Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

If you have been in a car accident or have witnessed a slip and fall accident or other accident in which someone may have sustained a back injury, spinal cord injury, or neck injury, it is important that you avoid moving the patient. Serious complications can occur if you try to move someone with a spinal cord injury. In fact, permanent paralysis could occur. Instead, you should:

1) Evaluate the situation. The victim may have a spinal cord injury if he or she exhibits the following symptoms:

*Severe pain in the back or neck area.
*Weakness and/or numbness
*Loss of control of the bladder, bowel, or limbs
*Odd positioning of the neck or back
*Loss of consciousness
*Inability to move the neck

It is important to keep in mind that not every victim will display these symptoms. Therefore, it may be best to treat any case of severe head injury or any situation in which substantial force has impacted the back or head as a possible spinal cord injury.

2) Call 911 or other local emergency medical assistance.

3) Keep the person still. The main aim in a spinal cord injury is to prevent further injury, and this means keeping the person still. Placing heavy towels around the neck or even holding onto the head and neck can help prevent someone from moving their head and causing further injury.

4) If appropriate, provide basic first aid, being careful not to move the head and neck. If the victim needs CPR, for example, you must administer this without moving the head and neck. If the victim is vomiting and is in danger of chocking or if the victim must be moved from immediate harm, make sure that at least two people move the victim. While moving the patient, keep the neck, back, and head as aligned as possible to prevent further injury. However, only move the victim when no other alternative is present.

If you or a loved one has experienced a spinal cord injury as a result of someone’s recklessness or negligence, contact a Florida attorney. Florida law may entitle you to compensation that can help ensure that you get the best quality medical care possible. If you need to speak to an attorney, you can arrange for a free, no-obligation consultation with a qualified Florida attorney simply by calling 1- 800-535-2962 (1 800 5 FLAXMAN).

More than 250 000 people in the US today live with spinal cord injuries. In most cases, the injuries are a result of trauma. In fact, 44% of all spinal cord injuries are caused by automobile accidents alone. Sports and violence are also very common causes of these injuries. 8% of spinal cord injuries are caused by sports, and 60% of sport-related injuries are caused by diving accidents. In persons over the age of 45, slip and fall accidents are in fact more likely to cause spinal cord injuries than automobile accidents. More than 80% of spinal cord injury victims are men.

Patients with a spinal cord injury usually have a loss of sensation and partial or full paralysis. Many also experience bladder and bowel complications. Spinal cord injuries also often have many additional complications. For example, men’s fertility is often affected by this type of injury. If the spinal cord injury occurs high on the body, the patient may have difficulty with normal respiration. Other complications include high blood pressure, low blood pressure, chronic pain, problems with body temperature, and an inability to sweat in the area where the injury occurred and below that level. In addition, a patient can experience acute emotional suffering, depression, and other upheavals during the treatment of a spinal cord injury.

Although more treatments are available today, many people are affected by a spinal cord injury for the rest of their lives. Many cannot return to work, while others require home care or extended hospital stays. Most patients require years of rehabilitative work and many never recover motor skills fully. A spinal cord injury simply affects every area of a person’s life, often permanently. The costs associated with this sort of injury are also very high, especially in cases where a patient needs care at home. Nevertheless, medicine has allowed many spinal cord injury patients to survive. Five decades ago, most patients with this type of injury were not expected to survive.

Recent developments in spinal cord injury research have been promising. For example, some scientists have found that a drug called Cethrin may help people with spinal cord injury. The drug works by inhibiting Rho, a part of the body that triggers cell death after a spinal cord injury. In many cases, patients who experience a spinal cord injury may continue to worsen after the initial impact because cell death occurs, inhibiting neural regeneration. This drug promises to help decrease this problem, possibly leading to better recovery.

If you or a loved one have sustained a spinal cord injury, your first priority should be to get the best possible medical care. Prompt medical attention and good care can help ensure a better probability of recovery. An important part of recovering from a spinal cord injury, too, is often to meet with a qualified Florida lawyer. A good lawyer can explain your legal options and can help ensure that you have the financial resources to get support and medical attention. Unfortunately, many insurance providers do not consider the full-term costs of a spinal cord injury and patients who sign insurance papers without consulting a Florida attorney may find that they do not have adequate compensation for basic medical necessities.

If you or a loved one has experienced a spinal cord injury as a result of negligence, a Florida attorney can help ensure that you get the best quality medical care possible. If you need to speak to an attorney, you can arrange for a free, no-obligation consultation with a qualified Florida attorney simply by calling 1- 800-535-2962 (1 800 5 FLAXMAN).

A study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine finds that the number of traumatic head injuries among high school football athletes is much higher than the number of the same personal injuries in college football. The study also find that high school players who sustain brain injuries such as concussions often return to the game too soon, often playing with the residual effects of their first injury, a choice that researchers point out is extremely dangerous. Florida parents should be wary: with more days of sunny weather, there are simply more options for Florida high school athletes to keep playing, which can spell trouble.

The study found that football-related brain trauma has decreased over generations, mostly due to better gear. In the 1950s and 1960s, football players in both college and high school were at much greater risk for brain injury than they are today, the study found.

The problem, the study concluded, is that some high school football player return to the field even while experiencing neurological symptoms. Researchers found that there is one severe football head injury for every 150,000 high school football players, which is about seven catastrophic head injuries every year. Researchers uncovered that high school players have over triple the risk of catastrophic head trauma when compared to college players. While high school football players suffered 0.67 such injuries per 100,000 players, college athletes sustained only 0.21 injuries per 100,000 players.

The younger age of the high school players may contribute to brain injury, some researchers have hypothesized, since the skull bone may be thinner and the brain less fully developed among teenage athletes. Others researchers have suggested that less medical coverage may be present at high school games.

Of the high school football players that researchers studied, 59% had had a previous head injury. 71% of these injured players had sustained their earlier injury in the same season. Roughly 40% of the players with head injuries continued to play football, even while experiencing symptoms from the previous injury. About 81% of the injuries occurred when players were involved in helmet-to-body or helmet-to-helmet collisions. Of the group studied, the injuries lead to 8 fatalities, 36 full recoveries, and 46 permanent brain injuries.

Researchers concluded that high school students should be strongly urged to report any possible symptoms of personal injury to their coaches, parents, and physicians. Additionally, the researchers concluded that football players should be strongly discouraged from "leading with the head" and from returning to the game until all symptoms are resolved. Finally, the researchers concluded that medical staff for high school athletes should be highly qualified.

If you or a loved one has experienced a traumatic brain injury as a result of sports or an accident, a qualified Florida attorney can help ensure that you get the best quality medical care possible. If you need to speak to an attorney, book a free, no-obligation consultation with a qualified Florida attorney simply by calling 1- 800-535-2962 (1 800 5 FLAXMAN).

In Florida and across the country, brain injuries occur every day. As a result of slip and fall accidents, car accidents, construction accidents, industrial accidents, and other types of unfortunate events, brain injuries affect thousands of victims every year. Just as each individual is different, so too, the ways that the brain reacts to injury vary. In general, brain injuries can be divided into various types:

*Traumatic brain injuries. These types of injuries occur when an outside force impacts the head in such a powerful way that the brain moves within the skull. Since the brain is made up of soft tissue, when the brain impacts against the inside of the skull, damage can occur. In addition, traumatic brain injury can also occur when an outside force impacts the head strongly enough to crack the skull and directly injure the brain. These types of brain injuries are often the result of physical violence, firearms, car accidents, falls, and other serious injuries.

*Shaken baby syndrome. In this type of brain injury, the head is shaken so hard that the brain moves rapidly back and forth, damaging brain tissue and ripping apart the fibers. Although physical violence is most often the cause, adults can get this injury too, often as a result of violence or car accidents. This type of injury is also considered a traumatic brain injury.

*Diffuse Axonal Injury. This type of brain injury is also caused by strong shaking of the head, either through violence or through a car accident. In a Diffuse Axonal Injury occurs because the brain and the skull do not move together (the brain stays still or lags in movement as the skull moves) and this causes some brain structures – including nerve tissue -- to tear.

*Concussion. This is the most common kind of brain injury and can occur with a direct blow to the head, violent shaking, a gunshot wound, or from whiplash. A concussion can lead to stretched blood vessels and cranial nerve damage.

*Contusion. This type of injury occurs when a bruise (or bleeding) forms on the brain. Usually, this is caused by a direct impact to the head. If a contusion is large, surgery may be needed to remove it.

*Coup-Contrecoup Injury. This type of injury is essentially a contusion which occurs on both the site where the impact occurred and on the opposite side of the brain. This type of injury occurs when a direct impact is so severe that the brain hits the skull on the site of impact and then slaps against the opposite side of the skull, causing two sites of bruising.

*Second Impact Syndrome. Also known as "Recurrent Traumatic Brain Injury," this type of injury occurs when someone incurs another brain injury before the first has had time to heal. Even if the second injury is less severe, it can lead to widespread damage because the brain is already injured and therefore more vulnerable. Recurrent Traumatic Brain Injury is a medical emergency, even if the injury does not seem severe, because a victim can die quite suddenly from this type of injury.

*Penetration Injury. As the name suggests, this injury occurs when a sharp object pierces the skull and impacts the brain.

*Anoxic Brain Injury. This type of injury occurs when the brain’s supply of oxygen is cut off, and the cells which need oxygen to function and survive are affected.

*Hypoxic Brain Injury. This type of brain injury occurs when not enough oxygen reaches the brain so that cells can function properly.

If you or a loved one have sustained a brain injury, it is important to speak to a Florida attorney. In cases where someone’s negligence has caused the injury or worsened it, Florida law protects you and ensures that you are eligible to receive help so that you can afford the best treatment possible. If you need to speak to an attorney, you can enjoy a free, no-obligation consultation with a qualified Florida attorney simply by calling 1- 800-535-2962 (1 800 5 FLAXMAN)

Dog bites tend to be the most common types of animal attacks, in part because so many people in Florida and across the country own dogs as pets. Whether you want to reduce the risk of being bitten by your own dog or by someone else’s pet, be sure to follow these steps for increasing your personal safety:

1) Do not disturb a dog when it is more likely to bite. A dog that is sleeping, caring for puppies, or eating is more likely to bit when disturbed. Teach children not to approach dogs at these times.

2) Avoid running near dogs. A dog’s natural instinct is to chase after and catch things. In addition, most dogs become increasingly aggressive or excited when they are running after someone or something they cannot catch. If a dog chases after you and catches you, they may bite to try to show that they have caught you.

3) If you are threatened by a dog or a dog approaches you to sniff you, remain calm and still. Moving around or using a loud voice can aggravate the animal, making it more prone to biting. In many cases, a dog that is kept as a pet will simply wander away when they see that you do not pose a threat.

4) If a dog attacks you or knocks you to the ground, curl your body up into a ball and cover your head and neck as well as your face as well as you can. The biggest threat in a dog attack is the risk of brain injury and facial injury, which can happen when a large and powerful dog attacks your head area. Therefore, your aim when attacked by a dog is to minimize any personal injury. If you speak to the animal, speak firmly and calmly. Avoid making eye contact with the dog, as that might aggravate the animal further. Stay still until the dog leaves or wanders away. At that time, back away slowly until the dog is no longer in your sight.

5) Do not turn your back on an attacking dog. Face the dog at all times and stay as calm as you can. If you have been attacked, get away from the dog if you can and seek help.