Articles Tagged with Boston brain injury lawsuit

On April 12, 2018 a Massachusetts jury returned a verdict in favor of Brian Goodrich in the amount of $8.25 million. The award comes after years of litigation beginning in 2013 when Mr. Goodrich’s head was nearly Massachusetts Workplace Injury Results in $8.25M Jury Awardcrushed because the jack holding up a piece of equipment failed. He suffered horrendous injuries which  included facial disfigurement, blindness and loss of cognitive function.

The jury found, after hearing 11 days of testimony, that the company which designed the equipment was a majority at fault. Mr. Goodrich was changing the oil on the equipment meant to melt asphalt and fill cracks in the road. Although Mr. Goodrich acknowledged not using the safety pin with the jack which held the machine up, the company failed to include safety warnings and failed to manufacture the machine appropriately knowing such accidents were possible.

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In a recent opinion from the California Court of Appeal, student was injured during a high school football game.  During the game, he suffered a severe impact and began complaining that he was in serious pain.

footballAt that point, his coach shined a flashlight in his eyes, and it made him wince in pain.  At every football game, there is an ambulance crew on standby at the event. The coached alerted paramedics, and they came over and examined the injured student. They also saw he was unsteady while walking.  It took the crew minutes to get to him. Continue reading

Football is a tough game for anyone who puts on a uniform and heads out on the field each week.  However, for decades, the public and National Football League (NFL) was willing to just consider that part of the game.  In fact, it is nearly impossible to watch an entire football game without seeing at least one, if not more, players being escorted off the field after being injured.  This is not just anecdotal, since the detailed statistics kept by the league and the media show this to be a fact.

football3It is also true that professional football is not as popular as it once was in terms of television viewer ratings.  There have been many reasons floated around this season for what this is.  Some argue that it is because the primetime match-ups like Sunday Night Football are simply not as interesting as they once were.  Others argue that it is the increase in the amount of calls and time outs as result of the officials.  Others argue that is because people are tired of watching and waiting for players to suffer a serious head injury that results in a potential career ending traumatic brain injury (TBI). Continue reading

We have heard a great deal about the dangers of head injuries, including concussions.  For those who are not aware of what a concussion is, it is essentially a brain injury that occurs when the victim is hit in the head or even the victim of a whiplash type accident where the brain forcefully slams into the skull.  This can result in swelling as blood pools under the dura.

skullThis is the same thing that happens when a person gets a bruise anywhere on his or her body, but when the bruise happens in the brain, there is nowhere for the blood to expand due to the skull, and this creates a buildup of pressure that can result in permanent brain damage. Continue reading

In the last five years, we have seen a lot more media coverage involving traumatic brain injuries and concussions.  While we have seen a lot of talk about head injuries suffered by our brave service members, we are now hearing a lot more about head injuries in professional sports and sports played by young athletes.

skull-1415989Due to the real risks of our youth suffering a serious head injury with lasting brain damage, it is important to do whatever we can to prevent these injuries from occurring.   In an effort to help with prevention, as discussed in a recent news article from the Westborough Patch, the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts has just appointed a Manager of Prevention. Continue reading

Over the past decade, scientists and doctors have made many advances with regard to how head injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, are treated.  One major reason for this was that in the global War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq among other places, we have had thousands of brave men and women coming home after suffering head injuries as a result of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), enemy fire and other accidents.  In wars past, these men and women would likely have died on the battlefield. Today, with advances in modern medicine, they are surviving – and returning home in need of treatment for brain injuries.

brains-1426619One of the reasons brain injuries are so problematic is because once the brain cells are destroyed, they do not regenerate as part of the normal healing process. In other words, the damage is often life-long.  In addition to brain injury caused by a traumatic impact, having stroke results in a deprivation of oxygen to the brain, and that results in the death of brain cells. Continue reading

We have seen a lot of news coverage around the country about police-involved shootings and the protests that increasingly follow.  One recent shooting in Charlotte that has led to considerable protests from the community and across the nation was partially captured on cell phone video where the wife of the decedent can be heard yelling not to shoot her husband and that he has a “TBI” or traumatic brain injury and cannot understand what the police were telling him to do.  After the shooting, the decedent’s family told CNN that he had recently survived a nearly fatal motorcycle accident and suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him with substantial brain damage.

skull-1415989In light of this case, CNN decided to take a closer look at what it means to have a traumatic brain injury and also the cause of traumatic brain injury.  There are various possible causes for a patient to suffer a traumatic brain injury, and while some of these causes do not involve any type of impact, the vast majority of traumatic brain injuries occur following a serious accident. Continue reading

A recent news feature from the New York Times takes a look the number of reported head injuries as a result of stroller accidents and how those numbers are on the rise. National reporting statistics show that on average, 50 children each day will be seen in the emergency room because of a head injury suffered while in a baby carrier or stroller.

brains-1426619While this is bad enough on its own, it now seems that a far greater percentage of these children are suffering from a traumatic brain injury than previously believed. These new numbers came from the National Injury Surveillance System.  It should be noted that in the context of scientific research, surveillance means looking at various types of records rather than taking an actual roll in the events or treatment while they are happening.  A surveillance study can happen years later because there is no interaction required by the researchers. Continue reading

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.

457973__1One 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

There has been an increasing amount of awareness raised about the dangerous effects of repeat head injuries, suffered by athletes. It’s extremely common in what are known as “contact sports,” or those sports in which the body routinely comes in hard contact with other persons or objects. bluebrain

The greater awareness about damage caused by concussions and repeat blows to the head has prompted a flurry of positive changes, including the introduction of guidelines for injury prevention, player treatment, coach training and better helmets.

Although sports teams, whether school-sponsored or professional, do owe a duty of care to players, it’s generally understood that this duty of care may be less to participants of contact sports, who understand the risk they are assuming in playing the sport. This is known as the “contact sports exception.” That means it may be tougher to prevail in a personal injury lawsuit in such instances.  Continue reading

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