Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

September 7, 2016

Report: Mild Brain Injury in Children Can Have Lasting Effects

While it may seem strange to think of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as being mild, neurologists routinely distinguish between the different degrees of brain damage a person can experience. One of the reasons doctors are now doing this is because they know a lot more about the human brain and how it is affected by injury that in years past. There are a few major reasons for this newly acquired knowledge about the human brain.

One of the reasons is that technology allows better scans and imaging than ever before, so doctors are able to see more of how the human brain functions by using this equipment. A second reason is that there are a lot more studies being done on sports-related head injuries than ever before. Whether we are talking about traditional concussions or the more nuanced form of brain injury discussed in the recent movie starring Will Smith, the problem is given more attention these days. Continue reading

September 5, 2016

Hiker Killed in Fall Accident

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

It seems like people are more interested in doing outdoor adventure type activities these days than they have been in recent decades. One of the more popular activities that allows people to get outside, see some beautiful scenery and get some exercise at the same time is hiking. While some people will just go for local hikes, others will travel to famous recreation areas to engage in more challenging hikes.

According to a recent news feature from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a man was just killed after falling while hiking at Red Rock Canyon. He is said to have fallen off the trail when he was more than 160 off the ground. He was 31 years old at the time of his death. As soon as he fell of the cliff, search and rescue workers were called to the scene, but there was nothing they could after he fell around 16 stories, but they were able to locate his body using the assistance of a police helicopter, and his body was in fact recovered. The police do not suspect foul play was involved as of this time, but they are conducting a full investigation to see if they can determine why he fell off the elevated hiking trial. Continue reading

September 3, 2016

Woman Killed in Zip Line Accident

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While many people still think of zip line riding as a dangerous activity best left for spies in the movies, it has become a fairly common sport. These days, many state parks and other recreation centers feature zip line courses, with a single private company overseeing operations. They are supposed to be safe so that while it appears to be quite a thrill, one should not get hurt while using a zip line. The manner in which they are made safe is through the use of redundant safety harnesses and safety straps designed to prevent a rider from falling and being injured.

However, according to a recent news feature from ABC News, things do not always go as planned, as evidenced by the death of a 59-year-old woman using the zip line attraction at a state park in Delaware. Authorities say the woman was standing on a zip line platform while waiting to start her decent. She was about 35 feet high when she fell off the platform and died as result of the tremendous impact. Continue reading

August 31, 2016

Using Ice after Suffering a Personal Injury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

For several decades, healthcare providers and patient educators have recommended putting ice on an injury as soon as possible. The acronym RICE is commonly used, as it stands for “Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.” A medical doctor created RICE as a term in 1978, and everyone else just ran with it. It is now taken as gospel.

However, a recent news feature from Soccer America takes a new look at RICE and whether it is actually a good practice or a faulty concept. The reason for skepticism is because the body will cause the site of trauma to swell as part of the body’s natural healing process. This is similar to how a person who gets a fever is experiencing a higher body temperature because that is the body’s natural way of killing germs that cause illness. If you take a fever suppressant, it might make you feel better, but it might actually take the body longer to fight the virus. However, it should be noted that if a fever is very high, medical intervention might be necessary. Continue reading

August 29, 2016

Bixenmann v. Dickenson Land Surveyors, Inc. – Standard of Care in Personal Injury Cases

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When someone is going to subdivide a parcel of real property, often before it can be sold as a build-able lot, the land owner will have to get a survey performed. While surveying has changed a great deal over the past 10 years as we moved from using chains similar to how a First Down in football is marked to sophisticated laser devices, surveying still relies heavily on the use of landmarks.

A landmark can be a natural thing such as large tree, or it can be an item placed in the ground by the surveyor. The purpose of the survey is to mark off where one property ends and the adjacent one begins and then create a map or survey of that land to record in the records office. This way, there is no question as to where the property line is situated. One of the common methods for marking these lines is for a surveyor to place a wooden stake in the ground and then put a safety flag on it to make it visible. After the perimeter has been marked, the surveyor will then replace the stake with a piece of metal rebar known as an iron and sink it into the ground so it can be found on a metal detector. Continue reading

August 26, 2016

Boy, 3, Critically Injured in Roller Coaster Fall

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the last several weeks, there have been numerous reports of severe and even fatal amusement park accidents involving roller coaster riders. Of course, people have been trying to squeeze in their last-minute summer kicks, but they should be able to do so confident in the safety of the rides they board.

According to a recent news feature from People, this latest incident involved a 3-year-old boy who was riding on an attraction at Idlewild and SplashZone amusement park in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Authorities say the boy is still in critical condition at a local level-one pediatric trauma hospital and has undergone at least one major surgical procedure and may need additional surgery. Continue reading

August 24, 2016

In Re: Aramack Sports: Boating Accidents and Jurisdiction

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In re: Aramack Sports, a case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, involved a recreational boating accident in which four people were killed. All of the victims were adults who had rented a boat from defendant for use on Lake Powell. The question on appeal was whether this case fell within the federal admiralty jurisdiction.

While we generally think of a lake as an isolated body of water, in some cases, the lake is considered navigable, and if waters are considered navigable, then any causes of action that arise on there may fall under the jurisdiction of federal admiralty court. In this case, defendant rented boats from a marina on the lake, which is situated near the border of two states. Three married couples had gone on a joint vacation to the lake and rented a boat from defendant. Continue reading

August 21, 2016

Nursing Home Negligence Cited in Scathing State Review of Brockton Facility

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

The aides and nurses at the Braemoor Health Center lacked the fundamental knowledge necessary to save the life of a dementia patient suffering a heart attack in their care. The facility also neglected to inform state officials of the death, initially saying it was because the man had no family. Later, it was revealed administrators feared “bad press,” as their parent company was already under scrutiny for two other deaths in Wilmington.

State health officials released the 70-page report on their investigation more than a month after barring the facility from accepting new patients, fining it $200,000 and freezing its payments from Medicare – the bread-and-butter of any nursing home.

The report offers a scary glimpse into the day-to-day operations at Braemoor, owned by Synergy Health Centers in New Jersey. The report followed two surprise inspections earlier this summer following a tip-off regarding the two deaths, in March and in April. Those inspections revealed a host of problems. For starters, the staff in charge of caring for these elderly, frail patients had little-to-no staff training in basic life support care. Meanwhile, the machines staffers relied upon to provide emergency oxygen to patients suffering medical emergencies – those were empty. The emergency medical devices used to restore a regular heart rhythm to someone experience an active heart attack – those devices were defective. The alarms in place at each window and exit of the building to prevent dementia patients from wandering off-site – many of those were missing or not working. Continue reading

August 18, 2016

Parkinson’s Disease Linked to Head Trauma

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Following the death of boxing legend Mohammad Ali earlier this summer, there has been a lot of news coverage about Parkinson’s disease in recent weeks. There has also been a lot of head injury and concussion news as result of the recent movie starring Will Smith, and the injuries we are seeing in professional sports such as in the NFL.

According to a recent news feature from Time, doctors now have more evidence that there is link between victims of a serious head injury and those who develop Parkinson’s disease and possibly Alzheimer’s disease. Continue reading

August 16, 2016

A Look at Three Common Burn Injuries We See in Summer

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

A recent news feature form Care2.com looks at three types of burn injuries we tend to see more often during the summer months than we do in other months, and it is is important to understand that all three of these types of burn injuries are preventable if the adequate level of care is taken.

As one might expect, we tend to see a lot more fireworks injuries during summer months than we do the rest of year. While fireworks are also used during New Year’s Eve celebrations and other festivities throughout the year, during non-summer months it is often professionals that are providing the fireworks displays. This is not to say that even professional shows can’t result in serious personal injury or death, but the chances are much greater that there will be a preventable accident when amateurs are the ones lighting off the fireworks displays. Continue reading