Head & Brain Injuries

• Brain Injuries From Iraq War Worse Than Thought

  Michael Phelan | November 28, 2007 3:32 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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 | November 27, 2007 3:42 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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 | November 14, 2007 11:39 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  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 | November 08, 2007 1:26 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  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...

• US Lacrosse Confronts Concussion Epidemic

  Michael Phelan | November 07, 2007 8:55 AM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  Two days after his team won the National Lacrosse League championship, Jay Jalbert was laying in a hospital bed recovering from his seventh concussion. Jay was forced to retire from professional Lacrosse. Four weeks after taking a routine shot off his face mask, Denver Outlaws goalie Trevor Tierney was still experiencing symptoms of his seventh concussion. Concussions are prevalent in contact...

• $3.5 Million Malpractice Verdict Upheld

  Ben Glass | November 04, 2007 7:27 PM | 0 CommentsNorthern Virginia, VA

  Congratulations to Mic McConnell and Jason Konvicka of the Allen Law Firm in Virginia for their win in the Supreme Court of Virginia back in September. Their client suffered a brain injury during gastric bypass surgery. Even though Virginia's insurance company protecting "cap" on malpractice awards immediately knocked the verdict down to $1.65 million (for no reason other than the insurance...

• Sen. Clinton addresses Lead Poisoning Crisis

  Michael Phelan | October 31, 2007 1:04 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  As part of National Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, Senator Hillary Clinton today introduced legislation to improve coordination among federal, state and local government agencies, update standards for pre-lease or sale inspections required by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and establish pilot projects to target areas of high incidence of lead poisoning in...

• Traumatic Brain Injury: Virginia's "Silent Epidemic"

  Michael Phelan | October 24, 2007 4:44 PM | 0 CommentsRichmond, VA

  The Virginian Pilot reported recently that an estimated 150,000 Virginians may have long-term disabilities because of brain injury. Brain damage typically is caused by trauma such as a fall, a car accident, or violence. Like so many other states, Virginia is ill equipped to deal with this epidemic. A study commission of the General Assembly found that Virginia has only 20 specialized beds...

• More Head Injuries in High School Athletes

  Shannon Weidemann | July 24, 2007 4:19 PM | 0 CommentsRoanoke, VA

  A study released by the American Journal of Sports Medicine has shown that high school athletes are three times more likely to suffer a catastrophic head injury than college athletes. The study was conducted by Dr. Barry P. Boden on 94 cases that happened between 1989 and 2002. Boden's group defined catastrophic head injuries as injuries resulting in death, permanent disability or serious...

• Brain injury: A major problem in Virginia (VA) and Nationwide

  Rick Shapiro | July 06, 2007 3:54 PM | 0 CommentsVirginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk, VA

  Brain injury is a major cause of death and disability of people under age 45 and a significant medical/legal issue in tort and insurance law today. According to the Brain Injury Association of Virginia (VA) 28,000 visits to an emergency room occur in Virginia (VA) each year as a result of traumatic brain injury. Across the U.S. traumatic brain injury (TBI) costs over 56 billion dollars every...