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Be Aware Of Snow Skiing Dangers

Brett Emison — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:18:00 GMT

I was able to enjoy some time snow skiing with my family recently and thought I'd repost this blog on snow skiing safety.

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Happy New Year!

I was fortunate to get a few days off between Christmas and New Year's and spent the time with my family in Colorado. I must admit it had been a while since I had been snow skiing.

The dangers on ski slopes worldwide have been written about widely, particularly since the growth of snowboarding at ski resorts beginning in the late 1980s. While strapping two boards (or one wide board) to your feet and letting gravity propel you down the face of a mountain has inherent dangers to it as a recreation, proper training, appropriate use of caution, and the use of helmets greatly decreases the danger of a fatal collision on the slopes.

Don't let this happen to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWq3J8lKT6U

A study based on 2009 research posted on the web site Ski-Injury.com, led by Dr. Mike Langran in Scotland, reports that 47.7% of respondents reported sustaining a previous injury while snowboarding. Out of these reported accidents, 43.4% consulted a doctor as a result.

The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) is a trade association set up for owners and operators of ski resorts, so they of course have a vested interest in downplaying danger on the slopes. Their report on skiing safety does allude to 45 fatalities during a recent season, though when considered over the course of “56.9 million skier/snowboarder days” cumulatively logged that season by resorts, that number is not laden with the same omnipresent danger that significant injury stats hold.

Given the rise of injuries on the slopes, a 2009/10 NSAA National Demographic Study shows that “57 percent of skiers and snowboarders wear helmets while enjoying the slopes at U.S. ski areas. Helmet usage among those interviewed nationwide increased 19 percent over the 2008/09 season, when 48 percent of those interviewed were wearing helmets. In comparison, only 25 percent of skiers and snowboarders wore helmets during the 2002/03 season.”

The best way to avoid a collision is to stay in control when skiing. Also, when waiting for others or merging trails, stop in a safe place, look uphill and yield. And, when possible, wear a helmet. According to Jasper Shealy, a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology who has studied ski related injuries, “recent research has shown that the use of helmet reduces the incidence of any head injury by 30 to 50 percent. (…) Approximately two-thirds of those who die who do not use a helmet have as the first cause of death some injury to the head.”

Interestingly, the use of a helmet is not as effective as some might think. From Shealy’s research again: “For those who die while wearing a helmet, only about one-third have a head injury as the first cause of death. It seems that while the use of a helmet may shift the distribution of the first cause of death, it is not sufficient to reduce the overall rate of death. In incidents leading to death, it appears that the severity of the incident simply overwhelms the ability of the helmet to prevent death.”

While skiers need to use appropriate caution (indeed, under Colorado law, skiers have a duty to ski within their abilities), ski resorts also have a duty to properly maintain their trails and appropriately mark hazardous areas. Failure to properly maintain and mark ski trails can lead to serious injuries or even death. A Park City, Utah woman has sued The Canyons ski resort for failing to post signs or ropes warning of converging ski trails and a sharp drop-off and curve that her husband - an experienced skier who was wearing a helmet when the crash occurred - was unable to navigate. The widow has claimed that proper warnings would have prevented the injuries that led to her husband's death.

Many ski resorts attempt to limit their own liability by forcing skiers to sign broad damage waivers. However, in Utah, the Supreme Court has ruled that such waivers cannot protect ski resorts from negligence claims saying that barring negligent-death suits is not in the best interest of society.

Ski-injury.com has this safety advice for snow skiers and snowboarders:

Follow FIS code on piste safety
Get professional instruction for safety guidance and proper form
Have your equipment inspected and checked regularly
Warm up and cool down properly
Recognize when you need a rest

Additional information on snow skiing safety:

Deep Snow Hazards Pose Dangerous Threat to Skiers and Snowboarders [Michael Myers - Seattle - Injury Board]
Skiing Accidents and Assumption of the Risk [John Cooper - Virginia Beach - Injury Board]
Ski Lift Safety Can Be Overlooked [Bret Hanna - Salt Lake City - Injury Board]

Follow @BrettEmison on Twitter.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brett Emison

VA Teen Commits Suicide After Football Concussion

Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:53:54 GMT

A Virginia (VA) high school student who got a concussion while playing football committed suicide two days later. His death is being investigated, according to the Daily Mail.

The teen, age 17, was injured while tackling a quarterback in a school game in Nokesville, VA. The teen’s parents took him to the emergency room and were told only to watch for bleeding symptoms and make sure he had a restful 24 hours.

The next day, the high school senior missed a turn while driving, forgot words while speaking and complained of "football headaches" after other, earlier games. Then, for apparently no reason, two days after the Nokesville game, he hung himself in his room.

The teen had no history of depression, and was well liked at school. The parents received a call from Boston University's Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, where there was a bank of around 70 brains donated for study, many from athletes and military veterans. CSTE researchers found that the teen had structural damage to the brain. The damage affected the portion of the brain that affected judgment and impulse control.

News of the teen’s death comes at a time when former professional football players are filing suit against the National Football League, alleging that the NFL knew of the lasting damage caused by head-impact injuries since the 1920s but "fraudulently concealed the long-term effects."

About the Editors: The Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm, which has offices in Virginia (VA) and North Carolina (NC), edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as pro bono services.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton

Dry Drowning Warning For Parents

Eddie Farah — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:59:00 GMT

The death of a 10-year-old boy from South Carolina this week while lying in his own bed, has brought attention to the little known “dry drowning.”

Johnny Jackson had gone for a swim in his neighborhood and walked home with his mother. He seemed fine except that his mother says he soiled himself, and then started talking slowly. He was sleepy. He lay down to take a nap and about one hour later he was dead.

Parents need to understand how dry drowning works. When water gets into the lungs, and it doesn’t have to be much, a child can asphyxiate. Lungs immersed in fluid are unable to take in oxygen from the air, but even with a small amount of water, Wikipedia says the “laryngospasm reflex essentially causes asphyxiation and neurogenic pulmonary edema.”

Basically when you breath, the diaphragm contracts, increases the volume of air into the lungs from the outside. During laryngospasm the person’s larynx spasm shuts. Air does not rush into the lungs. The heart is beating the blood flowing but it is not picking up oxygen.

Dry drowning can happen when someone has forceful contact with the water, such as from high diving or a water slide. Or just from summer fun in a pool, or even from a bath.

But the signs can be delayed and doctors don't know why. Signs are extreme fatigue and strange behavior which results from a reduction in oxygen to the brain. They need to get to an emergency room and have a breathing tube inserted so oxygen can be forced into the lungs so they regain their function.

3,600 people drowned in 2005, according to the CDC. About 10 to 15 percent were dry drownings, which can occur up to 24 hours after water is breathed into the lungs.

Johnny's mother, Cassandra Jackson, just didn't know, like most of us wouldn't.

"I feel like someone reached in and grabbed my heart and just yanked it out,” she says.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

How to heal from a concussion.

Ed Smith — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 09:13:25 GMT

Many of us have seen professional athletes endure concussions. Suffering the effects of concussions have cut short the careers of superstars such as Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers and Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys.

In addition to competitive team sports, auto accidents and slip and falls are a leading cause of concussions and/or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

How does one help themselves to heal from a concussion?

The process of recovery from a concussion may take weeks, if not months. Experts recommend the following:

* Get plenty of sleep at night and rest during the day.
* Slow your activities levels down. Don't do too much, too fast.
* Avoid highly physical activities such as contact or recreational sports.
* Consult with your doctor about when it's safe to return to sports, drive a car or motorcycle, or operate equipment or machinery. It is important to keep in mind that your ability to react to stimuli, while recovering from a concussion, may be impaired.
* Don't drink alcohol.
* Make a habit of writing things down instead of depending on your memory.
* Consult with family and friends before making important decisions.

Recovering from a concussion can be frustrating because your ability to think clearly or remember things may be impaired, and as a result, you're more easily aggravated or agitated.

It is important that those close to you are aware of this and are watchful of these symptoms worsening so your doctor can be informed and additional treatment provided promptly

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Smith

Falling Down Stairs

Ken Margolin — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Falling down a flight of stairs or even a few steps can cause serious injuries. Broken bones, head injury, and other trauma can result. In determining whether a stair injury case should result in a lawsuit, a number of factors need to be determined in addition to the severity of the injury. Stair injury cases are a form of premises liability litigation. Stair design is one factor to be analyzed. Knowledge of what makes stairs safe and unsafe has been circulated generally in the construction industry for many years. Age of the stairs is relevant. The owner of an older building with stairs narrower than would be designed today, for example, may not be liable for the excessively narrow stairs. There is no obligation known in the law to replace stairs, even if they would be considered unsafe if built today.

Other factors, though, are within the owner's control even in older buildings. If wear has made the surface of steps slick, treads may be required. If there is an odd curve increasing the likelihood that a walker may step off the edge suddenly or have difficulty visualizing the next step, a warning sign or strip may be necessary. Railings can reduce the risk of injuries on stairs and their absence may be negligent in some cases. Poor lighting is a common cause of falls on staircases. Many a condominium association or apartment building owner has assumed that they were free from liability from staircase falls on their premises because their stairs complied with the building code.

Compliance with building codes is important but does not necessarily mean that a stairway is not negligently designed or maintained. Building codes are minimum standards. While failure to comply with the building code is evidence in Massachusetts, of negligence, compliance does not necessarily equal due care. Any case of a fall on stairs resulting in serious injury must be assessed individually to determine whether the stairs were safe for their reasonably intended use and at all times when their use was forseeable.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin

PTSD May Add to Tornado Victims' Suffering

Rick Shapiro — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:01:15 GMT

April 2011 will go down in meteorological history as one of the most active and deadly months for tornadoes ever. The month began with an outbreak of more than 100 twisters between Oklahoma (OK) and West Virginia (WV). It ended with the devastation in the city and suburbs of Tuscaloosa, Alabama (AL), where more than 220 people lost their lives.

In between and shortly after those shocking, widespread natural disasters, northeastern North Carolina (NC), central and western Virginia (VA), and even our own area saw numerous tornadoes cause more than 30 deaths and hundreds of injuries in Colerain, NC, Gloucester, VA, and Pulaski, VA.

But even as wounds begin to heal, friends and family members are laid to rest, debris is cleared and rebuilding and recovery begins, another problem may loom for many tornado survivors: post-traumatic stress disorder. Left untreated, PTSD can make it difficult for people to overcome the tragedies they witnessed or lived through. Individuals who suffered brain injuries and head trauma are at particular risk for developing the condition.

As evidence of how a traumatic event such as a tornado can cause lingering mental and physical health problems, one need look no further than the experience of Suffolk, VA, resident Larry Herrin, who rode out the 2008 Suffolk, VA, tornado in a pickup truck.

Herrin told the Daily Press that for a long time after the ordeal, he felt depressed and needed three months of psychotherapy before coming to terms with his own survival, the loss of his family home in the storm and becoming nervous every time the skies clouded over.

Anyone who finds themselves in a similar state of mental agitation and physical ill health in the wake of the deadly twisters of April 2011 should seek the help they need as soon as possible. There is no need to become a victim of the natural disaster twice.

The same goes for everyone who believes they have developed PTSD as the result of suffering an injury or losing a spouse, child, parent or loved one in an accident. Numerous resources for people struggling to overcome traumatic experiences and grief over the death of a loved one exist in and around Norfolk. Good places to begin looking for mental health services, grief counseling, support groups and even just a sympathetic ear and referrals to further assistance include the following:

Norfolk Community Services Board (each city and county in Virginia has a similar agency)
American Red Cross of Southeastern Virginia
Norfolk Department of Health -- Community Services
Hampton VA Medical Center
Hampton Roads Grief Counseling and Bereavement Support

EJL

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro

Sports Concussions No Laughing Matter

Mike Bryant — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:45:00 GMT

Growing up, I was diagnosed with a concussion on two occasions. Once when I got kicked in the head playing hockey and another time when I got hit in the head with a rock. Nothing serious, but I did get a day off from school. Alternatively , my brother had at least 5. Each was after he had laid someone out with a head first tackle. I remember him telling me from his hospital bed , "You, should see the other guy". At one point, he received an award for being one of the hardest hitters his prep school had ever seen.

New research is suggesting that greater care should be taken with childhood head injuries. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at the Boston University School of Medicine has been studying deceased NFL players. Their conclusions are that concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CSTE studies reveal brown tangles flecked throughout the brain tissue of former NFL players who died young -- some as early as their 30s or 40s.

Hopefully, this will lead to greater scrutiny of those who have already received concussions and also to prevent kids from getting their first ones. So far, my brother still seems to be OK, other than being the one who threw the rock, but hopefully coaches are no longer giving out awards based on the number of concussions kids are giving themselves.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Mike Bryant

Relief From Unfair Hospital Billing Practices

Ed Normand — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:46:00 GMT

There is a little known but highly unfair practice in charges for hospital care. That is that a private pay or uninsured patient is charged much more for the exact same services than is charged to insured patients. Many times the hospital bill for a private, uninsured, patient is 200 to 300 percent that of the charges that an insurer is billed for the very same treatment. To make matters worse, a hospital lien statute exists in many Florida Counties that gives a hospital the right to take most or all of a personal injury settlement to pay for these inflated charges. These hospital liens prohibit a lawyer or insurer from distributing any part of settlement to an injured person until the hospital gets paid in full, even when the settlement includes other medical bills, lost earnings or pain and suffering damages. In effect, the hospital can charge whatever it wants and hold the settlement up until it gets paid that blood money in full--to the detriment of doctor bills, and to the exclusion of even necessary future medical care.

A recent case in Florida addressed this lien statute and found it to be unconstitutional. The case is called Mercury Insurance Company of Florida v. Shands Teaching Hospitals and Clinics, Inc. In Mercury, the Florida First District Court of Appeals held the Alachua County Florida hospital lien law to be unconstitutional. This only makes sense. There is no valid reason should a hospital charge uninsured patients at a higher rate and then get a blank check to take away an entire settlement. What is fair is that they charge a reasonable rate and the settlement is allocated fairly to all, be they hospitals, doctors and the victim's family. This is especially relevant given the recent disclosure that many hospital executives at even so called not for profit hospitals are being paid millions in annual salary and bonuses.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ed Normand

High Speed Car Crashes Often Result in Diffuse Axonal Injury ("DAI")

Doug Landau — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI injury) is widespread injury to axons, a part of the nerve cells in the brain.

Nerve impulses leave nerve cells through a part of the nerve cell called the axon. In diffuse axonal injury, axons throughout the brain are damaged. That is because the brain moves inside the skull. If the brain moves, twists or torques too much, the nerve axons can stretch and tear. The usual causes include falls and motor vehicle crashes. As a result of diffuse axonal injury, brain cells may die, causing brain swelling, increasing pressure within the skull. Increasing pressure may compound the injury by decreasing blood supply to the brain. Sometimes the person has symptoms of damage to a specific area of the brain. Increased pressure within the skull may cause coma. Computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is usually done to detect diffuse axonal injury. Diffuse axonal injury is treated with the general measures used to treat all types of head injuries. Surgery is not helpful.

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is a frequent result of traumatic deceleration injuries and a frequent cause of persistent vegetative state in patients. DAI is the most significant cause of morbidity in patients with traumatic brain injuries, which most commonly result from high-speed motor vehicle accidents.

DAI is a significant medical problem because of the high level of debilitation that is suffered by the patient, the stress that must be endured by the patient's family when the patient is in a persistent vegetative state, and the staggering medical cost of sustaining the patient in this state.

The true extent of axonal injury typically is worse than that visualized using current imaging techniques. In other words, many cases of DAI will result in Microscopic tears, so you will not see them with the medical tests currently available. Autopsy and histopathic studies have shown that the extent of DAI always exceed that visualized macroscopically, and DAI are usually Non-Hemorrhagic, so there is no bleeding, so bleeding tests will show zilch. Neuropsychological testing can sometimes show the damage from "closed head injury" or traumatic brain injury ("TBI"). The complexity of these types of injuries and their difficulty in being "seen" or diagnosed require that an experienced lawyer be retained at the earliest possible by brain injury victims and their families.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Doug Landau

Catastrophic Injury Cases and the Day in the Life Video

Ken Margolin — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 11:30:00 GMT

When attorneys handle a case involving paralysis or other catastrophic injuries, one of the biggest challenges is effectively portraying their impact on the client's life. Words are powerful, but go only so far. One of the most effective tools available to the trial lawyer is the day in the life video. These videos show more dramatically than any verbal description, the difficulties posed by the routine movements of daily life, such as dressing, bathing and moving.

Not anybody with a camera will be a good videographer. The day in the life professional must balance visual candor with preserving the client's dignity. Jurors may react negatively, even subconsciously, if they are repulsed or embarrassed by what they see. I have used a day in the life photographer for a number of years who has learned this balance. Clients appreciate the respect with which she treats the most intimate details of their lives.

In one case I handled, a client who was paralyzed as a result of being dropped from a stretcher, needed to use a mechanical lift to move from her bed to a chair. The device looked like something from a medieval dungeon and the process was slow and difficult. The day in the life captured it far beyond words. This case settled in advance of trial, largely due to the day in the life video. In another case, of brain damage to an infant from a medication overdose, the day in the life video was essential to making the jury understand the limitations of the child's daily life.

The skill and experience of the photographer is essential. The video must usually be less than 30 minutes long and yet capture various tasks and movement taking place over the course of hours. Sometimes the photographer will need more than one session. Although it is not required, and some lawyers may disagree with the tactic, I generally send the other side the unedited version of the tape to prevent any objections that the editing was somehow deceptive. However used, the day in the life video is an essential tool in any case of devastating injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Ken Margolin