Head & Brain Injuries

• Old Head Injuries Linked to Behavioral & Cognitive Problems

  Michael Phelan | February 02, 2008 9:01 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Researchers studying brain injury believe that people with unrelated social or cognitive problems may have something in common: a long-forgotten blow to the head. It is widely accepted that severe head injuries can lead to cognitive and behavioral problems. What is new, according to brain researchers Wayne A. Gordan, M.D. and Mary Hibbard, Ph.D., is the contention that there are many other...

• Mild Head Injuries Tied to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

  Michael Phelan | February 02, 2008 9:01 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine represents the military's first large-scale effort to gauge the effect of mild head injuries -concussions (many from roadside blasts)- that some experts worry may cause a host of undiagnosed neurological problems. My last blog reported on a study concluding that undiagnosed head trauma is the cause of a host of later cognitive and...

• Skull Thickness and Head Injury

  Shannon Weidemann | January 22, 2008 10:36 AM | 0 CommentsNew York City, NY

  A new study has shown that men have thinner skulls than women and it may make them more prone to head injury. Researchers at Ford Motor Company and Tianjin University of Science and Technology studied 3,000 people for skull thickness and shape. They found that skull thickness was on average 6.5 millimeters in men and 7.1 millimeters in women. Skull thickness, as one might expect, improves the...

• Serious Accident - Things to do list:

  Lauren Ellerman | December 13, 2007 10:34 AM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  God willing, you will never be in a serious car accident. God willing, no one you know will ever be in a serious car accident. BUT, if you are, here are some important tips:1. Go to the hospital right away. A jury will think something is up if you wait a week or two - so go, just in case there is something wrong.2. Notify your insurance company - AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. 3. Do not give tape-recorded...

• MRIs Prove Secondhand Smoke Damage

  Courtney Mills | 2007-12-12T15:32:06 | 0 Comments

  People who have been exposed to high levels of second hand smoke have lasting damage to their lungs, MRIs show in a recent study of several non-smokers. Researchers examined study participants using a special kind of MRI scan to evaluate changes in the lung tissue of secondhand non-smokers. Researchers used a special kind of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to review the lungs of...

• R.I. Supreme Court Upholds Lead Hazard Mitigation Act

  Michael Phelan | 2007-12-12T13:32:24 | 0 Comments

  On Tuesday, Rhode Island's Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of The Lead Hazard Mitigation Act (LHMA) which went into effect in 2005. The purpose of the LHMA is to reduce the hazards of deteriorating lead based paint to humans. Lead is a neurotoxin which can cause severe brain damage. Toddlers are particularly susceptible because they tend to put everything in their mouths and...

• Brain Injuries From Iraq War Worse Than Thought

  Michael Phelan | 2007-11-28T15:32:58 | 0 Comments

  Scientists studying traumatic brain injury from bomb blasts are finding disturbing news. The invisible surge of compressed air traveling from these blasts is causing cellular death in the brain that leads to symptoms like memory deficit, headaches, vertigo, anxiety, apathy, or lethargy that may not surface for months or years. This newly discovered brain damage at the cellular level can be...

• Hospital Botches Third Brain Surgery This Year

  Michael Phelan | 2007-11-27T15:42:29 | 0 Comments

  At a time when doctors across the country are flocking to a meeting in Texas to support caps on the amount of medical malpractice recoveries, Rhode Island Hospital reports that its neurosurgeons have mistakenly operated on the wrong side of a patient's brain three times in 2007. One of the patients died. This hospital serves as a teaching hospital to Brown University. If the tort reformers...

• $3.5 Million Settlement in Brain Damage Case

  Michael Phelan | 2007-11-14T11:39:49 | 0 Comments

  I am so proud to represent, along with co-counsel Yvonne Griffin, one of the finest people I've ever met. Our client taught third grade to inner-city kids for 33 years and also worked a second job in order to put three of her own children through college. Last year, a truck crashed into her car and she suffered a fractured femur. She stopped breathing at the ER, and a CT scan revealed that...

• 20 Year Wati for Lead Poisoning Justice

  Ben Glass | 2007-11-08T13:26:04 | 0 Comments

  Congratulations to our friend and lead poisoning litigation expert, Richard Serpe.On October 14th, 2007 Serpe a jury awarded one of his lead poisoning victims a $1,500,000 verdict. Chauncey Freeman was poisoned as a two year old, but it was not until he was almost 20 years old that he sought out Serpe to pursue the idea of a claim. The case was filed just before Chauncey's 20th birthday, and the...