain injury in the U.S. These injuries can occur in such incidents as falls, motor vehicle and assaults. Diagnosing a traumatic brain injury early can help to reduce the risk of serious injury or death. What should you look for? The CDC has identified some signs and symptoms of brain injuries to help people recognize them early. Signs and symptoms may include:

-Persistent head or neck pain
-Trouble remembering and concentrating
-Always feeling tired
-Dizziness and light-headedness
-Nausea
-Ringing in the ear

These are just a few of the symptoms of traumatic brain injury. To read to entire list, visit the brain injury information page on the CDC’s website.

Dr. Liying Zhang, a biomedical engineer and associate professor at WSU, has been awarded over $200,000 from the Department of Defense to develop a computer simulation tool which will help study traumatic brain injuries. Zhang is investigating the effect of blast waves on the brain in an effort to discover more about the causes and effects of mild traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injury has been called the signature injury of the Iraq War. To read more about this new research project, please click here.

An article, published in a Chicago-area paper, reinforces the use of helmets while biking and skiing as a means of preventing traumatic brain injuries. Helmets provide an additional skull, so to speak, thus absorbing the trauma and reducing the likelihood of injuring the brain. Chicago lawyers, Levin & Perconti, deal substantially in the area of traumatic brain injuries and help to provide injured victims the justice they deserve. To read more about this story on the use of helmets, please click here.

The 3RD annual Carnival of Care, hosted by Brain Injury Association of Michigan, is scheduled for this Saturday. This festival is located at St. John’s Armenian Church in Detroit and is free to all those who suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury and their caregivers. The association estimates that nearly 1.4 million Americans suffer Traumatic Brain Injuries annual, which is the leading cause of disability in this country. To read more about this festival, please click here

Stemming from the recent attention talk and die brain injuries have received in light of actress Natasha Richardson’s tragic death, below are some recommendations to consider after someone suffers a head injury. Keep a watchful eye over the victim. Brain injury symptoms can manifest themselves quickly and any change in condition could warrant medical attention. Pay special attention to those injury after drinking. Alcohol consumption thins the blood, which in turn, has the effect of increasing the bleeding dramatically. It is recommended those drinking alcohol or on blood thinners seek medical attention immediately following what appears to be a brain injury. To read more about what do after suffering a head injury, please click here.

In an attempt to fester support and awareness for the increase in traumatic brain injuries nationally and abroad, March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month. With the death of famous actress Natasha Richardson coming earlier last week, much attention has been paid to traumatic brain injuries and the effects they can have people’s lives. If you or someone you know is suffering from a negligently inflicted traumatic brain injury, please contact Levin & Perconti, Illinois Attorneys at Law. To read more about Brain Injury Awareness Month, please click here.

The US Air Force has opened a brain injury clinic on Elmendorf Air Force Base, Anchorage, Alaska. The Department of Defense is estimating that nearly 20% of those who have and will serve in Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer some form of traumatic brain injury. Brain injuries have been called the signature injury of these wars. To read more about this new clinic, please click here.

A Canadian study set to be released this week states that Taser Guns can cause injury to the brain, including seizures. The study notes that many police forces use taser guns as a means of nonlethal force. The study was prompted by the collapse and subsequent suffering of a mild traumatic brain injury by a police officer mistaken “shot” by a taser gun. Taser guns have also been study as to their effect on the cardiac system as well. To read more about this brain injury study, please click here.

A study released from the Georgetown University Medical Center this month notes that a class of drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s disease may combat the long term effects of brain injuries. It is further noted in the study that those suffering from a traumatic brain injury have a 400% increased chance of contracting Alzheimer’s disease. To find an Illinois Lawyer actively litigating brain injury cases, please contact Levin & Perconti. To read more about this brain injury study, please click here.

The Brain Injury Association of American (or BIAA) is a nonprofit organization focused on bringing attention and awareness to those suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries. BIAA estimates that over 5.3 million Americans live with disabilities caused from traumatic brain injuries. To find a Chicago area Attorney litigating negligent brain injuries, please contact Levin & Perconti. To read more about the BIAA, please click here.

Traumatic brain injuries have been called “the invisible injury” since the physical manifestations of the injury are many times not apparent to independent observers. Most traumatic brain injuries (mild, moderate, or severe) occur when the body is jolted causing the brain to collide with the walls of the skull. Symptoms of said injuries include headaches, fatigue, and seizures. If you or someone you know is suffering from the result of a negligent traumatic brain injury, please contact Illinois Lawyers Levin & Perconti. To read more about the US Army’s efforts to bring attention to brain injuries, please click here.

National brain injury awareness month kicks off amidst the largest spike in traumatic brain injuries recorded in American History. Traumatic brain injuries can occur from concussions suffered during sporting events, car accidents which “rattle” the driver or passenger of the vehicle, or from blunt force trauma to the head or neck. To find a Chicago Lawyer practicing in the area of brain injury litigation, please contact Levin & Perconti. To read more about brain injury awareness month, please click here.

An article published on “Online Degree World” states that people can cause brain damage through not getting enough sleep, smoking, and even cutting out coffee. The article is aimed shedding light on the habits many of us can’t break. To learn more about brain injuries, treatments, and lawsuits stemming from brain injuries, contact Levin & Perconti online. To read this article, please click here.