In an unusual lawsuit a Mississippi resident has been awarded $3 million for a brain injury suffered in a near-drowning. The lawsuit charged the Rodeway Inn with improperly maintaining its pool, thus causing the water to be too cloudy for her to be seen and rescued after diving into the pool. The lawsuit revealed that for five to six minutes a number of people dove into the pool searching for the victim. Others used the shepherd’s hook at the pool as a probe, but could not locate her. Finally, a visitor heard the commotion and just by chance dove in where the victim was and brought her to the surface. The victim suffered serious brain damage and now lives in a nursing home.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Just a few weeks into history’s largest salmonella outbreak, eight deaths and 575 illnesses have occurred. It has now come to light that Peanut Corp. of America in Georgia knew as far back as 2007 that their products were probably tainted and even after tests confirmed the product contamination they elected to ship them. Federal law forbids producing or shipping foods that could be harmful to consumers' health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported that in 2007 PCA shipped chopped peanuts on July 18 and 24 after salmonella was confirmed by private lab tests.

“In some instances, peanut products were shipped by (the company) prior to having assurance that the products were negative for salmonella,” said Michael Rogers, head of field investigations for the FDA.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a lawsuit filed by relatives of the two construction workers killed in the May 30th crane collapse in New York City, emails within the NYC Buildings Department were presented. The NYC Buildings Department division head sent emails nine months before the crane collapse informing department experts and outside consultants that the crane should be grounded because it was at risk of “catastrophic failure.” Investigators into the Manhattan construction accident focused on the turntable of the crane which had been damaged and rebuilt prior to the accident. Choosing to ignore the warnings put forth by their own employees should be held as a factor in the two men’s deaths.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 01:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WETA, the public broadcasting station in Washington D.C. is partnering with the Department of Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center in launching a website targeted at Traumatic Brain Injury. BrainLine.org is an online effort to centralize core issues on Traumatic Brain Injury such as treatment, prevention and knowledge. The site uses video webcasts, recent research, personal stories and articles on living with TBI to empower victims and their families. More recently on Nov. 7, the site hosted a live webinar featuring former WWE professional wrestler Chr istophey Nowinski. Nowinski is now a researcher for TBI. “Up to this point, much of the information available online was very clinical and difficult to find,” said BrainLine.org executive director Noel Gunther. “We wanted to present valuable information in easy to understand language that anyone -- a service member, a mother, a teenager - could use because these injuries are having a huge impact on a large and growing segment of our country.” BrainLine.org explains what treatment people with brain injuries should receive and what kind of support they will need to begin their altered lives. The website offers resources that provide those living with TBI a 24-hour network of support. The site is located at http://www.BrainLine.org.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A family has filed a lawsuit against a swimming pool for inadequate lifeguard cover when their 7-year-old son nearly drowned leaving him with a “catastrophic brain injury.” Chad Mole was found lifeless with blue lips on October 18, 2005. He was revived but suffered a severe hypopoxic brain injury that has left him severely disabled. An inquiry was made under a Health and Safety Act that subsequently brought a charge to the owners and operators of the swimming pool. Attorney for the family claim the pool’s owners failed to ensure that Chad was kept safe by the lack of oversight and lifeguard coverage. In an opening statement the attorney told the jury, “The case you are about to hear concerns a very near drowning at Trecco Bay. It was caused, the Crown say, in simple terms by this company not having a proper system of work, not having sufficient lifeguards on duty, not having lifeguards clearly observing these people and not having a system where people would react properly when they saw a young boy in a dangerous part of the pool. As a result of that failure, we say that young Chad Mole, seven years of age, very, very nearly drowned. His life was saved but he will forever have a catastrophic brain injury which has severely disabled him.”

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In the most recent issue of Science, Science Daily reports on a study that has found a way to regenerate neurons in brain and spinal cord injuries. There is currently no treatment for spinal cord or brain injury that allows for injured neurons to regenerate. However, a study from Children’s Hospital in Boston researchers temporarily silenced genes that prevent mature neurons from regenerating. The removal of inhibitory molecules from mice allowed for neuronic re-growth. Although this study used genetic techniques, key researcher Zhigang He, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology at Children's and senior author on the paper, notes that it may be possible to accomplish the same re-growth through pharmacologic means. “This is the first time it has been possible to see such significant regeneration by manipulating single molecules,” says He. “We believe that these findings have opened up the possibility for making small-molecule drugs or developing other approaches to promote axon regeneration.” Kevin Park, PhD, Kai Liu, PhD, Yang Hu, PhD, and Patrice Smith, PhD, all of Children's, share significant authorship of the paper.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 09:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a frightening trend among defective drug and medical devices, pharmaceutical companies are trying to argue in court cases that if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approve a drug or medical device then the approval preempts any efforts to seek retribution for victims of companies’ products. In a recent Wall Street Journal article the case of Wyeth v. Levine was cited. Diana Levine lost an arm to gangrene because a nausea drug was improperly administered to her arm. She was a musician by trade and she lost her ability to ply her trade. In her case she argued that the drug maker should have put stronger warnings on the label. A Vermont jury agreed and awarded her $6.7 million in damages. The drug manufacturer appealed saying that the drug’s labeling was approved by the FDA thus overruling state law on issues of product safety. “This case is worth tens of billions to the pharmaceutical industry,” said Richard Rubin, Ms. Levine's lawyer. In January, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of pre-emption in a medical-device case involving Medtronic Inc. of Minneapolis. If pre-emption is upheld than drug makers will be given a firmer footing in many lawsuits. Johnson & Johnson has so far paid $68 million to settle cases involving its Ortho Evra contraceptive patch. Settlements over the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa have cost Eli Lilly & Co. more than $1 billion. Merck & Co.'s Vioxx has cost them $4 billion so far, and Wyeth's fen-phen-related diet pills have reached $20 billion. Consumer advocacy groups argue otherwise. They say patients’ right to sue is the only deterrent to corporate irresponsibility and deceit and argue that the FDA makes mistakes and companies hide information. This is a dangerous trend and if preemption is upheld legal recourse would be almost non-existant.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A new study undergone by researchers at Vanderbilt University has again shown a strong link between the use of gadolinium dyes and the disease Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis found in patients with renal failure. The team of researchers concluded with the warning that gadolinium contrast dyes should be used “judiciously” in patients with kidney disease opining that the benefits should be carefully weighed against the risks. In the study researchers at Vanderbilt analyzed data from case reports submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The study found the occurrence of NSF after gadolinium contrast agent exposure depended on the degree of renal dysfunction, amount of contrast agent administered, gadolinium contrast agent stability and the severity of a patient’s kidney disease. NSF has devastated the lives of hundreds of individuals and their families. NSF is characterized by high blood pressure, burning, itching, swelling and hardening of the skin to the point of immobility. Other symptoms include deep pain in the hips and ribs and muscle weakness. In September 2007 the FDA ordered a “black box” warning, the most severe used, to be added to the labels of the manufacturers products including, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Bracco Diagnostics, GE Healthcare and Mallinckrodt. Since then lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts against the companies for the injuries incurred after the exposure to the gadolinium contrast dyes. As of September 24, there were 287 NSF lawsuits pending in the Multidistrict Litigation. Another 104 lawsuits have been filed in various state courts throughout the U.S.

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to a Bloomberg Health New report Johnson & Johnson has spent at least $68.7 million to settle hundreds of lawsuits filed by women who suffered blood clots, heart attacks or strokes after using the company’s Ortho Evra birth control patch. J&J has avoided trials through the confidential settlements and court papers do not indicate how much the pharmaceutical company has paid in each case.. Bloomberg reviewed 562 complaints alleging the patch caused deep-vein thrombosis - blood clots in the legs and pulmonary embolisms – blood clots in the lungs. The complaints also blame Ortho Evra for the deaths of 20 women, Bloomberg wrote. Complaints filed on behalf of 4,000 women in state and federal courts claim the company hid or altered data about the risks of high levels of estrogen released by Ortho Evra. Janet Abaray, an attorney for the plaintiffs, is helping lead the litigation before U.S. District Judge David Katz in Toledo, Ohio where 1,330 patch cases have been combined into a class-action suit. Abaray said in an April 17 court document that, “Several hundred individual cases” had been settled by March 31 and “there have been a significant number that have settled since then.” Attorneys requesting anonymity and who are familiar with the litigation told Bloomberg that J&J typically settles the death cases for more than $1M, deep-vein thrombosis cases for $125,000 to $175,000 and pulmonary embolisms for $140,000 to 300,000. The amounts vary according to each woman’s circumstances.

Posted by Seth A. Katz at 09:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A potentially deadly crash could have been avoided had a pharmacy filled a prescription correctly. On March 20 Nesta DeRoy drove into an eight-by-ten foot plate-glass window. She had lost consciousness for 15 minutes. Two weeks prior to her accident she was complaining to friends, family and her doctor about feeling unwell and groggy. In early March, DeRoy went to a pharmacy to refill her prescription for blood-pressure medication. What was filled was two weeks worth of a sedative. Not only was the medication wrong, but it was filled with four times the strength commonly prescribed to people suffering anxiety and seizure disorders of which DeRoy did not suffer. She had unknowingly been given Clonazepam in place of her blood-pressure medication hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). Clonazepam works by slowing the activity of the central nervous system. Those prescribed the drug are advised not to engage in activities requiring mental alertness, judgment and physical coordination, such as driving. When she finally complained to the pharmacy about the error they offered her an insulting deal to pay her expenses as well as $2,000. The College of Pharmacists of British Columbia says it gets an average of 86 complaints a year over medication errors.

Posted by David P. Hersh at 08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Research is finding that mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBIs), or concussions, are much more common than previously thought in children. A mild traumatic brain injury can result from a direct or indirect blow to the head and from an impact somewhere else on the body where the impelling force is transmitted to the head, such as in a sudden stop. It is now estimated that more than 1 million children a year experience an MTBI, and some studies suggest that number may actually be closer to 3 million to 5 million children a year. In the United States these injuries are responsible for 2,700 deaths a year, 37,000 hospitalizations, 435,000 emergency room visits, and more than 125,000 visits to the pediatrician. Concussions occur when the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain is insufficient in cushioning the brain during an impact. As a result, the brain can slam against the interior of the skull. Symptoms of a mild traumatic brain injury include changes in physical, cognitive and emotional functioning. Physical symptoms express themselves as loss of consciousness, headaches, ringing in the ears, slurred speech, fatigue, dizziness, light sensitivity, nausea/vomiting, problems balancing and visual impairment (blurred or double vision). Disturbance in cognitive functioning such as memory loss, trouble focusing and feeling “foggy” can occur as a result of a MTBI. Recent research has highlighted the emotional difficulties faced that present themselves as irritability, sadness, anxiety and increased emotional sensitivity. In adults who have suffered a number of MTBIs there was a strong correlation between the brain injuries and chronic depression which has presented itself as suicidal tendencies. With all the information that research has found on concussions and traumatic brain injuries it is imperative to seek medical help to prevent further brain injury and dysfunction. Rest is necessary for in all cases.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Minnesota resident Leticia Harnung led a motivated, successful life as a finance director for a congressman. She thrived on multi-tasking, financial calculations and political networking. That all changed five months ago when she was thrown from a jet ski and hit her head while on vacation in Florida. She flew home the next day, but had a bad headache. As days went by her headache cart wheeled into incoherency. Harnung’s MRI scans were sent to Dr. Gaylan Rockswold who is a chief of Neurosurgery. Rockswold concluded her brain injury was not visible and in fact said that usually is the case in the majority of concussions. Sometimes the only way a brain injury can be diagnosed is by its symptoms: personality changes, cognitive dysfunction, memory loss, loss of balance, dizziness, etc. Pat Maraciniak said the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota offers a host of resources to help brain injury victims and their families get the help and support they need. “They go home not realizing the impact a brain injury has on them and how life-changing and life-altering it is,” said Marciniak. “So they can understand what's going on. Their symptoms are explained, they're identified. They're told what they can expect,” he said. “With family, with work, with school it helps enormously. The patient feeling reassured they are not going crazy.” Rockswold said follow-up care is critical for the best chances of recovery. One of Harnung’s current challenges is constant migraines which her doctor is trying to help control. New research has found that the brain can heal itself and rewire pathways that were lost in the injury. Which gives Leticia Harnung and her family hope, but they wish more people understood how serious a concussion, known as a mild traumatic brain injury, can be.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 09:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another lawsuit has been filed against the manufacturers of the gadolinium contrasting dye Omniscan on behalf of a 38-year-old Georgia man who contracted the disease Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis. General Electric Company’s Omniscan is a dye used to better define soft tissue in MRIs. The lawsuit includes GE’s subsidiaries GE Healthcare Inc., GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics, GE Healthcare AS and Novation LLC. Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis is a condition that affects patients with kidney dysfunction who have been exposed to gadolinium dye. It is debilitating, progressive and can be fatal. The lawsuit alleges that Omniscan is defective, and that the defendants failed to adequately test Omniscan and failed to warn patients about its potential to cause NSF. Finally in September 2007, the Food & Drug Administration asked the manufacturers of gadolinium contrast dyes to add a “black box” warning, the most severe, to the product labels about its association with NSF. The FDA also warned that patients with kidney disease should avoid gadolinium contrast agents. NSF is a devastating condition characterized by high blood pressure, burning, itching, swelling and hardening of the skin. Other symptoms include eye discoloration, red or dark patches on the skin, pain deep in the hip bones or ribs and muscle weakness. NSF can progress to the point of causing severe stiffness in joints. There is no known cure for NSF, however an experimental treatment called extracorporeal photopheresis has shown progress in three known cases of NSF. Extracorporeal photopheresis is a form of dialysis that involves treating the blood with photoactive drugs that are then activated when the blood is exposed to ultraviolet light. The blood is then reintroduced to the body effectively helping the body’s immune system fight the disease

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In response to rising concerns about food safety in the United States, The Government Accountability Office recently reported, “While the FDA has considered fresh produce safety a priority for many years, resource constraints and other work -- including counterterrorism efforts and unplanned events such as food borne illness outbreaks -- have caused FDA to delay key produce safety activities.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been preparing for a biological attack. The repeated outbreaks of food poisoning have interfered with their efforts to improve food safety as well. What is frightening is the FDA is unclear on what it plans to do to plug up the holes. The “FDA has no formal program devoted exclusively to fresh produce and has not consistently and reliably tracked its fresh produce spending.” The fresh produce industry indicated it would welcome stronger regulation especially after outbreaks of Salmonella found in peppers from Mexico that sickened 1,400 people from April to August of this year and an E. coli epidemic in 2006, traced to California spinach that killed three. In response to the report the FDA said it is meeting with officials in Canada and Mexico, will add 327 state contract food inspections in 2009 and has approved the use of radiation to disinfect fresh spinach and lettuce. The GAO further reported that the FDA has limited resources saying, “FDA's intervention efforts have also been limited. Specifically, domestic fresh produce firms were inspected infrequently. Furthermore, FDA examined less than 1 percent of the 7.6 million fresh produce lines imported from fiscal years 2002 through 2007,” In defense the FDA is taking further steps to keep food safe and has proposed changes in its Food Protection Plan that could significantly improve its ability to oversee fresh produce. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year 76 million people get some kind of food borne illness, 300,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two previous lawsuits that have been filed against the company that employed the engineer in the deadly Metrolink crash near Los Angeles have been combined into one class-action lawsuit. Veolia Transportation is to be sued over labor policies for allegedly not giving employees proper rest breaks, overtime and other benefits. Since the September 12th deadly crash Veolia has been under scrutiny. Federal investigators are reviewing whether fatigue played a role in the collision. The diabetic engineer blamed for the collision was in the midst of a 10.5 hour split shift. Of 222 train passengers, 25 people were killed and 21 remain hospitalized. The Los Angeles Times researchers reported that the crash sent 86 people to hospitals in the San Fernando Valley, Westwood, Hollywood and Ventura County.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The “loss of chance” doctrine came into play in a wrongful death lawsuit against a physician who failed to order the appropriate tests for his patient for several years after the patient complained of debilitating stomach pain. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that physicians can be held liable when their negligence decreases a patient’s chance of survival. The plaintiff in the case died of gastric cancer in 1999 after complaining for several years to his physician about stomach pains, but his doctor did not order diagnostic tests until May 1999. The delayed tests supported the diagnosis of gastric cancer, but the plaintiff’s time had run out and he died five months later. Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote, “Where a physician's negligence reduces or eliminates the patient's prospects for achieving a more favorable medical outcome, the physician has harmed the patient and is liable for damages.” The jury awarded $160,000 to his estate for pain and suffering caused by the physician's negligence. It also awarded $328,125 to the plaintiff’s widow and son for the decedent's loss of chance.

Posted by Scott J. Eldredge at 07:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Seven weeks into the Salmonella Outbreak investigation and federal health officials are still finding it difficult to pinpoint the method of delivery. Cilantro and jalapenos are now under the same suspicious umbrella as tomatoes. Many find it is easy to fault the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control for their inability to zero in on the source and food type of contamination.

“This has gone on longer and has been more complicated than anything I've worked on at FDA,” expressed Dr. David Acheson the FDA’s food safety chief told AP Television. Many are comparing the spinach E.coli outbreak from 2006, but officials say this is different. The spinach affected was packaged with a barcode, the cilantro, tomatoes and jalapenos are sold as fresh produce with no barcode. “We really, really got spoiled, if you will, with the spinach outbreak,” Dr. Robert Tauxe, food safety chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press. In the spinach outbreak victims could remember what they ate, but in this episode the stricken have difficulty remembering as well as differing food items. They say, "'Well, I'm not sure, I may have had guacamole, or a garnish," Tauxe said.

Continue reading "Largest Salmonella Outbreak in History Still Mystery" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Drug makers are starting to feel the pinch from the removal of their defective drugs from the market. It is cutting into their profits and delaying their chances of making money on new blockbuster treatments. Big Pharma is blaming the fact that it is taking longer for the Food and Drug Administration to approve their new drugs. For example Merck & Co executives, the recalled http://www.burgsimpson.com/vioxx.html manufactures, say they are facing a tough new regulatory climate that is delaying drug development. Over the last 16 months, Schering-Plough Corp. has pulled the plug on two drug development projects, one for obesity and the other for cholesterol, and considering pulling a third project. Chief Executive Fred Hassan believes the reason lies in the intensified focus on safety and the diminished tolerance for side effects. With the diabetes drug Avandia causing an increase of heart failure in some patients and the Ortho Evra birth-control patch causing blood clots and in some cases death, is it a wonder the FDA is taking longer? Drug companies are required to clear their new drugs with the FDA. If they want their products to come to market faster they need to focus their attention on screening their own products so that there is assurance that good and safe drugs are being released to the industry rather than making money.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 04:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Centers for Disease Control is reporting 756 confirmed illnesses due to the salmonella contaminated tomatoes in what has become the nation’s largest outbreak of salmonella from tomatoes ever. At least 95 people have been hospitalized. The latest known illnesses occurred on June 13. The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC have yet to find the source. FDA investigators have recently spent a week in parts of Florida and Mexico inspecting farms to pinpoint the area of contamination. The two agencies continue to urge consumers nationwide to avoid raw red plum, red Roma or red round tomatoes unless they were grown in specific states or countries the FDA has cleared. Grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and tomatoes sold with the vine still attached have been deemed safe for consumption. Salmonella is a bacterial infection causing fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, often caused by eating foods contaminated with animal feces.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An Edmonton, Alberta woman suffered permanent neurological damage after a chiropractic adjustment she underwent in September 2007. When Sandra Gay Nette visited her chiropractor she felt ill on her way home so she pulled her car to the side of the road and called her husband for help. This symptom was a prelude to the injury she was to permanently suffer. She is now unable to swallow, speak or breathe on her own and requires 24-hour care, yet she still possesses normal mental awareness. In response to her catastrophic injuries she has launched a $529 million class-action lawsuit against her chiropractor, the Alberta College and Association of Chiropractors and Alberta Health and Wellness. As part of the class action, the suit is claiming damages of $500 million against chiropractors in the province for “inappropriate and non-beneficial adjustments” on behalf of any injured patients since June 1998. Nette and her husband are claiming $29 million in damages. The claim states that both the chiropractic association and Alberta Health and Wellness should have known that the procedure used on her has not been scientifically proven and could pose risks to a patient's health. Alberta Health was aware that the province's chiropractic system was confused, poorly regulated and presented a major health risk, according to the lawsuit. A judge will have to certify the class-action suit before it is allowed to proceed.

Posted by Scott J. Eldredge at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Salmonella-tainted tomato illnesses have expanded to include 17 states said U.S health officials. As of Wednesday June 11, the number of reported cases has risen to 167. Representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they have yet to determine the source of the Salmonella outbreak, which has hit New Mexico and Texas the hardest. Officials said the earliest reported onset of illness was on April 16 and that the latest was May 27. Of the 167 cases reported, 23 have resulted in hospitalization. Chief of the CDC’s OutbreakNet Team, Ian Williams said that the latest poisoning scare has yet to be associated with any specific restaurants or grocery stores. The tomato recall includes raw plum, Roma and round tomatoes. Tomatoes from the central region of Florida are under investigation, but the FDA has not ruled out Mexico which produces 84 percent of the tomatoes imported by the United States. Salmonella bacteria produce symptoms including fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain and generally appear within 12 to 72 hours of eating tainted food. The current outbreak is caused by an uncommon type of bacteria known as Salmonella Saintpaul.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A former nuclear pharmacist was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1988. In February of 2006, Larry Schultz, went to St. Luke’s Medical Center for a drug injection to be administered via his spine that was to relieve spasticity resulting from his disease. A medical resident at the hospital administered the drug Baclofen and Reno-60 into the spine. Unfortunately, Reno-60 was labeled that it was not to be used in spinal injections. The mistake resulted in severe spasticity, seizures and neurological damage, including fractures to three vertebrae and his hips. Schultz required further surgery and was condemned to a wheelchair. A jury awarded him more than $10 million in damages for the catastrophic injuries he suffered as a result of the mistake.

Posted by Scott J. Eldredge at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It appears city water in Alamosa, Colorado may be contaminated with Salmonella. So far there have been 47 confirmed and 76 suspected cases in the Southern Colorado town. Health officials are investigating whether the outbreak was caused by tainted tap water. The water has tested positive for the bacteria, but final tests results for confirmation have yet to be revealed. It is not known at this time what has caused the Salmonella contamination. Health officials have warned residents to boil tap water for 15 seconds to kill the bacteria, or use bottled water for brushing teeth, washing dishes, making ice, cooking, drinking and making baby formula. They said people can use tap water to bathe, as long as they are careful not to ingest it. Currently, city and county officials have set up four centers where residents can get free bottled water or access to safe water, but they are limited to one gallon of free water per day per person. Salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever and stomach pain. Victims typically recover, but the elderly, infants and people with impaired immune systems may require treatment. Untreated, salmonella can cause death in vulnerable victims. Authorities said the first salmonella victim began showing symptoms around March 8.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Program was designed in the late 1980s and was created for children whose conditions stem from oxygen loss at the time of delivery. In the 1970s, the Virginia legislature capped awards in medical malpractice lawsuits at $1 million, but the cap is increasing because of inflation and will reach $2 million this year. The program was started as an alternative to victims seeking compensation due to injury. Children who have been in the program have lived longer than was initially expected when it began so the financial stability is questionable. In 2000 the program was at risk of running out of money. Some of the factors advanced were long-term cost inaccuracies, non-collection of fees from doctors, hospitals and insurance companies and the purchase of close to 25 houses for some families enrolled. Today, there is enough to last another 20 years, but program officials estimate at least $100 million more is needed for expenses beyond that. Retired obstetrician, Susan Lucas chairs the program’s board. She said when the program was initiated 20 years ago; they did not expect the children to live much past 5. If they did live, it was expected that they would become residents in facilities that would be covered by federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. "Things are very different now,'' Lucas said. Average medical expenses are estimated at $2.2 million over a child's lifetime. Now, most of the children live at home but are incapable of performing basic tasks. As of December 31st, 109 children from an original 136 were in the program. Attorney Ann Jones has helped enroll about 30 children and says most of the parents have no idea the program is in trouble. “Most don't know what's going on,” she said. Representatives from the medical, hospital and insurance industries began meeting in 2006 to search for a financial solution. Some parents, such as David Keeler, learned about the meetings and pressed to be included. “These people have put themselves before the children,” said Keeler, whose 14-year-old son, Kyle, is in the program. “I've seen this program that served children, a bright shining example in the country, turn into a complete embarrassment.” In a legislative effort to reduce victims legal recourse, unintended consequences have caused the very people the program was intended to cover, at risk of being abandoned.

Posted by Scott J. Eldredge at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Nevada clinic is the latest site of Hepatitis C exposure and possible HIV exposure when an investigation by health department officials determined that “unsafe injection practices related to the administration of anesthesia medication might have exposed patients to the blood of other patients.” Six people underwent procedures at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, five were treated the same day in September and the sixth is believed to have been infected in July. The Southern Nevada Health District believes about 40,000 more people should be tested for the viruses. Officials said the unsafe practices had been in place for several years and may have put others at risk. About 40,000 patients who received injections of anesthesia at the clinic will be told of the potential exposure in letters being sent out. Officials are encouraging anyone who received anesthesia at the clinic from March 2004 to January 11, 2008 to be tested, “We are recommending all patients during this time frame to get tested because we cannot determine which patients may have been exposed, chief health officer Lawrence Sands said. Hepatitis C is a chronic, potentially fatal virus that can cause liver ailments, including cancer and liver failure. The health district says it typically receives reports of two acute cases each year. Three of the six cases reported this year are acute. The virus may have been spread when clinic staff reused syringes and used a single dose of anesthesia medication on multiple patients, the district said.

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Catherine O’Donnell, 86, underwent hip replacement surgery on Oct 6. and never regained consciousness. After surgery, while still under anesthesia she fell through a gap in an orthopedic surgical table after a nurse removed a safety strap around her torso in preparation of transferring her to a hospital bed. Her head slammed into the floor, fracturing her skull and causing internal bleeding. Hours after O'Donnell fell, she underwent surgery again to relieve the pressure of the bleeding on her brain. Catherine O’Donnell died a week later on Oct. 13. The Boston Medical Center, said the hospital has since changed it’s procedures to prevent further accidents in the future. Paul Dreyer, director of the Health Department's Bureau of Heath Care Safety and Quality, reviews an average of 800 serious injuries and medical errors involving patients at 90 Massachusetts hospitals a year. About 400 to 500 involve patients hurt in falls. A wrongful-death suit has been filed and names four defendants who were allegedly in the operating room at the time: an anesthesiology resident; an orthopedic resident; and two nurses.

Posted by Scott J. Eldredge at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Denver, Colorado’s Craig Hospital is known as the premier medical facility for those who have suffered catastrophic spinal-cord and traumatic brain injuries. Recently it was home to Jenny McCune of Bozeman, Montana. While riding her bicycle 6 months ago McCune took a turn too wide and crashed into a ravine suffering a spinal-cord injury that left her paralyzed from her shoulders down. Fortunately, the crash did not sever her spinal-cord, only shook it badly enough to cause severe bruising resulting in paralysis. Prior to her accident she was a bike club president, Team Delphine rider and an elite athlete. After two weeks in the hospital she was stable enough to be moved Craig Hospital in Denver. At that time she could only lift her hand into a thumbs-up position. Now after 6 months of rehabilitation therapy she can now slowly type on a keyboard, use her cell phone, feed herself, dress and walk with assistance. Here progress is far beyond her doctor’s expectations.

Continue reading "Former Bicyclist Expected to Make Full Recovery from Spinal Injury" »

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The January edition of Nature Medicine published an article on a new discovery for people who have suffered catastrophic spinal cord injuries. This discovery could lead to new therapies for the estimated 250,000 Americans who have been paralyzed. According to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation an additional 10,000 occur each year. It was once thought that if the spinal cord route was blocked by an injury the brain could not communicate to control walking. The study out of UCLA has shown that the central nervous system can reorganize and follow new pathways to restore the communication needed to move. Lead author and professor of neurobiology Dr. Micahel Sofoniew at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA explains it this way, “Imagine the long nerve fibers that run between the cells in the brain and lower spinal cord as major freeways. When there’s a traffic accident on the freeway, what do drivers do? They take shorter surface streets. These detours aren’t as fast or direct, but still allow drivers to reach their destination. We saw something similar in our research,” he added. “When spinal cord damage blocked direct signals from the brain, under certain conditions the messages were able to make detours around the injury. The message would follow a series of shorter connections to deliver the brain’s command to move the legs.” Sofroniew and his colleagues blocked half of the long nerve fibers in different places on each side of the spinal cord in mice. They did nothing to the spinal cord’s center. Most of the mice regained limited mobility in their legs within eight weeks. Sofroniew concludes with, “Our study has identified cells that we can target to try to restore communication between the brain and spinal cord. If we can use existing nerve connections instead of attempting to rebuild the nervous system the way it existed before injury, our job of repairing spinal cord damage will become much easier.”

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China is facing further difficulties in their relationship with the global economy when their exported toy, Aqua Dots, poisoned several children in the U.S. China’s government has suspended its worldwide export of the toy covered with a toxic chemical that metabolizes into a “date rape” drug when ingested. Nine children have been confirmed as ingesting the toy beads and sickening them, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Tests showed the Aqua Dots were coated with the industrial chemical 1,4-butanediol. The “date rape” chemical is known as gamma hydroxy butyrate and may cause breathing problems, loss of consciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death. In addition to the nine in the U.S., three children in Australia have also been stricken. In the U.S six of the children hospitalized came from Texas, Delaware, New Hampshire, Illinois and Utah. The U.S. recall covers 4.2 million of the Aqua Dots toys, which are colored beads that can be made into designs and then fused together when sprayed with water. The recall is the latest in a host of product quality issues that has tarnished the image of the country as an exporter of reliable goods. Australia-based Moose Enterprises, the toy’s maker has said the product was manufactured in China, but neither the company nor the Chinese government has identified the factory or factories where they were produced. Companies worldwide are increasingly outsourcing manufacturing. Often choosing Chinese factories for their cost and quality, but burgeoning competition among factories and the rising cost of labor, land and fuel are putting pressure on profits, causing some producers to cut corners. Aqua Dots were supposed to have been coated with the nontoxic 1,5-pentanediol, a chemical commonly used in computer printer ink, but that chemical generally sells for three or four times the price of the toxic compound 1,4-butanediol found on the toys.

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A night in August 2005 would change the life of a 29 year-old forever. Ryan Reitmeyer was driving a Sea Ray Jet Ski when he ran into a 35 foot boat cabin. He hit the left side of his head and was in a coma for more than a month. His brain was swollen with a traumatic brain injury. The doctors removed part of his brain after a CT scan revealed the part that controls speech was hemorrhaging. The doctors said that Ryan would probably die, and if not that he would never be able to speak or feed himself again. Even after surviving, the medical professionals warned the Reitmeyers that their son would need anti-seizure medications, intense therapy and probably lifelong supervision. His central nervous system was still damaged so the doctors suggested activities to encourage neuroplasticity (keeping the brain active so it can heal itself).

Continue reading "Importance of Fiscal Resources to Help in TBI Recovery" »

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A new hope may be made available to people with catastrophic spinal cord injuries. New experimental therapies to be tested in clinical trials could improve the treatment of people with spinal cord and brain injuries as well as stroke or other severe movement disorders. The new therapies include an experimental, custom-made antibody to NOGO-A. NOGO-A is one of several inhibiting proteins to nerve fiber growth that are produced naturally in the human spinal cord and brain. It soon will be evaluated as a therapy for patients who are newly paralyzed from spinal cord injury. NOGO-A is one of several proteins whose existence in the adult body helps to explain the limited ability to grow new brain and spinal cord tissue. These inhibitory proteins are silent during embryonic and fetal development and even during the first few months of an infant's life. They limit the ability of the adult brain and spinal cord neurons to re-grow fibers that have been cut by injury. The study’s objective is to restore the fiber-growing capability of the brain and spinal cord by preventing NOGO-A from fulfilling its function as an inhibitor to fiber growth and regeneration. In the animal trial the anti-NOGO-A antibody enabled damaged spinal cords to partially regenerate and thus restored some motor function. The clinical trial is known as STASCIS and has to date enrolled more than 240 patients. The study is based on the understanding that within hours of a spinal cord injury a patient should undergo surgery to reduce pressure on the cord in order to limit damage. Initial evaluations of the trial have indicated that immediate surgery is safe and encourages the recovery of function.

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The Journal of the American Medical Association wrote in an editorial recently that deaths from staph infections may have exceeded deaths associated with AIDS. The report further explains that more that 90,000 Americans contract the deadly infection each year. The staph infection is drug-resistant, thus called a “superbug”. The rate of infections was reported to be 32 invasive infections per 100,000 people. The staph germ has gone beyond its usual haunts from the traditional hospital setting and expanded into the general health care system. An invasive infection involves those that enter the bloodstream, destroy flesh and can eventually become deadly. Samplings of victims of this “superbug” are people who recently had surgery, were on kidney dialysis, had open wounds or were exposed to medical equipment infected with the germ. The staph bug has recently been found to spread through prisons, gyms and locker rooms and poor urban areas.

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Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett made a statement Wednesday saying he feels lucky to be alive. This was his first public statement since he suffered a catastrophic neck injury on September 9th against the Denver, Broncos. His statement was delivered by Houston’s Memorial Hermann Hospital where he is currently being rehabilitated. He announced that he was able to take a few steps with a walker and has been able to move in his wheelchair. Each is a triumph for such an injury. Most victims of catastrophic inj uries are not so fortunate. Often years of rehabilitation and huge sums of money are dedicated to the support and medical provisioning of the affected person. Although the news is positive for Everett, most catastrophic injury patients’ outcomes are not.

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With football season underway, the Andrews Institute for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Pensacola, Fla., has funded the distribution of a 14-minute video, “Heads Up -- Reducing the Risk of Head and Neck Injuries in Football.” Produced by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA), the DVD communicates how athletes should play safe to avoid concussions, neck sprains and catastrophic injuries such as paralysis and quadriplegia. Nearly every high school in the nation, including football coaches and athletic directors, has received copies to share with their athletes prior to the start of the active football season. The DVD emphasizes correct techniques when initiating contact with an opponent. “The best way is to keep your head up, see what you hit and hit with your shoulder,” says Tony Dungy, head coach for the Indianapolis Colts. “It really doesn’t matter what position you play or where you are on the field. The object of the collisions is to deliver a blow and come out of it in great shape.” This in response to the new rule in college and high school which states: No player shall use his helmet (including the face mask) to butt or ram an opponent or attempt to punish him. No player shall strike a runner with the crown or the top of his helmet in an attempt to punish him.

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If you get a credit card, buy a car or sign up for a cell phone plan and you’re unhappy with the transaction chances are a judge will not hear the story. Many consumer contracts include mandatory arbitration clauses that force individuals to go through arbitration, instead of civil court, if a dispute arises. Some of these clauses also ban customers from joining class-action lawsuits. For years, consumer advocates have claimed these clauses are unfair. Now Congress is considering a blanket denial of pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements. The Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, recently introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives, proposes making the clauses unenforceable. "This is, by far, the most comprehensive bill that has been introduced. There have been bills that ban arbitration in the employment section or the banking section," said Paul Bland, a staff attorney with Public Justice, a national nonprofit public-interest law firm in Washington, D.C. Mandatory arbitration clauses tend to give companies, not the public, protection and companies tend to win arbitrations

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Ever get a packet in the mail saying that you are part of a class action lawsuit? You haven’t done anything to participate in the lawsuit and otherwise weren’t planning to sue anyone, but the information says that you might be able to recover money. So the question remains, what is a class action? In short, a class action is a lawsuit filed by one or more people on behalf of themselves and a larger group of people who are facing the same issues. It is the procedural device used in litigation for determining the rights and remedies for large numbers of people whose cases involve common questions of fact and law.

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When you have been injured by an individual or a group then you should seek the advice of a personal injury attorney. Typically the personal injury attorney will specialize in the specific area of injury. When involved in a personal injury, do not reach a settlement with an insurance company without first consulting a personal injury attorney. Personal injury attorneys can help by obtaining payments for such areas as: lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, rental car fees (if applicable) and distress payments. The attorney is bound to fight and get the highest possible settlement. In most cases a personal injury attorney will provide a free consultation.

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In Canadian provinces that have adopted mandatory helmet legislation for children, bicycle-related head injuries have fallen 45%, compared with a 27% drop in provinces that have not mandated helmet use. More surprising is that among adults cycling-related head injuries continue to increase. In Ontario, which has helmet laws for children but not adults, say injuries have soared 20% over the past three years. A discrepancy that has led to renewed calls for all-ages legislation. To date most legislation has focused on children, for whom cycling is one of the leading causes of traumatic injury. (Only three provinces, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have all-ages helmet laws.)

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A Canadian rodeo researcher is creating an international registry to record catastrophic injury to cowboys. The information could eventually lead to an international center for rodeo research excellence that would pull together education of cowboys, healthcare professionals and clinicians, according to University of Calgary sports epidemiologist Dale Butterwick. "As of today, anyone, anywhere in the world can access this database and report a catastrophic injury," Butterwick said in a statement. "By catastrophic we mean life-changing, losing a major organ, paralysis, even death. We need to know how these injuries occur and how often before we can meaningfully look for interventions." Once a catastrophic injury has occurred, Butterwick and a team of epidemiologists from the Cowboy's Professional Rodeo Association and the University of Calgary faculty of kinesiology will investigate the report to fully understand how the injury occurred and what might be done to prevent it in the future. Butterwick said he hopes this information will lead to increased safety for rodeo athletes and that the data will enhance support for research into rodeo injury prevention.

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A 60 year old woman and her 20 year old granddaughter were mauled by a pit bull last week when they visited an Aurora home near South Parker Road and East Quincy Avenue. Although the residents of the house weren't home, other visitors at the house tried to stop the attack by stabbing the dog with a large kitchen knife before calling police.

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A New Zealand sailor who lost four fingers in an accident aboard a fishing boat has had three fingers reattached in a different order to save his hand function. The man, 24, lost his fingers on his right hand when a hatch fell on it aboard a fishing trawler on Sunday night. The fingers were kept on ice while the trawler made its way to shore and a rescue helicopter transferred the man to the hospital. The plastic surgeons spent more than nine hours of complicated surgery reattaching three of the fingers. The little finger was reportedly too badly "pulverized" to be reattached. So the strongest fingers were put on closest to the man's thumb, which was intact. The middle finger had been put where the man's index finger had previously been, his ring finger in the middle finger's position and his index finger where the ring finger had been. A leech had been put on the end of the ring finger to improve blood flow. "There's a good artery bringing blood in. The leech is helping to drain blood out,” one of the surgeons said. By Wednesday morning about 12 leeches had been used and more needed to be flown up. Although not often used, leeches were sometimes "excellent" for helping until the body was able to repair itself. The surgeon said the fingers had been crushed and torn in the accident, so that made reattaching them difficult. The man's fingers had the tendons that move the fingers torn out of his forearm and there was no way to reattach those tendons to the muscle. His ability to move his fingers would be limited and he might benefit from reconstructive surgery in the future said his doctor.

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The night of July 10th sick children aboard a Lake Powell houseboat, including a vomiting baby who appeared to be having a seizure, were a family's first clue something was wrong. Before the night ended 21 people aboard the boat were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning in what one longtime Lake Powell physician's assistant called the largest case of carbon monoxide poisoning he had seen. None of the victims died or required transportation to a hospital. It was the third such poisoning in less than a week at Lake Powell. The victims in Tuesday's mass poisoning were among 40 people who were aboard the boat for a family reunion, said the National Park Service ranger at Bullfrog Marina. The children were sleeping in the rear of the boat next to an open window while a generator there was running to power the air conditioning. The family brought the sick children to the marina in a speedboat. Then rangers received word there were others on the boat also showing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Eventually, 36 people went to the marina's medical clinic for an examination, of those, 21 received treatment. The number of victims taxed the marina's medical clinic, which has three beds and typically does not have a doctor present. The family members were lined up outside the clinic waiting for oxygen treatment. "If the baby hadn't alerted everybody by having the first symptoms," the ranger said, "and [without] the mother waking everybody up we probably could have lost some of the children."

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54-year-old Joseph Martinez of Aurora, CO, is a cement finisher by trade and an ex-Marine who teaches karate. He was injured in a construction accident two months ago after falling 15-feet off a ladder onto concrete inside a Denver Water pump station under construction. He landed on his feet and broke his femur, heel and a bone in his spine. "The last few feet was like slow motion. When I hit, I heard it go crush." In the past few days he's been learning how to walk again. It took firefighters 45 minutes to rescue him. "They couldn't get to me. They had to climb up 30 feet, then down 30 feet, then walk over to get me," says Martinez. He said the firefighters helped comfort him during a very scary situation. "He kept hearing me go, 'hoowa' because it hurt. And he said, 'You're a Marine aren't you?' I said, 'Yes.' He said, 'Semper Fi,' which means always faithful." Martinez hopes to be out of the care center in two weeks.

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A Superior Court civil jury has awarded an estimated $96 million in future damages in the case of a child who developed a rare but serious neurological disorder caused by untreated jaundice shortly after his birth four years ago. The jury's 9-3 verdict is calculated in two ways. The current value of the award is $15 million, but it is expected to reach $96 million over the course of medical care for the boy during his lifetime, said attorneys for Aidan Ming-Ho Leung. That would make it one of the largest jury awards in recent California court history. Aidan was born March 24, 2003, at Verdugo Hills Hospital under the care of Dr. Steven Wayne Nishibayashi, who also was listed as a defendant in the case. According to the lawsuit, Aidan exhibited several risk factors for kernicterus, a neurological disorder that can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy and hearing loss, when he developed jaundice shortly after birth. The jaundice was a sign of the buildup of bilirubin, a yellow bile pigment, produced in greater quantities than a baby's liver can excrete. Aidan, now 4, requires constant medical attention, said Phan, whose firm employs Aidan's father. "He has normal intelligence, but he can't walk. He can't talk, can't feed himself. He can't control a single muscle and it was all preventable," Phan said.

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The incidence of catastrophic head injuries in football is dramatically higher at the high school level than at the college level, according to a study published in the July issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine. Catastrophic head injuries, which include brain bleeding and swelling, are rare and can be devastating. Athletes with major brain injuries may be left with permanent brain damage. According to lead author, Barry P. Boden, M.D., from the Orthopedic Center in Rockville, Md., high school football players have more than three times the risk of a catastrophic head injury than their college peers. Boden and coauthors also found a high percentage of high school athletes playing with neurologic symptoms from a previous head injury at the time they sustained a catastrophic injury.

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BP's outgoing refining chief testified in a deposition last year that he first learned of serious safety concerns at the company's Texas City refinery in March 2005 when 15 people died in an explosion there, despite internal reports and warnings of potential danger. Plaintiffs' attorney Anthony Buzbee asked in the September 2006 deposition, "Before that, you had no idea that there was a risk of catastrophic injury?" Manzoni replied that had he been aware that catastrophic failure could occur BP would have taken action earlier. Manzoni's deposition was among hundreds of pages of blast-related documents and depositions made public June 11th under a Galveston judge's order. The release came less than two weeks after Manzoni resigned as refining chief. BP spokesman Neil Chapman declined to comment on whether the release of the documents played a role in Manzoni's departure.

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Althea LaCoste was recovering from pneumonia and needed a ventilator to help her breathe when her family took her to Pendleton Methodist Hospital the day before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. She was admitted. The hospital lost power during the hurricane, and its backup generator also failed. Hospital staff was forced to evacuate many patients after the Hurricane, but LaCoste was not evacuated. She died at the hospital.

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Outdoor recreation groups are alarmed because some carriers refuse to pay medical bills for injuries suffered in high-risk activities. Health insurance coverage may be denied if you’re injured while participating in horseback riding, snowmobiling, motorcycle and all-terrain-vehicle riding, skiing and other outdoor pursuits. A very large loophole in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, remains open. It’s being called health care discrimination. HIPAA was enacted to protect those involved in legal transportation and recreational activities, but according to outdoor recreation groups, its language can deny coverage because the way an injury occurred. For instance, if you break a bone tripping over a little boy’s scooter, the medical bills are covered. If the same bone is broken in a skiing accident, coverage may be denied. “I’m sure there are lots of horseback riders and snowmobilers who have no clue this is out there,” says Pam Gluck, executive director of American Trails, a Redding, Calif. based national, nonprofit organization. “If people who pay premium dollars are being denied coverage, it defeats the intent of HIPAA,” says Carla Varriale, a partner in the New York law firm Havkins Rosenfeld Ritzert & Varriale. “From a policy point of view, you could debate both sides, but it’s definitely something worth watching.” Varriale, who has done extensive insurance coverage litigation, enjoys horseback riding and motorcycling during leisure hours. “It flies in the face of the intent of the act,” she said. “These are otherwise legal activities and it seems heavy-handed in our private lives. And I’m a bit uncomfortable about who defines ‘risky.’ ” Outdoor-recreation groups have found sympathetic supporters in Congress. Bipartisan legislation to close the so-called HIPAA loophole is in committee while the Senate and House address the war in Iraq and other issues. While understandable, the delay is unsettling to outdoor enthusiasts.

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A baby who initially was said to have been dropped on a linoleum floor suffered skull fractures, two wrist fractures, broken ribs on both sides and a broken ankle, prosecutors said Friday. Leonardo Gonzalez's massive injuries were detailed as his mother, Joanna Michelle Vasquez, 22, made her first court appearance to face a capital murder charge. The 2½-month-old boy died April 27 of "catastrophic injuries," prosecutors said. He had been placed on life support shortly after being taken to a hospital on April 24 by Vasquez and her common-law husband, said Assistant District Attorney John Jocher.

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Ann and Tom Cook have become advocates for wooden bats over aluminum. Their son Matt was struck by a ball off an aluminum bat during practice March 30. A ball hit the left side of his head as he pitched a varsity batting practice. The accident fractured his skull, caused substantial bleeding and swelling in his brain, dulled sensation down his right side, and severely impaired his ability to speak. He faces many months of intense physical, occupational, and speech therapy. He spent two days in the intensive care unit at Children's Hospital Boston and is now in the pediatric unit at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. His is the most recent incident of a batted ball leading to serious injury on the field, but his parents have few statistics to back their fight against the use of aluminum bats. The frightening ordeal has prompted Cook's parents to advocate that schools switch from aluminum to wooden bats echoing a debate that has long simmered among high school baseball teams and in Little League, where aluminum bats predominate. "There's no empirical evidence, no data that says wooden bats are any safer than metal bats," said Paul Wetzel, spokesman for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.

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Tuskegee student Ralph Squire had paid five dollars for the fishing lure the same day that the crankbait became entangled in a bush while he fished later, it was only natural that he wanted it back. "I had just bought the lure at the Wal-Mart at Auburn and right off the bat I threw it up in a bush," the Texas native remembers of the incident. "I kept pulling on it with the fishing line, trying to pull it loose from the bush." The lure eventually came loose and struck Squire in the face. When several of his friends rushed to his side to see if he was OK, they made a gruesome discovery. A treble hook from the lure was buried deep in Squire's right eyeball. Squire became another of an ever-growing number of anglers who have suffered catastrophic eye injuries from fishing lures, according to Birmingham surgeons Dr. Robert Morris and Dr. Douglas Witherspoon of the Callahan Eye Foundation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The two surgeons can offer no reason for the increase in eye injuries from fishing, but they have hard data to back up their beliefs that such injuries are on the rise. Data from the Helen Keller Foundation show that nationwide, fishing injuries now make up about 9 percent of all sports eye injuries, Witherspoon said. A hook to the eye makes up about 38 percent of those injuries, while 44 percent come from a sinker or the body of a lure striking an eye. "People tend to think that a weight or sinker in the eye isn't as bad as a hook in the eye, but it can be just as bad," Morris said. "In a lot of cases the eyeball ruptures. In about half those cases the person is left permanently blind in that eye."

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last year The Ohio Department of Taxation has offered a new and different charitable category to appear with others: the Ohio Military Injury Relief Fund. The fund was signed into law in late 2005 and has been in place since last year’s tax cycle. It was created to give money directly to Ohio veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and are severely wounded with catastrophic injuries such as loss of limb, blindness, brain damage or disfigurement. It’s likely to get even more notice as national news focuses on complaints about the treatment of injured vets.

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The American College of Radiology (ACR) has updated its MR safe practice guidelines in a whitepaper titled ACR Guidance Document for Safe MR Practices: 2007. The whitepaper is available on the American Journal of Roentgenology Web site.

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The National Transportation Safety Board today determined that the cause of a fatal bus fire in Texas was insufficient lubrication in the right-side tag axle wheel bearing assembly of the motorcoach resulting in increased temperatures and subsequent failed wheel bearings, which led to ignition of the tire and a catastrophic fire. Global Limo, Inc. failed to conduct proper vehicle maintenance, do pre-trip inspections, and complete post-trip driver vehicle inspection reports, thereby allowing the insufficient wheel bearing lubrication to go undetected. The Board's report revealed that Global did not retain vehicle maintenance and repair records as required by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). In addition, there was no maintenance program to properly service the vehicle in place. Therefore the NTSB concluded in the report that the disregard for such a program led to the failure to detect vehicle defects that resulted in a catastrophic fire and loss of life. "We will not cease our efforts to push for change to prevent these kinds of accidents from occurring," said NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker. "However, unless there is adequate oversight, I am afraid we will continue to see motorcoach accidents that contribute to the unacceptable number of deaths on our nation's highway."

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Army Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman, commander of Walter Reed Army Medical Center has acknowledged that the staff responsible for tracking patients after they receive treatment was overwhelmed by the number of wounded when violence spiked in Iraq two years ago. The undermanned staff may have led to wounded veterans falling through the bureaucratic and medical cracks. He said the number of outpatient soldiers reached a high of 872 in summer 2005, up from about 100 before the war, leaving the military and medical staff responsible for monitoring their well-being unable to keep on top of critical cases. "We found that the platoon sergeants that we had for accountability and the case managers that we had, they were literally managing 125 patients each," Weightman said. "That's too many to do [oversight] effectively." Weightman insisted he has also ordered his staff to focus on "high-risk" cases, such as veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries, to insure they are more closely monitored once they become outpatients.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

People forget names and faces of acquaintances everyday but imagine waking up in the morning and not recognizing your own face in the mirror. According to the American Journal of Medical Genetics as many as 1 in 50 people experience this nearly everyday. These individuals suffer from a disorder call prosopagnosia. Also known as face blindness, prosopagnosia renders a person incapable of recognizing faces. The disorder is unrelated to a person's ability to see faces and is not related to a person's IQ. In fact most sufferers have perfect vision and are mentally competent.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TIRR (Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research) is regarded as a world leader in medical rehabilitation and research. TIRR's Spinal Cord Injury Program has been a Model System with funding by the U.S. Department of Education for over 30 years. The Brain Injury Research Center at TIRR is currently funded by three grants from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

LegalView.com, your resource for everything legal, is preparing to launch a new practice area focusing on child injury. Slated for launch in early 2007, child-injury.legalview.com will serve as a complete e-portal with news and information on child injury and how to keep kids safe. Featuring informative articles, news, jury verdicts, and advocacy information on child safety, the portal will be a welcome addition to LegalView.com's extensive collection of important news and legal information in a number of practice areas. The information service will cover the different varieties of child injury, such as child abuse, broken bones, car accidents, pedestrian accidents, and medical conditions that put children's health at risk. In addition to providing complete information about the different injuries faced by children, the child injury site will also provide safety and health information for parents who are concerned about the well-being of their kids. With advocacy information, recent jury verdicts and ways to get in touch with experienced child injury attorneys, the site will be a valuable resource to parents, teachers and members of the community. Best of all, child-injury.legalview.com is provided as a free service.

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Two brain injury support groups are forming on the Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations. The group facilitators are Quintin Kingfisher in Lame Deer and Dean Bird in Crow Agency. Both men said they have personal experiences with brain-injured loved ones and hope to help fill voids by having support groups in their communities. The groups are open to those with injuries, their families, their friends and other caregivers, as well as service providers. "I think our reservation has a high incidence," Kingfisher said. The groups were organized with support from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

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When Dr. Lisa Thompson bounced back after suffering a brain injury in a moped accident in Bermuda, her family thought the worst was over. However, nearly six years later the pediatrician and mother of four committed suicide, shocking her loved ones. In the wake of Thompson's death two years ago, her family learned it is not unusual for traumatic brain injury victims to suffer depression. There are as many as 75 percent of such patients who suffer depression. Their suicide rate is as high as four times that of the general population, says Lance Trexler, program director of neurobehavioral services at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana in Indianapolis.

Continue reading "Initiative warns of depression risk after brain injuries" »

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Construction crews met face-to-face with leaders of Obayashi, the Sound Transit contractor, just a few days after a fatal accident at a job site for the new Beacon Hill tunnel. One man died, another was hurt. Obayashi has been under fire since the fatal accident on a Sound Transit Light Rail project job site last Wednesday morning. Forty-nine-year-old Michael Merryman died after the locomotive he was riding in collided with another at a staging site for Sound Transit's Beacon Hill tunnel. It was the second accident there in just four months and followed an accident at another Obayashi site in January of 2005.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A trench collapsed Feb 9th Friday afternoon along a DART rail line under construction in Deep Ellum, killing one worker and injuring a second, officials said. The accident occurred at a work site along Malcolm X Boulevard. The trench collapsed on two workers who were helping reset a water line between the future train stations along the planned Green Line rail tracks that will extend south from downtown Dallas, DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said. Dallas Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Annette Ponce said the department's technical rescue team was called to the scene to rescue two men. Firefighters dug their way to a victim trapped under the rubble, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Another victim was pulled from the site and taken to Baylor University Medical Center in unknown condition.

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A chemical warehouse burst into flames on Wednesday, spewing a black cloud of smoke over Kansas City that rained down chunks of debris and forced hundreds to evacuate the area, authorities said. No one was seriously injured in the powerful explosion and fire that engulfed a CHEMCENTRAL Corp. distribution facility, and the chemicals involved did not immediately appear to be especially toxic, fire department and company officials said. However, emergency officials said they had asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to monitor the air for toxic vapors. The CHEMCENTRAL facility warehouses thousands of gallons of chemicals, which are sold in bulk to manufacturers of adhesives, paints and inks, Brennan said.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 04:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Apolipoprotein E (APOE), a gene associated with heightened risk for Alzheimer's disease in adults, can also increase the likelihood that brain-injured newborns will develop cerebral palsy, researchers at Children's Memorial Research Center have discovered. This is the first identification of a gene that increases susceptibility to cerebral palsy. Results of the study may enable early identification of children who are at risk for poor neuro-developmental outcome after brain injury as newborns and thus target those children for early therapeutic intervention.

Continue reading "Alzheimer's Gene Raises Newborns' Cerebral Palsy Risk" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota is launching the first-of-its-kind clinic in the Midwest to treat young people, especially athletes, who are injured with a concussion. Concussions can occur from a sports injury, car accident, fall or any blow to the head. Bethesda Hospital is considered the Midwest expert in Traumatic and Acquired Brain Injury Rehabilitation with its inpatient programs. The new convenient, one-day clinic will offer treatment by experts who work with brain injury everyday, including physicians, neuro-psychologists and therapists. "We are very excited to be able to offer this new Bethesda Concussion Clinic to the young people in our community, who are at risk for brain injuries," said Frank Indihar, MD, CEO Bethesda Hospital. "If an athlete returns to action too quickly and receives another blow, the results can result in headaches, inability to concentrate in school, memory loss and mood change."

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

No criminal charges are warranted in a Jan. 14 backcountry collision between a snowmobiler and a snowboarder, investigators for the Pitkin County Sheriff's Office concluded Monday. "It was clearly an accident, and it's unfortunate," said Joe Bauer, a patrol director with the sheriff's office. Sheriff's investigators felt they couldn't file charges because of conflicting statements from witnesses and there was no conclusive evidence, Bauer said. The investigation was closed Monday. The end of the investigation doesn't bring closure on the incident for either Roy Reed, the New Castle man who was driving the snowmobile, or Doran Laybourn, who was snowboarding.

Continue reading "No charges filed in Aspen snowboarder-snowmobile accident" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Researchers in the Wainwright Laboratory at the Children's Memorial Research Center have found a link between a specific gene and the risk of cerebral palsy in newborns. The gene, Apolipoprotein E (APOE), has previously been associated with the increased risk of Alzheimer's in adults who have sustained a brain injury. The Wainwright study has now found that APOE is related to the heightened risk of cerebral palsy in newborns with brain injuries. This discovery is the first indication that the appearance of a gene could increase the risk of cerebral palsy in newborns. The results of the study may help pioneer the early identification of cerebral palsy in children with brain injuries. Early identification could lead to important early therapeutic intervention.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ten passengers on a bus that was hit by a train at the Shell Oil Co.'s Deer Park plant earlier this week are suing the company, claiming an unguarded railroad crossing posed an unreasonable risk of harm. The passengers, all employees of AltairStrickland, filed suit Thursday in a Harris County district court. They, along with about 30 other AltairStrickland employees, were riding in a school bus from a satellite parking lot to inside the 1,500-acre Shell facility Tuesday morning when the collision occurred. Aside from Shell, also named in the lawsuit are Port of Houston Authority International Corp., operators of the engine involved in the collision, and Brand Scaffold Builders LLC, which operated the bus.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a second, a brain injury can change your life. That was the message that two re presentatives from the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey brought to students at Central Regional High School in Berkeley on Jan. 25. "But helmets are big and ugly," said Jen Farnan, 16, of Berkeley, one of the teens whose opinion was solicited by Wendy Berk, a traumatic brain injury outreach specialist, and Susan Quick, a prevention and outreach counselor for the education and advocacy group based in Edison. Berk and Quick met with small groups of students in order to solicit the teens' opinions about helmets and to assess what they know about brain injuries. She said the association wants to step up efforts to get older teens to wear helmets.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For the second year spectators and participants have the opportunity to support an organization devoted to making life easier for families of brain injury patients. The Jeff Barnes Brain Injury Foundation was started in 2001 when Visalia resident Jeff Barnes suffered a brain injury while teaching vocational welding at the state prison in Corcoran. In addition to serving as a fundraiser, the walk/run is designed to let residents become aware of the foundation and its message. "Brain injury reaches across all lines, it doesn't care what your financial background is, it can happen to anyone and at any time," said Cheri Barnes Jeff Barnes wife. “It is when people don't wear helmets and get injured while cycling is a main cause of brain injury.” Jeff's injury left him nearly paralyzed. He cannot talk, but can communicate by showing emotions.

Continue reading "Race to Aid Brain Injury Group" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) began in 1970 as a one-time ski lesson for children with amputations in conjunction with the Children's Hospital of Denver. Over 30 years later, the NSCD is now one of the largest outdoor therapeutic centers in the nation. Each year the NSCD helps thousands of disabled children and adults learn about sports they normally would not try. The mission of NSCD is "to provide quality sports and therapeutic recreation programs that positively impact the lives of people with physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral challenges."

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Authorities plan to pursue homicide charges against the pilot who survived a tragic 2004 plane accident during a charity fundraising event. Mark Strub will face a single charge of negligent homicide stemming from the August 28, 2004 crash that killed passenger Kimberly Reed. Reed, 39, was one of several passengers Strub gave 10-minute rides to in his Stearman PT-13 during the 2004 Children's Miracle Network Balloon Rally in Wisconsin Rapids. Strub had volunteered his time and plane for the event.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A commission created by several national veterans groups will begin a series of touring town hall hearings today in a search for long-term strategies to ensure that veterans of the Iraq war and other conflicts receive adequate medical care and other benefits. The tour of the Commission on the Future for America's Veterans kicks off in Charleston, W.V. Other planned stops include Tampa in March. The commission wants to gather input from veterans, state officials, labor and business leaders, and the public on issues like health care, benefits, transition from military to civilian life, catastrophic disabilities and the needs of National Guard members and reservists. It hopes to release its long-term plan by spring 2008.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Michael Porter lost his wife and daughter in a car-train accident in November. He has filed a $300,000 wrongful death lawsuit against the railroad companies. Michael Porter's wife, Tina, 43, and daughter Allaysa, 13, were killed on Nov. 20 after a train struck the 2004 Chevrolet Blazer Tina was driving across the railroad crossing. Tina Porter was dropping her daughter and family friends Donna Jean Calvert, 13, and Julie Seymour, 12, at their school. Donna Jean was killed and Julie was critically injured in the wreck. Ken Calvert Donna Jean Calvert's father said his family plans to file a lawsuit against the railroads as well. Porter filed lawsuits on Jan. 10 against Canadian National Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad seeking $150,000 from each.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill, 1 in 4 healthy newborns suffer from a minor brain hemorrhage. Minor brain hemorrhaging in young infants in usually associated with "Shaken Baby Syndrome." "Shaken Baby Syndrome" is a traumatic brain injury that occurs when an infant is vigorously shaken. The shaking causes intracranial bleeding in the brain that can cause severe brain damage and even death.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 09:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Even the judge acknowledged the sentence wasn't tough enough. Sean Patrick Armstrong, accused of striking a bicyclist with his pickup last February in south Charlotte and then fleeing the scene, will spend no more than a year in prison. His victim, Brian Hanley, suffered a traumatic brain injury and remains in a wheelchair. Hanley suffered head trauma and a broken pelvis, leg and ribs, spending weeks in a coma. "Brian has had to relearn how to breathe, eat, see, speak, sit. And it has taken him almost a year to be able to do those basic things," Brian Hanley's fiancé Laurie Griffin said. "He cannot walk, he does not remember the house he lived in, and he needs full-time care. "Not only did you take away life as he knew it, but you took away a father from two little boys. You took away their childhood. The youngest won't even ride his bike anymore."

Continue reading "Judge apologizes for hit-and-run sentence" »

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Ashley Zauflik, the Pennsbury High School junior was the most seriously injured in an out of control bus accident Jan. 12 that hurt 16 other students. Surgeons continued to work on Ashley's left leg Friday morning, which was amputated above her knee more than one week ago as a life saving measure, said William L. Goldman Jr. the family's attorney. The Zauflik family is currently deciding what type of surgery is best to attend to Ashley's fractured pelvis and possibly fractured right ankle, he said. Although she is no longer in a medically induced coma, Ashley remains on heavy dosages of pain medication.

Continue reading "Pennsbury teen no longer in coma" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The parents of a 5-year-old boy run over by a school bus have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver and the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board. Benito Miranda Lopez and Nancy Miranda Gonzaga contend that Marco Miranda would not have been killed on Jan. 18 if the school system properly had supervised driver Travis White and if he had been cautious enough.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The sudden death of an 18-year-old McCandless youth who collapsed at his family's dinner table in October likely was caused by a concussion he received in a rugby match 10 days earlier, the Allegheny County medical examiner's office has determined.

Continue reading "Teen Rugby Death Explained" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The nation's highest court turned down a request to hear arguments related to a catastrophic train derailment near Minot, N.D. The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order today that states which cases it will review in its coming term. The Minot cases were among dozens which were rejected for oral argument.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Iowa found that smokers who suffered from a specific brain injury quit smoking almost immediately after the injury. The University of Iowa provided information about smokers with brain injuries and the researchers at the University of Southern California analyzed the data. Subjects with injuries in the insula of the cerebral cortex reportedly stopped smoking after sustaining the injury. "It is immediate. It's not that they smoke less. They don't smoke, period," said Antonio Damasio, director of the neuroscience department at USC.

Continue reading "New Study Links Brain Injuries to Quitting Smoking" »

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A little more than a year ago, McKenzie Bruce had just made the cheerleading squad. The self-described "socialite" was treasurer for Gilbert's Highland Junior High School seventh-grade student council. For winter break, her family decided to go on a cruise to Mexico. On Jan. 7, 2006 she suffered a traumatic brain injury in a boating crash that lead to seven surgeries and ongoing daily therapy.

Continue reading "Teen Recovering After Brain Injury" »

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An Acampo self-employed ranch butcher was critically injured when his truck was struck by a train. Mike McMahon, 48, was at one point comatose and doctors had told family members that it could be months before he would wake up. He has since regained consciousness and has begun walking, though doctors have yet to say when he might be able to leave UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. On the afternoon of Jan. 12, McMahon was driving and apparently didn't see an oncoming train. The oncoming train struck the driver's side door of McMahon's truck, and he was flown to the hospital by medical helicopter.

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An aging cracked asphalt strip of unclear origin has hurt several people. Kaufman and Dallas counties both say section isn't theirs to fix. Kaufman County says Lawson Road belongs to Dallas County. Dallas County says it's
Kaufman County's. It's a two-lane blacktop on crumbling clay soils. Lumber, rock and asphalt trucks pound it, widening and deepening the cracks that create hazards for bicyclists. Dennis Hochgraber is one of them. He
doesn't care who fixes the road as long as it just gets fixed. "My bicycle tire went down into a crack, the fork on the front of my bike snapped, and I did an immediate head-dive into the asphalt and broke my neck in two places," he said, recalling the accident that robbed him of his beloved sport of cycling forever. He had to wear a hard plastic collar for 17 weeks, and his doctor advised him not to cycle again.

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According to witnesses a bus carrying 17 Grant County Middle School students on January 17th slowly veered off the left side of the road, veered back onto the road and began to rock, crossing the centerline it slammed into a
utility pole and came to a stop in a ditch. State police, who were investigating the cause of the crash, said they believed no other vehicles were involved.

Continue reading "Kentucky Bus Crash Injures Students" »

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Michael V. Kaplen, Esq. president of the Brain Injury Association of New York State challenged NFL Players
Association Executive Director, Gene Upshaw and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to participate in a public forum on the dangers of concussions to athletes. "Both the NFL and the Players Associations are glossing over the
dangers of concussions and their impact on players lives," said Kaplen who is a member of the New York State Traumatic Brain Injury Services Coordinating Council.

Continue reading "BIA President of NY Kaplen Challenges NFL " »

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 08:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The conditions of two teenagers injured in Friday January 19th's car-train accident in Syracuse remained unchanged Sunday morning at University Hospital in Syracuse. The injuries occurred after a van driven by their mother, Deborah Price, slid down a road and became trapped between the crossing arms of a railroad signal as a train was approaching. As they ran from the van, Zachary Price slipped and fell between the train tracks. Marylynn Price went back to help him out. The train struck the van and sent it rolling over both Zachary and Marylynn Price, state police said.

Continue reading "Teen Train Crash Victims " »

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Bus driver John McCleary, the man behind the wheel in an accident that injured 17 Pennsbury High School students, has been suspended with pay. McCleary has said he tried to brake, shift out of gear and turn off the
engine but could not stop the bus until he steered it into the wall. An attorney for the most seriously injured student Ashley Zauflik said Monday that the girl is improving but still in a medically induced coma. Zauflik can't speak because of a tube in her throat but has communicated with her family using head motions. She had to have her left leg amputated above the knee last week.

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Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

GRACE Labs LLC in Dekalb, GA has been working on a new technique to detect brain trauma such as stroke, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injuries. The new technique developed by the Georgia lab uses a blood test to predict and detect the occurrence of brain trauma. The blood test is simplistic and works quickly to detect brain trauma earlier than tests in the current medical market.

Continue reading "New Blood Test Could Save Lives" »

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to Scott Herhold of the San Jose Mercury News in California on Jan. 21 a 48-year-old Menlo Park woman nearly died when a truck hit her titanium bicycle. According to police, a 1987 red Toyota pickup truck driven by a Hillsborough contractor, Walter F. Sorensen, 76, crossed over two lanes and struck the woman, dragging her underneath the truck wheels. She could have died except that the Toyota hit an asphalt curb, jarring its wheels upward and sending Levenson 35 feet into a gully. Levenson's injuries included a jaw broken in two places, a windpipe crushed, ribs broken, multiple spinal fractures, a broken pelvis, a detached sole of the foot, and many other scrapes and bruises. It took 10 surgeons nine hours to repair the damage.

Continue reading "Bicyclist Struck by Drunk Driver" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Pitkin County Sheriff's Office and U.S. Forest Service has sent investigators to the scene of a backcountry accident in a popular backcountry spot near Aspen to try to determine who, if anyone, is to blame. Pro snowboarder Doran Laybourn and a snowmobiler the sheriff's office has yet to identify collided around 2 p.m. Sunday along Richmond Ridge located on the back side of Aspen Mountain. What still needs to be determined is whether the accident occurred on private or national forest land, according to Pitkin County Sheriff Bob Braudis. If the accident involved snowmobile use in a closed area of the forest, the Forest Service is more likely to get involved in the investigation, according to Tim Lamb, a ranger with the Aspen-Sopris district.

Continue reading "Aspen Backcountry Accident Investigated" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 04:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ashley is a 9-year-old girl who cannot speak for herself. Ashley has a condition called static encephalopathy. This means that she has an permanent brain injury of unknown origin. She does not function like other children her age. She is unable to speak, roll over on her own, and hold herself up to sit. The condition has Ashley stuck in a permanent infant-like state. When Ashley was 6-years-old, her parents and her doctors agreed to perform what is now known as the "Ashley Treatment."

Continue reading ""Ashley Treatment" Not Received Well by Disabled Community" »

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Jason Reynolds is on trial in Denver for the alleged road rage accident that caused the deaths of 2 men in November 2005. The tow truck driver at the scene of the accident recalled Reynolds appearing unmoved at the accident scene and quoted Reynolds as saying, "I hope it doesn't sound mean, but the gentleman got what he deserved and what he had coming." Reynold's attorney, H. Michael Steinberg, told jurors that Kelvin Norman was the aggressive driver in the incident and had tried to ram Reynolds car. Prosecutor, Karen Pearson, told the jury that Reynolds was a violent, aggressive driver with a history of road rage.

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Snowmass Village resident Justin Gordon, 29, was snowboarding with Doran Laybourn, 26, and another friend Sunday afternoon when he said they decided to ski past Little Annie's Woods, since it was getting tracked out, and to continue along the road in search of virgin powder. Gordon said he was less than 15 feet behind Laybourn when an unidentified man driving a snowmobile smacked into Laybourn. The man driving the snowmobile was driving up a road; Laybourn was riding down it. An eyewitness to the backcountry accident on Richmond Ridge said "The snowmobile was coming in pretty hot around this blind turn. Proper snowmobile etiquette is, like with a car, you generally stay on the right side of the road on turns just in case, God forbid, someone was coming down," Gordon said. "Doran tried to skid out of the way but he didn't have any time at all. The sled struck his right leg and
shattered both bones below his knee and then flipped him over and his face hit (the snowmobile driver's) helmet and broke his cheekbone, his nose and smashed his teeth. Doran was spitting out blood and teeth."

Continue reading "Aspen Snowmobile and Professional Snowboarder Collision" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Former Philadelphia Eagles player Andre Waters forensic pathologist report executed after a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head showed brain damage that may have led to his depression and ultimately his suicide. Dr. Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh told The New York Times that the condition of Water's brain tissue was that of an 85 year old man. The characteristics resembled that of someone in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The doctor said he believes the brain damage was caused or quickened by successive concussions Waters experienced. According to Dr. Omalu Andre Waters would have been fully incapacitated in another 10 to 15 years.

Continue reading "Former Football Player Andre Water Patholigist's Report Shows Brain Tissue Deterioration" »

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Two train derailments in Kentucky this week came at the same time that The Dow Chemical Co., the Federal Railroad Administration and the Union Pacific Railroad announced an effort to develop a new generation of puncture-resistant rail tank cars. The new cars would prevent hazardous material release in the case of accidents or terrorist attacks.

Continue reading "Rail Car Safety Project" »

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When teenager Molly Bloom lost her leg after being dragged under a limousine on her prom night, Rep. Gwyn Green had flashbacks to her own son's horrific car wreck. Now the Golden Democrat and other lawmakers are pushing for tougher regulation of limousine, taxi and other commercial drivers, including criminal background checks. The man driving the stretch Hummer that ran over the then-17-year- old East High School student last May as she
stepped into the limo was charged with careless driving. Green said the accident was even more of a tragedy because "the person who was driving was driving, in my opinion, in a careless and reckless way."

Continue reading "Tragic Limo Accident Spurs Regulatory Bill" »

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 05:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

NFL player Andre Waters unexpectedly committed suicide on November 20, 2006 at the age of 44. He was found with a single gunshot wound to the head by his girlfriend. Waters was an defensive back player and played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals from 1984-1995. He was best known for his aggressive playing style and even had an official NFL rule put into place after he hit Los Angeles Rams quarterback during a game. After retiring from the NFL, Waters enjoyed a successful career as a college football coach.

Continue reading "Major Brain Trauma May Have Caused Football Player's Suicide" »

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According to the Centers for Disease Control fewer and fewer Americans are perishing on the job due to accidents. They attribute this to a number of factors. There has been an expansion of service industries that are
relatively safe. Tougher worker-safety standards imposed under laws such as the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act. A reduction in or export of high-risk mining, metals and manufacturing jobs. An increase in the number
of working women whose accident rate is about a tenth that of men. A decline in the number of small farms where worker fatalities have always been high. Today's workplaces are roughly 40,000 lives a year safer than they were in the 1930s, according to the CDC.

Continue reading "Workplace deaths falling dramatically" »

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State troopers say cell phone text messaging is causing more accidents than ever before. The problem is that while it's easy to spot people talking at the wheel, it is much harder to catch people texting at the wheel. Troopers
are convinced cell phone use is causing wrecks, but drivers never admit to it.

Continue reading "Text-Messaging Causing Car Accidents" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A 24-year-old construction worker died Tuesday morning while working on new condominiums in Sandpoint, Idaho. According to the Sandpoint fire chief, the man was operating a drilling rig at the Seasons at Sandpoint
development when he somehow became entangled in the equipment. The accident happened around 8:30 a.m., but by the time rescuers arrived the worker had already passed away.

Continue reading "Man Dies in Sandpoint Construction Accident" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As football season nears its end, researchers are working on a device that may help detect brain injuries, particularly concussions, in football players. Concussions are the most common injury in the sport of football. Each year, over 40,000 high school football players suffer from a concussion due to the sport. This number does not even take into account college and professional football players. Nationally, over 300,000 individuals suffer from a sports related concussion. As more and more football players suffer from multiple concussions during their football career, coaches and trainers are becoming more aware of the growing problem.

Continue reading "New Device May Help Football Players Prone to Concussions" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A Crested Butte teenager died Sunday after crashing on Copper Mountain while warming up for a competition. Asher Crank, 17, was on skis and fell about 30 feet Saturday after going off a jump in the Copper Mountain terrain park, according to Summit County Coroner Joanne Richardson. He landed on his head and was wearing a helmet.

Continue reading "Copper Mtn Teen Dies in Ski Crash" »

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In Fairless Hills, PA an out of control bus drove into a group of students injuring 14 teens on the ground, critically injuring a 17-year-old and three in the bus. A Pennsbury School District bus driver lost control of the occupied bus and struck a group of students standing on a curb in front of Pennsbury High School on Hood Blvd. in Fairless Hills. After several hundred feet the bus finally came to a stop as it crashed into a concrete retaining wall. The driver explained that "he shut everything down and it just kept going and he lost control of it." The students wanted to jump off the bus, but the driver said, "No, stay calm, just block yourself, we're gonna have to crash."

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The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) released a position statement that calls on lawmakers and private sector payers to eliminate barriers to access and delivery of cognitive rehabilitation treatment for patients with acquired brain injures. The current needs of the increasing number of servicemen and women returning from Iraq with blast brain injuries is an immediate opportunity for the provider networks to promote better treatment and advancing rehabilitation. Cognitive Rehabilitation addresses that an overwhelming majority of brain injury survivors have cognitive impairments and that they often have challenges accessing treatment that has been shown to benefit them the most. Cognitive impairments interfere with the brain-injured patient's ability to function effectively in school, work and in their personal relationships. Access to cognitive rehabilitation helps patients regain function in areas that are essential for a return to independence and a reasonable quality of life, but many insurance companies deny coverage claims and public health agencies limit the scope, duration and timing of treatment.

Continue reading "Brain Injury Advocates Demand Greater Access, Fewer Barriers to Cognitive Rehabilitation. " »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Nearly 5 million individuals in the US disabled from the effects of stroke, brain hemorrhages, and traumatic brain injuries suffer from memory loss, damage to their mental processing skills, or severe behavioral changes. These effects from brain trauma often do not surface until months after initial medical treatment has been administered. Brain injury patients often find themselves feeling like their lives are back to normal after initial treatment, only to have their lives turned upside-down in a matter of weeks.

Continue reading "Many Brain Injury Sufferers are Not Getting Post-Trauma Help" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

After going in for a Botox treatment, most people come out with a fresh, new face devoid of wrinkles and frown lines. Since its rise to fame as fountain of youth, few people know of the drug's other benefits to patients with neck and head pain sustained from traumatic brain injuries. Although the use of Botox in treating patients with muscle stiffness and migraines is not FDA approved, many doctors have been using the drug to treat such ailments for at least a decade.

Continue reading "Botox: Not Just for Erasing Wrinkles" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New York State Supreme Court Justice Doris Ling-Cohan ruled that a woman whose daughter sustained a traumatic brain injury at a city-licensed daycare center (First Steps) in 2000 could sue New York City. The woman researched several daycare centers before allowing her daughter to be put under the care of First Steps Daycare Center. Her criteria called for a "licensed, investigated, no-complaints babysitter" and one that had been thoroughly and routinely investigated by NYC's Administration for Children's Services.

Continue reading "NYC May be Sued for Infant Brain Injury Incident" »

Posted by Kerry N. Jardine at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is new case law in Colorado regarding the stacking of underinsured motorist insurance (UIM). Per the Supreme Court case holding (No. 05SA369, In Re State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co. v. Progressive Mutual Ins. Co. - Automobile Insurance - Underinsured Motorist - Uninsured Motorist Stacking - Limits of Liability), insureds who are insured persons under multiple UIM policies can stack those polices to determine whether the tortfeasor was underinsured. Until now, conventional thought was that the tortfeasor coverage was measured against an individual UIM policy, not the sum of multiple policies, to see if the tortfeasor was underinsured

Continue reading "New Case Law in Colorado Regarding Stacking of Underinsured Motorist Insurance (UIM)" »

Posted by Peter W. Burg at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)