Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Back to School, but Safely

School is back in session again, and that means more school buses on our roads, and more harassed parents racing against the clock to get to the gates on time.This is always a riskier time of the year, not just for students, but also for Atlanta’s motorists.It’s very likely that most children and their parents have forgotten about safety over the holidays, and hence, this reminder.

There will be thousands of children across Georgia using school buses after the long summer.According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, children are more likely to be injured when they are either getting down from, or getting on the bus, and not when they are riding on one.That is definitely something that parents need to think about.

Calls for Brain Injury to Be Defined As Disease

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not just a one-time injury that heals quickly, allowing a person to move on and forget about the injury.Rather, a person with a TBI can suffer several complications over his entire lifetime, depending on the severity of the TBI.A moderate brain injury could increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, besides placing the person at a higher risk for neuroendocrine disorders and depression.That is the reason why a team of researchers from the University Of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is calling for a redefining of traumatic brain injury as a chronic disease, like diabetes.

According to the researchers, defining brain injury as a disease would allow doctors to frequently monitor patients with TBI for complications or new conditions that might develop in the future.Take diabetes, for instance.Diabetes is considered a chronic disease, and a patient is placed under frequent monitoring, that involves regular testing of his blood sugar levels.The doctors also monitor the patient for other complications that may arise, like kidney disorders.The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers are calling for similar scheduled monitoring and tracking of patients with TBI.Currently, this is not done.Instead, patients with TBI often find themselves confused, anxious and with no financial and educational resources to deal with these complications.Defining TBI as a disease would allow these patients to be reimbursed regularly by insurers.

Insurers Concerned over Increase in Dog Bite Claims

Insurance companies are beginning to feel the bite as a nationwide increase in dog bite claims chews away at bottom lines.

In 2009, there was an increase of 6.4% in the amount that insurers had to pay out to settle dog bite claims.Companies paid out $412 million to cover dog bite claims in 2009, compared to the previous year, when the payout was $387.2 million.The average dog bite claim in 2009 exceeded $24,000 for the third year in a row.The number of claims increased to 16,586 – an increase of 4.8%.

Much of brain injury treatment depends on being treated immediately after the injury, to prevent further damage to injured brain tissue.However very often, doctors fail to diagnose the injury, especially if the injured patient has not lost consciousness.Other times, doctors may be confused about whether the person has suffered a brain injury or is having a stroke of some kind.This delay in diagnosis can severely impact the person’s recovery.

The US Department of Defense is investing approximately of $17 million to fund a study that will look into the development of biomarkers to easily diagnose brain injury.Currently, doctors use a blood test to diagnose the presence of a chemical called troponin in the blood, when a person is having a heart attack.Before these tests were developed, a physician only had the visible symptoms of a heart attack to depend on, for his diagnosis.However, with the biomarker test, he can look for protonin to confirm that the person is indeed having a cardiac arrest.The Defense Department study will look at developing something similar for brain injury.Consider this-a physician simply uses a test to diagnose a patient’s brain injury without having to depend on conflicting external symptoms.

There’s a reason why the Department of Defense is so eager to have progress on this.Treatment of brain injuries in veterans continues to be a challenge for the military.Tests like these will help army medics diagnose injuries quicker and begin treatment faster.

For years, Mitchell Street Bridge had been a vital part of Atlanta transportation, helping commuters get to downtown Atlanta and all the sights there.The bridge, which had been built in 1924, has become weak and structurally deficient over the years.Local budgets allowed for little money to repair the bridge.In 2008, the bridge was shut down for traffic.This week, the bridge was demolished in preparation for a new bridge replacing the old one. Not only will the new bridge make it easier for commuters in Atlanta to get across town, but it will also create new employment opportunities.

The bridge is being paid for by money from the federal stimulus funds.The total cost of construction is estimated to be around $8.8 million.Construction is expected to be completed by May 2012.The new bridge project is part of an estimated 300 construction projects that have already begun, or are expected to soon begin, across the state of Georgia.All these projects will be funded by money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.Georgia has approximately $900,000,000 in federal stimulus funds already in its kitty.Not only will the new bridge make it easier for commuters in Atlanta to get across town, but it will also create new employment opportunities.

We definitely need more such measures not only to alleviate the stress of congestion on our streets, but also to facilitate easier and safer access to the city for all Atlanta’s residents.We need to relieve congestion in a safe manner, and the new bridge will do exactly that- provide a vital connection for Atlantans and a safe means of transport.

It’s not just wireless companies and commercial television stations that are in the way of a revolutionary new technology that could provide a cure for spinal cord injury. The promoters of the cure are also up against the military. However, that’s not stopping the nonprofit Alfred Mann Foundation from continuing its efforts towards a treatment.

The treatment involves the use of coordinated electrical impulses from implanted devices. These impulses stimulate the muscles, thereby allowing the limbs of the spinal cord injury victim to move. Initial tests have shown dramatic results in spinal cord injury victims. Some of them have not just been able to regain movement, but are now back to doing the things they did and enjoyed before they suffered the injury.Buoyed by these successes, the Alfred Mann Foundation is pushing for wider use of this technology.

There’s one major catch, however. In order for the signals to be transmitted properly within the human body, the technology requires electromagnetic spectrum. The four bands of recommended bandwidth that are ideally suited for the technology are currently occupied by the military, commercial land mobile radio and emergency mobile radio. None of these entities are keen to share their bandwidth with the application of a medical device.

Douglas County Woman Has Surgery after Dog Bite Injuries

A woman, who sustained serious injuries after she was attacked by a trio of pit bulls in Douglas County had to undergo surgery this week. The 56-year-old woman was on a morning walk on Monday when she was attacked by the three pit bulls.

The three dogs were on the porch, and when the woman passed by, they jumped on her. It was a ferocious attack by all accounts, and the woman was knocked to the ground and mauled on her face and arms. Passersby used sticks and stones to try and beat the dogs off of her, but the woman suffered serious injuries. She was rushed to the hospital where she has now undergone surgery. However, she could be looking at a long recovery period ahead.

Prevent Fireworks Injuries on the Fourth Of July

With just a few days to go to everyone’s favorite holiday of the calendar, it’s important to keep in mind that every year, approximately 9,000 people have to be rushed to emergency rooms with fireworks-related injuries on the Fourth of July.

Not all fireworks are allowed under Georgia law. Sparklers, party poppers and snakes are allowed, but shooting rockets and any other fireworks that explode in the air are not permitted. If you insist on having your own fireworks party, make sure that you have a sober and responsible adult in charge of the festivities. Keep the following safety tips in mind:

American and Japanese researchers have found a potential treatment for spinal cord injury from an unexpected source-mice hair. This week, researchers unveiled their new discovery at the World Congress for Hair Research in Australia.

Researchers stumbled on this astounding discovery by accident. They were examining the skin of mice while researching cancer treatments at the Anti Cancer research lab in San Diego in California. They discovered that mice hair contained cells that, if placed on damaged nerves, could repair these nerves. Researchers used the mice hair to rejoin damaged nerves in mice with a spinal injury. At the conference, a video was shown of a mouse with a spinal injury, recuperating almost completely after being treated with hair cells.

There is enough reason to hope that this treatment can be duplicated in human beings too. Human hair has been found to contain similar cells that have equally beneficial results when used on mice with spinal cord injuries. Researchers believe that chances are high that a damaged human nerve will also respond well to the same kind of hair cell treatment.

Last week Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a new bill requiring all pickup truck drivers in Georgia to wear seatbelts while driving their trucks. The bill takes direct aim at persons who die and are injured in truck accidents each year. According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, there were more than 70,000 auto accidents involving pickup trucks in Georgia last year. These killed 187 drivers and 40 passengers and resulted in a large number of personal injuries. Many of these deaths and injuries could have been prevented if a law had required all pickup truck drivers to buckle up.

Wearing seatbelts should be a matter of common sense, and not a law. It shouldn’t require a law to get pickup truck drivers to do the one thing that could dramatically reduce their chances of injuries or death in a truck accident. However, legislators in rural Georgia have always managed to scuttle any proposal to require seatbelts for pickup truck drivers despite the number of injuries and death caused by truck accidents each year.

With this new law, Georgia will not only manage to save lives and prevent injuries every year, but will also be eligible for federal highway funds. For years, Georgia has lost out on its share of federal funds, because of its failure to enact mandatory seatbelt laws for all.