Articles Posted in Personal Injury

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Declining  vision is a much more serious car accident risk factor for senior drivers than we may believe.  According  to the results of a new study, it is linked to an 84% higher risk of being involved in car accidents.

Seniors  may suffer from a number of health challenges as they get older that increase their risks of being involved in an auto accident, and one of the most significant of those challenges is declining vision. Being unable to see clearly or the lack of a wide range of vision that allows the driver to see not just ahead but also identify auto accident risks from the sides, can significantly impact the person’s risk of being involved in a dangerous car accident. It is for this reason that most states, including Georgia, have laws in place that require senior drivers  to get their eyesight tested at regular intervals  as a condition for  license renewal.

At a recent conference of the American Academy of Ophthalmology,  researchers presented the results of a study which found that  the current eye testing system that is currently followed in so many states may not be the ideal way to determine senior health and the capacity of older motorists to avoid car accidents.

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Winter is coming, and with it comes the risk of slip and fall accidents that can result in serious personal injuries.  Doctors are warning pedestrians, especially the elderly, to be extra cautious while walking during the season.

Atlanta sees  more than its share of snowy, wet and icy conditions during winter, and these can provide ideal conditions for a slip and fall accident.  Sidewalks  and paths can be covered with black ice that may be invisible, but  treacherous enough to cause a fall.

What is the best thing you could do to prevent a slip and fall accident this winter?  The  answer is surprisingly – walk like a penguin.  Slip and fall safety experts say that walking with short, slow steps is the ideal walking pace to prevent a slip and fall accident this winter.  Use heavy, weighted steps and be aware of your surroundings at all times. Avoid walking fast even if the path ahead seems safe and free of ice.  Avoid  taking long strides that can make it hard for you to prevent a fall.

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It is always a nerve wracking moment for any parent when their child receives a driver’s license and begins operating a motor vehicle.  A  new technology that makes use of a video game to identify teen responses to car accident risks may help parents understand better what kind of driver their child is likely to become.

Research scientists at the Neuroscience of Driving program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Center for Injury Research and Prevention recently designed a virtual driving assessment test that is aimed at understanding teenage behaviors and responses to common auto accident risks and evaluating future driving behaviors based on these.

The new technology is called Already Assess by Diagnostic Driving. It consists of a 15 – minute simulator drive that is designed like a video game.  Teenagers  are required to follow the simulated course on a large computer screen using headphones, foot pedals and  a steering wheel. As the teenager moves through the simulated course, the technology monitors around 100 driving skills that can predict the teen’s risk of a car accident. These skills include the crucial ability to navigate difficult curves and intersections, lane position,  control of the vehicle,  the proximity of his vehicle to other vehicles,  and his or her ability to respond to sudden and emergency hazards.  When  the teenager completes the course, he is given a personalized  report card that clearly outlines his or her responses to various stimuli and the areas of deficiency as well as the areas that she or he can improve on.

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Traumatic brain injury of the kind that is often sustained in car accidents, trucking accident as well as slip and fall accidents is linked to several  health consequences, including mental health symptoms like depression.   A  new study finds that  women may be at a much higher risk of suffering depression after a traumatic brain injury, compared to men.

Researchers recently analyzed 9 studies on traumatic brain injury and related depression, and found that women had a risk of suffering depression after a personal injury that was as much as 50% higher than the risk for men.  The  analysis focused on more than 700,000 people who suffered a traumatic brain injury, including more than 360,000 women. Out  of these, approximately 29% or 104,000 women reported depression after the injury. In contrast, 332,000 men suffered a brain injury in the study, and out of these, 72,000 or 22% reported  depression in the months after the  injury.

The researchers have been unable to speculate about the reasons for this difference between men and women, but the fact is that women seem to be at a much higher overall risk of suffering depression compared to men.  Among  older women, for instance, the top cause of depression is traumatic brain injury and the biggest cause of brain injury in women is  slip and fall accidents.  The  researchers believe that it is important for physicians treating older women or any women suffering from brain injury to caution them about their risks for depression.

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Recent  studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety find that some technologies may be especially beneficial in identifying distracted drivers and preventing car accidents. Distracted driving is one of the main causes of auto accidents involving serious personal injuries.

The  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently released the findings of two new studies that show that roadside cameras are very beneficial in helping identify motorists who are using cell phones while driving. The study found, in fact, that these cameras were almost as beneficial as  in – car monitoring systems that are designed to identify whether motorists are distracted by cell phones when at the wheel.  The  study also found that in – phone apps that measure and collate data about cell phone use while driving are also extremely beneficial in helping identify driving behaviors that  are  likely to result in car accidents.

Currently  much of the data  that we have on cell phone-related behavior by motorists at the wheel come from roadside surveys conducted every year by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The  data in this survey comes from cameras that are used by the federal administration to monitor driving behavior from morning to evening during a few weeks every summer.  Obviously,  the kind of data that results from a survey like this is fairly limited since it is   only collected over a certain period of time every year.  There  are also limitations on the number of people that can be identified or monitored using this technology.

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We know a lot about the impact of brain injuries on certain areas of a person’s life, including his mental health  and cognitive functioning.  A  new study finds that  a traumatic  brain injury – like the kind that results after a motorcycle accident –  could also significantly impact a person’s cardiac health,  leaving him exposed to the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

According to researchers, there are  a number of risk factors after a  brain injury that may increase the person’s risk  of suffering heart conditions after this type of personal injury.  These factors   include neuroinflammation,  problems with the nervous system and other post -injury symptoms that  could significantly impact cardiovascular functioning.  This  could place the person at risk  of suffering conditions like heart attacks and strokes.

In fact, the researchers believe that  cardiovascular and endocrine disruption  may impact a person’s quality of life and affect his survival rates for decades after the injury.  They also believe that there has not been enough research into the long  – term cardiovascular effects after a brain injury,  with  the result that  we are likely underestimating  the impact of these  effects on survival rates.

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Victims  of car accidents, motorcycle accidents and trucking accidents  who have suffered a spinal cord injury may look forward to a day when they can walk independently again thanks to a new breakthrough in research in the field.

Scientists  recently announced a breakthrough  in their attempts to regenerate axons in  persons who have suffered  a spinal cord injury.  The  breakthrough was announced by a team of scientists that included both Swiss and American  researchers. According to the team,  they found that redirecting  regenerated axons to their target regions was more effective in helping along the healing process and aided the recovery of the patient,  compared to random regrowth of axons.

Back in 2018, the team had identified that axons which are responsible for communicating transmissions among the nerve cells could be regrown after the damage.  However,  they found that even when the axons were regrown, it did not really lead to any marked or significant functional recovery for the patient.  Now,  however,  they say that they have found a way to redirect the regenerated axons to their target region, helping  restore functional movement.  The  researchers experimented on mice with spinal cord injury, and found that the mice were actually able to walk independently after the treatment.

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently announced  a proposed rule that would set  minimum staffing requirements for nursing homes across the country.  Regulators  believe that this would help increase standards of care for the elderly and sick at these facilities, and prevent nursing  home neglect. Unfortunately, low standards of care often result in falls with fractures, decubitus ulcers (bed sores), amputations and wrongful death.

There  are currently more than 1.2 million people who are cared for at one of the country’s 15,000 nursing homes.  The  standards of care for all these patients would be directly impacted by the new regulation.  The   US Department of Health and Human Services says that the rule would, for the first time ever in history, propose a minimum staffing requirement for nursing homes. Poor staffing and poorly trained staff is often the main reason persons in nursing homes suffer abuse and personal injuries.

This  would include a requirement that the facility have a registered nurse on staff 24 hours a day, every single day.  It will also require and set a minimum standard of 3 nursing hours for every resident at the facility. That includes 0.55 hours of care per registered nurse per resident per day and 2.45 hours of care by a nurse aide per resident per day.  In addition, nursing facilities may also be required to provide more than the minimum staffing requirements in case of specific patient needs.

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American seniors are suffering slip and fall injuries at much higher rates than just a couple of decades ago. According to a new study, there has been a two – fold increase in the rate of fatal slip and fall accidents involving seniors since 1999.

The study  focused on seniors above the age of 65, and found that  fatal slip and fall accident rates have risen for both males and females and across all racial groups.  The  study found that in 1999, there had been 10,100 deaths from slip and fall accidents involving seniors, and in 2020, that number had increased to 36,500.   The rate of slip and fall – related deaths involving this very vulnerable age category increased from 29 for every 100,000 persons in 1999 to 69  for every 100,000 persons in 2020.

White  males  recorded the highest increase with approximately 78 deaths for every 100,000 persons in the year 2020.  Death rates also increased for other categories, including Hispanics and African American seniors.   Obviously, these results are concerning,  and even more so because they do not seem to be talked about enough.  Senior slip and fall risks are  not much of a priority for health authorities, and the results are clear to see.

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Too  little sleep could increase a person’s risk of suffering not just auto accident – related personal injuries, but also personal injuries from slip and fall accidents  as well as personal injuries during sports.

In a new study, researchers focused on 3 different types of personal injuries, including injuries caused in sports, during slip and fall accidents as well as injuries caused when a person is involved in an auto accident, and their link to sleep deprivation.  They found that  lack of sufficient sleep affected the  risk of preventable personal injuries.

The researchers looked at three different categories of sleep – very little sleep which is sleep below 4 hours in duration,  short sleep which is sleep of between 5 and 6 hours in duration,  healthy  sleep which is  sleep of between 7 and 8 hours and long sleep which is sleep of greater than 9 hours. They also divided sleep quality into three categories, including the ability to fall and stay asleep, feel refreshed and rested while waking up, and medication use.

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