Boston Personal Injury Attorney Blog

December 18, 2015

Boston Brain Injury Victims Could Soon Get More Effective Treatment

One of the most serious injuries that a person can sustain is injury to the brain. Injuries to the brain are invasive and can impact all aspects of a person’s life. Brian injuries can be fatal or, in severe cases, can leave an individual permanently incapacitated or with significantly impaired cognitive function. Even brain injuries that seem relatively mild, like concussions, can have profound and lasting impacts that can affect health decades after the original injury occurred.

Brain injuries are not only life-changing for many victims, but they are also very difficult to treat effectively because there is a great deal that medical professionals do not yet understand about the human brain. Research is ongoing with the goal of providing more effective treatments for symptoms and health problems affecting brain injury victims, and recently Breakthroughs reported a new drug was showing some promise in early testing.

December 15, 2015

Parking Lot Accidents a Boston Injury Risk

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Parking lots can be a dangerous place both for people walking and for people driving. During the holiday season and the rest of the winter months, the risk is exacerbated because of the potential for slippery conditions.

Motorists should be alert to the risks they face when in parking lots, and should do everything possible to try to avoid getting hurt when they get out of their cars to head to their destination. Unfortunately, often it is drivers or parking lot owners who are negligent in a manner that leads to an accident.

December 12, 2015

Holiday Shopping Injury Risks at Massachusetts Stores

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

During the holiday season, consumers like to hit the malls to find the perfect gifts for loved ones. Unfortunately, holiday shopping can be stressful on the body. While there are some risks from lifting heavy items and carrying stacked shopping bags, the biggest dangers occur when stores and shopping malls don’t have effective safety plans and protocols in place.

Stores and malls can be held accountable in situations where there is an injury caused by negligence. Consumers need to know their rights and must be aware of the risks associated with holiday shopping so they can stay safe throughout the season.

December 6, 2015

Brandner v. Pease: Medical Malpractice Cases

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Brandner v. Pease, a case from the Supreme Court of Alaska, involved a plaintiff who suffered a heart attack in late 2009. He was admitted to a local hospital to undergo an emergency bypass operation. A doctor and an anesthesiologist took part in the surgery. The plaintiff also happened to be a board certified doctor in plastic surgery.

Plaintiff was in surgery for around six hours. It took two attempts for the anesthesiologist to intubate plaintiff, and the drug used to put patient under anesthesia was propofol. During the surgery, plaintiff’s blood pressure began to drop to a dangerously low level, but he did not suffer complete cardiac arrest, according to the surgeon. At this point, surgeon performed CPR, and nurses gave plaintiff medications to raise his blood pressure back to a normal level. After his blood pressure was normalized, the surgery resumed as scheduled. Continue reading

December 3, 2015

Leading Ebola Researcher Injured in ATV Crash

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent report in the Boston Herald, one of the world’s leading Ebola experts was serious injured in an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) crash. Prior to her accident, she had just given a presentation on genetics research involving Ebola.

Following her talk, she went with a tour group on an ATV tour through the mountains. She was a passenger on one of the ATVs being used for the tour. As they were riding in the tour, her ATV collided with a curb, and the driver lost control. It drove off a cliff and tumbled down its face. Fortunately, they crashed into trees that prevented her from falling to her death, but she was seriously injured. Continue reading

November 30, 2015

Face Transplant for Burn Victims

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from 12 News Now, a volunteer firefighter who was badly burned in a fire has undergone the most extensive face transplant performed to date. As part of the operation, he received a new face, scalp and neck tissue. After being left legally blind following his accident, because his face was too damaged for his eyes to see, he expects he will finally be able to regain his vision and drive again, which has been his dream.

The first face transplant surgery was performed in France around a decade ago, and it is the same doctor who headed up the transplant and reconstruction teams for this volunteer firefighter. He considers this latest surgery to be his most successful operation ever, and it was far more involved than earlier ones, due to the extent of burn damage and what they are able to do to repair it. Continue reading

November 29, 2015

Student Burned at Lowell High School

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Most personal injury cases are filed under a theory of negligence. This means that plaintiff is alleging defendant owed a duty of care to plaintiff, breached this duty of care, the breach was the actual and proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries, and damages resulted. These are the four elements of a negligence cause of action in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The duty of care can be owed to plaintiff as a matter law, due to a contract, or as a result of the defendant placing plaintiff in harm’s way. An example of a legally imposed duty involves a motorist. Anyone who gets a driver’s license owes a duty to act as a reasonable and prudent person to prevent foreseeable to harm to foreseeable persons and property while behind the wheel of a car. Continue reading

November 28, 2015

Woman Injured by Deer in Hunting Accident

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While it is not the favorite pastime of everyone in the greater Boston area, deer hunting is actually quite popular in much of Massachusetts and throughout New England. As we find ourselves in hunting season, it is not surprising to hear about hunting accidents on the news. While not every routine accident will make the news, some capture the public attention more than others.

According to a recent news feature from M Live, one woman, who is not a hunter, was apparently walking through a plowed-over cornfield with her daughter when her daughter saw a deer through her binoculars. It was a buck deer that they assumed had been shot and was dead. At this point, she decided they should take the deer and use the meat to feed the family. It is not unheard of for a hunter to shoot a deer, but the deer gets away only to die a short time later. Continue reading

November 26, 2015

Digital Technology to Keep Skiers Safe

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Skiing in a very popular activity across New England, including in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. While skiing can be lot of fun, it happens to be somewhat of an inherently dangerous activity. It is for this reason, whenever your purchase a lift ticket or season pass, you are required to agree to sign a waiver that essentially excuses the ski area from liability.

It should be noted that these waivers often tend to go too far to try to limit the ski area’s liability from everything, from routine accidents to gross negligence and willful acts committed by their employees. These extreme clauses in the liability waivers are not likely to be upheld in Massachusetts, as they may be against public policy, but some clauses in the waivers may be effective. There are also choice of law provisions and often times a requirement to submit to binding arbitration, and these are things you should discuss with your attorney. Continue reading

November 24, 2015

Khloe Kardashian Discusses Lamar Odom’s Brain Injury

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Most people have heard that NBA superstar Lamar Odom was admitted to the hospital after being found unconscious at a legal brothel in Nevada last month. Dennis Hof, owner of the infamous brothel, said Odom arrived at the brothel on October 10^th and asked for two escorts to take him to the VIP room. He then asked for all employees to sign a confidentiality agreement and was not seen until October 13^th, when he was found unresponsive in his room. He was rushed to the hospital, where he placed on life support.

Doctors determined that he had suffered from several strokes and kidney failure in what was initially reported as a drug-related episode. At first, many people thought he was dead, and then a day later, it was revealed that he was alive but had suffered severe brain damage. He reportedly cannot recognize his family or perform basic tasks. Continue reading