Detroit Personal Injury Lawyer - Head & Brain Injuries

Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury

Daniel Buckfire — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:54:44 GMT

Children with traumatic brain injuries face some of the most difficult challenges a parent or teacher is likely to encounter. Unfortunately, thousands of children suffer traumatic brain injuries each year. The most common causes of traumatic brain injuries among children include car accidents, sport- and play-related injuries, fights or assaults, and falls. If a child’s traumatic brain injury is caused intentionally or through the negligence of another person, the parent can normally file a lawsuit to get compensation for the damages the child has suffered.

In the educational context, childhood traumatic brain injury has been defined by regulations promulgated pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This law aims at providing equal access to education for children with disabilities. The regulations, codified at 34 C.F.R. § 300.8(c)(12) define “traumatic brain injury” as follows:

Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Michigan Pediatric Brain Injury Lawyer | Detroit Child Head Injury Lawyer

Daniel Buckfire — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:47:33 GMT

A pediatric brain injury occurs when a child suffers a head injury that causes damage to the brain. Such an injury can be caused by car accidents, motorcycle accidents, bicycle accidents, bus accidents, slip and fall accidents, and other accidents. Brain injuries can also occur at birth if an infant’s oxygen supply is cut off. Each of these situations can severely affect a child’s future and may give rise to a lawsuit for damages to compensate parents for the extra expense of caring for a child with a pediatric brain injury and to compensate the child for a lifetime of decreased earnings. Depending on the severity of the injury, the amount of damages can be significant.

Pediatric brain injuries are often associated with the following symptoms:

Motor skill deficiencies and disabilities
Short attention span or difficulty concentrating
Memory loss or impairment
Difficultly learning new information
Limited ability to follow patterns and sequences
Impulsive behavior and lack of self-control

If a child is involved in any accident that could result in a brain injury, it is important to seek medical attention at once. Because there are often no external signs that a brain injury has occurred, failure to get immediate medical attention often delays diagnosis until well after the injury has occurred. In such circumstances, the diagnosis is typically made only after the child has already failed to reach developmental milestones. This usually increases the costs and hardships of treating the brain injury but can be avoided with prompt medical attention.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Traumatic Brain Injury and Delinquency

Daniel Buckfire — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:57:00 GMT

Traumatic brain injuries are associated with delinquent behavior. According to a new study by the University of Michigan, nearly one out of five delinquent youths suffer from a traumatic brain injury. The study focused on young people ages 11 to 20 and found those with traumatic brain injuries had a significantly earlier onset of criminal and substance-using behavior, more lifetime substance abuse problems, and suicidal tendencies than youths without traumatic brain injuries.

The study defined traumatic brain injury as a head injury causing 20 minutes or more of unconsciousness. The study did not assess post-injury treatment or severity of the initial injury. However, it is well known that lack of treatment can only make the problems normally associated with a traumatic head injury worse.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Picking a Brain Injury Lawyer

Daniel Buckfire — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:59:00 GMT

Many people think that a brain injury could never happen to them or a loved one. But, did you know that brain injuries occur in nearly 75% of accidents that involve bodily injury? Brain injuries are an extremely common result of motor vehicle accidents, assaults, sports injuries, slip and fall accidents, and other accidents.

If you or a loved one is ever in a serious car accident or receives some kind of blow to the head, the first thing you should do is seek medical treatment immediately. Mild brain injuries are often difficult for lay people to detect, but left undiagnosed they can cause severe long-term problems such as headaches, memory loss, and even personality changes. Such injuries can result in job loss, family strife, and significantly increased medical expenses later in life.

Many times, the negligence of another person causes traumatic brain injury. When this is the case, the injured person or his or her family will usually have a claim against that person for their brain injury. Not all lawyers are equally qualified to handle your brain injury case, and you will want to make sure your brain injury lawyer knows the technicalities of the law. Failing to select the best lawyer could cost you benefits and reduce your chances of obtaining a favorable settlement.

When picking a brain injury lawyer, you will want to ask him or her the following questions to help you determine whether the lawyer has the knowledge and experience necessary to fight for you.

Have you handled brain injury cases before?
What percentage of your law practice is devoted to representing injured people?
Do you know about different types of brain injuries?
Do you know what long-term health problems face someone with a brain injury?
Do you regularly represent clients against insurance company lawyers?
What kinds of settlements and jury verdicts have you obtained in similar brain injury cases?
Do you have a website with more information about brain injuries and the brain injury cases your law firm has handled?
What relationships with doctors, nurses, and brain injury associations do you have?

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Traumatic Brain Injury Damages

Daniel Buckfire — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Experienced brain injury lawyers that the client’s traumatic brain injury case is not over once they prove the client has suffered a traumatic brain injury. Proving the extent of the damages the client has suffered is a vital element in any traumatic brain injury case.

The brain injury lawyers at Buckfire and Buckfire, P.C. have won substantial amounts for our clients from both jury verdicts and settlements. Traumatic brain injury cases present some of the most difficult and complicated damages, because the brain is itself a complex organ that is not fully understood. The full extent of damages might be slow in developing, and yet, there are often immediately noticeable changes in personality and mood.

Michigan brain injury lawyers understand that these changes in personality affect marriages, families, and friendships. Traumatic brain injury patients are often unable to return to work and suffer a significant impairment of earnings and earning potential.

Damages in traumatic brain injury cases are often substantial, because they seek to compensate the injured person for the tremendous cost for their care and rehabilitation as well as, quite often, a lifetime of decreased earnings. Accident victims who have suffered traumatic brain injuries generally can collect the following traumatic brain injury damages:

Medical expenses including all hospital and doctors’ bills
Pain and suffering, including future pain and suffering
Loss of enjoyment of life
Reasonable value for loss of time and earning capacity
Poor health or disability caused by the traumatic brain injury
Aggravation of a pre-existing injury caused by the traumatic brain injury

There are many excellent support groups for traumatic brain injury patients in their families throughout the United States that promote treatment, prevention, and education. Most states have strong local chapters of the national associations, including a Michigan chapter.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Traumatic Brain Injuries: Concussion Symptoms

Daniel Buckfire — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 09:34:00 GMT

Concussions are the most common and least understood type of traumatic brain injury. A concussion occurs when the soft tissue of the brain is thrust against the hard bone of the skull. The force of a blow or sudden movement affects the brain center controlling the blood vessels in the brain and creates a deficiency of blood supply to the brain.

In a concussion, electrical activity within the brain temporarily diminishes or even ceases as a result of a traumatic brain injury.

Concussion Symptoms include:

Loss of consciousness
Dazed or confused behavior
Rapid and/or weak pulse
Slow respiration
Dilated pupils
Cold and/or pale skin
Slow reflexes
General muscle weakness
Involuntary movement of eyeballs
Dizziness or headache
Slurred speech

If a medical doctor is testing, slow waves on an electroencephalogram (EEG) and increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure can also indicate the patient has suffered a concussion.

The Michigan brain injury lawyers at Buckfire & Buckfire understand that these types of injuries have a tremendous effect on an individual’s ability to lead his or her normal life. Changes in personality affect marriages, families, and friendships. Head injury patients are often unable to return to work and suffer a significant impairment of earnings and earning potential. Further, head injury patients often need expensive attendant care services due to their condition. If the injury arose from a car accident, motorcycle accident, truck accident, bicycle accident, or pedestrian accident, there is often a Michigan No-Fault Insurance claim for benefits.

The injuries resulting from traumatic brain injuries are often permanent, and cases involving brain injuries have substantial value for both jury verdicts and settlements. This is because of the tremendous costs and expenses related to caring for a brain injured child and the loss of a child’s earnings over his or her lifetime.

There are many excellent support groups for brain injury patients in their families throughout the United States that promote treatment, prevention, and education. Most states have strong local chapters of the national associations, including a Michigan chapter.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Child Brain Injury Causes

Daniel Buckfire — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:44:00 GMT

OurMichigan brain injury lawyers frequently represent children who sufferbrain injuries due to trauma from car accidents, motorcycle accidents, slip andfalls, play-related accidents, and other accidents.

Common child brain injury causesinclude:

Falls—Falls are the leading cause of brain injury for all age groups, especially for children under age 4 years
Motor Vehicle Accidents—Children age 15 – 19 have the highest rate of automobile-caused brain injuries
Struck by/Against Events—This category includes sports-related injuries such as being hit with a ball or bat. Young children and adolescents have the highest incidence of sports-related injuries. In fact, between 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related traumatic brain injuries occur each year.
Assaults—Adolescents and young adults are the most likely age groups to be involved in assaults, as both the aggressor and the victim. Traumatic brain injuries caused by or involving a firearm are the worst: 9 out of 10 people with a firearm-related traumatic brain injury die.

Quite often, a child’s braininjury is due to the negligence of another person or business. In these cases, the child may have legalrecourse to be compensated for the injury. Depending on the severity of the injury, the amount of damages can besignificant. This is because of thetremendous costs and expenses related to caring for a brain injured child andthe loss of a child’s earnings over his or her lifetime.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Child Brain Injury Symptoms

Daniel Buckfire — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 16:43:00 GMT

Our Michiganbrain injury lawyers frequently represent children who suffer braininjuries due to trauma from car accidents, motorcycle accidents, slip andfalls, play-related accidents, and other accidents.

Children often have the sametraumatic brain injury symptoms as adults, but it can be more difficult todetermine how a child is suffering. Thechild may have greater difficulty in communicating the symptoms of the braininjury to an adult. Watch for any of thefollowing symptomsfor childhood bran injury:

Tiredness or listlessness
Irritability or crankiness
Changes in eating habits
Changes in sleep patterns
Changes in the way the child plays
Changes in performance at school
Lack of interest in favorite toys or activities
Loss of new skills, such as toilet training
Loss of balance and unsteady walking
Vomiting

The injuries resultingfrom traumatic brain injuries are often permanent, and cases involving braininjuries have substantial value for both jury verdicts andsettlements. This is because of the tremendous costs and expensesrelated to caring for a brain injured child and the loss of a child’s earningsover his or her lifetime.

There are manyexcellent support groups for brain injurypatients in their families throughout the United States that promotetreatment, prevention, and education. Most states have strong localchapters of the national associations, including a Michigan chapter.

Parents of childrenwho have sustained a traumatic brain injury should contact Buckfire & Buckfire,P.C. immediately to determine their legal rights. Our office willstart working on your case immediately and begin gathering the evidence toprove and win your case.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms

Daniel Buckfire — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:38:00 GMT

Our Michiganbrain injury lawyers frequently represent individuals who suffer braininjuries due to trauma. These injuriescan come from car accidents, motorcycle accidents, slip and falls, work-relatedaccidents, and other accidents. According to the National Center for InjuryPrevention and Control, causesof a traumatic brain injury include:

Falls (28%)
Motor Vehicle Traffic Accidents (20%)
Struck by/against events, which would include being hit with a ball or running into something (19%)
Assaults (11%)

A traumatic brain injury cancause a serious disability and the effects can be permanent. Recognize the symptoms of atraumatic brain injury:

Coma
Persistent headaches or neck pain
Difficulty remembering, paying attention, or making decisions
Slowness in thinking, speaking, acting, or reading
Getting lost or easily confused
Feeling tired or lacking energy
Mood changes
Changes in sleeping patterns
Light-headedness, dizziness, or loss of balance
Nausea
Increased sensitivity to light, sound, or distractions
Blurred vision
Loss of sense of smell or taste
Ringing in the ears

Traumatic brain injury cancause a wide range of functional changes affecting thinking, sensation,language, and emotions. The Center for Disease Control estimates nearly 5.3million Americans suffer from a traumatic brain injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire

Michigan Brain Injury Conference: Michigan Brain Injury Lawyers

Daniel Buckfire — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:45:32 GMT

Our Michigan brain injury lawyers will be attending the Brain Injury Association of Michigan’s Annual Conference.

We will have an exhibitor’s table and encourage brain injury accident victims, their families, medical providers, mental health professionals, counselors, social workers, case managers, policy makers, and other attendees to visit our table to learn more about traumatic brain injury and the legal system. We will have resources for people with brain injuries and information for all attendees.

This is our second year attending the Brain Injury Association of Michigan’s Annual Conference and it looks like it will be an extremely informative and helpful event. A full schedule can be found in the Brain Injury Conference Brochure.

This year’s conference will be held September 25 and 26, 2008 at the Lansing Center, located at 333 E. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, Michigan. Click for Parking Information and Attendee Information.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Daniel Buckfire