Articles Posted in Skull Fracture

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Defendant American Real Estate Holdings, LP (American), an out-of-possession owner, leased the building where plaintiff’s accident occurred to defendant Levitz Furniture Corporation of Queens (Levitz). The building consisted of a furniture showroom, an office and warehouse space. Prior to plaintiff’s accident, Levitz had sold large furniture shelving rack unit, as well as other similar units, to defendant and third-party plaintiff International Storage Systems, Inc. (International). International was in the business of buying, dismantling, selling and then reinstalling large furniture rack systems. Pursuant to an oral agreement, which is reflected in various invoices and purchase orders, International then hired plaintiff’s employer, third-party and second-third party defendant Heatley Installations (Heatley), to disassemble the furniture rack system and transport it to another location.

A Lawyer said that, plaintiff testified that, just prior to his accident he was in the process of disassembling the free-standing furniture rack system while standing on a particle-board deck located on the third level of the rack. As plaintiff was removing beams from the level above, and dropping them onto the deck, the deck broke, causing him to fall and sustain brain injuries.

At the time of his accident, the Staten Island plaintiff was not utilizing an available order selector provided for use in retrieving furniture at higher levels. An order selector is a piece of equipment resembling a forklift, which has a platform upon which a worker can stand. In addition, although he was wearing the safety belt provided to him by his employer, plaintiff had not properly tethered to the order selector, despite having been directed to do so less than one hour before his accident.

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A doctor shared with his colleagues how U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords sustained brain injurieswhen she was shot by an Arizona resident during her speech in front of a local grocery store.

Gabby Giffords, as she is affectionately known, almost died during the attack. Her life was saved by her aide, who put pressure on the wound as she was taken away by the ambulance.

However, according to the hospital and the doctors, it looked like her condition would improve because of the heroic action of her volunteer aide. There were several other people shot in the incident, but Gabby Giffords received the worse injury.

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The infant plaintiff, then a sixth grader at Intermediate School 292 in Brooklyn (IS 292), was seriously injured when he fell down a flight of stairs on his way to lunch. Because of the resultant traumatic brain injury, plaintiff was unable to remember what caused him to trip and fell down. However, it was plaintiff’s theory at the trial of this action, that he was pushed down the stairs by a group of older students. Plaintiff further presented testimony that it was the written policy of IS 292 to have a teacher escort the sixth graders down to lunch from their second floor classrooms. Plaintiff claims that his teacher’s negligent failure to do so proximately caused his injury.

Plaintiff testified that, he had been in math class on the second floor right before lunch and that the teacher for the class was Mrs. Thomas. According to plaintiff, Mrs. Thomas never escorted her class to the lunchroom and that day was no exception. Plaintiff stated that at the sound of the bell, he and his friend Nathaniel headed to one stairwell, while the rest of the class went to the stairwell at the other side of the hall. The Manhattan Plaintiff testified that he suddenly heard footsteps which sounded like they were coming from a herd of buffalo and the next thing he remembered was waking up in the school nurse’s office with a tissue on his forehead and blood stains on his shirt. Plaintiff was taken by ambulance to Brookdale Hospital where he spent time in the Intensive Care Unit.

A Lawyer said that, at trial, plaintiff detailed the “excruciating” pain he suffered immediately following his accident and for the six days he spent in the hospital. Plaintiff described this pain as being in his head, neck, and lower back. Additionally, his arms and leg were swollen and sore and he was in a neck brace. After his release from the hospital, plaintiff received outpatient physical and occupational therapy there. The purpose of the physical therapy was to improve his balance and mobility skills and the occupational therapists sought to improve plaintiff’s hand/eye coordination and to build strength in his arms. Plaintiff stopped attending therapy but had to use a cane for balance for about three years.

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Traumatic brain injury, not caused by flying objects, can be divided by physicians into primary and secondary types, according to doctors in The Bronx. The force that causes the injury directly damages blood vessels, brain cells, and other parts of the brain, which in turn cause secondary damages like inflammation, and changes in neurochemistry and metabolism. The study of these secondary injuries has lead to a number of pharmacological therapies that can help limit this type of damage.

The primary damage is anything that is a direct result of the force that caused the injury, which deforms the tissue at the moment of injury, New York Brain Injury Lawyers have learned. This is blood vessel damage, damage to brain cells, and other brain injuries that have a different effect depending upon the parts of the brain that are harmed in the initial impact.

Secondary traumatic brain damage is a complication of the primary damage and often includes cerebral swelling, changes in pressure inside the skull, and infection. Secondary brain damage is sometimes reversible with treatment. Study of these injuries have enabled pharmacologists to develop therapies that can do a lot to mitigate the harm done by a head impact. These studies in Brooklyn have also shown Lawyers, among others, that brain injury is not a single type of injury, but one that has many different manifestations that can occur and combine in any number of ways.

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Closed head injury is almost always the consequence of an impact to the head, hospitals in The Bronx and Brooklyn have noted. There are experiments and references, however, that relate to brain injuryin non-impact situations, such as when the body is accelerated in such a manner as to cause injury. For now, the basic distinction to be focused upon is the difference between an impact to the head and an impulse transmitted to the head from the neck.

An impact or an impulse can accelerate or decelerate the head to the point of injury, but the effects of an impact are usually very clear. A deformation of the skull or a fracture can occur, with the attendant injury to the brain. Doctors have seen that brain injuries are almost always the result of an impact to the head or to a helmet protecting the head, rather than an impulse transmitted through the neck.

Some research has indicated to experts that brain injuries may different depending upon whether the head is stationary and struck by a moving object, or is moving and strikes a stationary object. This matter is important for legal concerns when it must be determined if an injury was caused by a blow to the head or by striking the head in the resulting fall. Physicians have noted, however, that when the head is moving, it generally strikes and object much more massive than itself, whereas a moving object that strikes that head is generally of a similar or lesser mass to the head itself, such as a club, a brick, or a baseball.

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Brain injury can be very tricky to find and properly assess and treat, doctors have learned. Very often, the location of the actual injury is not at the point of impact. When an impact does not have the force to breach the skull, but is significant enough to cause injury, the force can be transferred to thinner bones found in other places, such as the base of the skull.

Physicians in New York and Westchester County sometimes use the term ‘countrecoup’ to describe head injuries that result from an impact on the other side of the head. Contrecoup injuries are caused by rapid and localized pressure changes on the surface of the brain due to force transmitted by a sudden impact. These injuries can also be caused by the brain actually moving inside the skull and sustaining injury from striking the bony surfaces.

The location of the head injury is also important, studies have learned. As far back as 200 years ago, physicians have been noting that injuries to the frontal portion of the brain tend to be less severe than injuries taken to other parts of the brain. Research has shown this to be the case time and again, both from experiments and from collecting medical data. There are, however, studies that suggest that the nature of head injuries may be far more complex than that, depending upon the location of the injury. The very complexity of the brain itself makes it difficult for physicians and other medical experts to establish a clear pattern when it comes to head injuries.

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Injuries caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) can be complicated, doctors have learned. Such a blast can cause a number of injuries that have their own problems, like traumatically amputated limbs, multiple penetrating wounds, and heavy bleeding. It takes a great deal of skill and knowledge to treat injuries from an explosive blast, because there are so many different brain injuriescaused by it.

A number of subspecialists in Queens and Staten Island are required to help the patient, under the direction of a trauma surgeon. Soft-tissue loss is common, in addition to severe burns to the face and scalp. When it comes to the military, a helmet can be excellent protection against penetrating objects, so if the blast does cause penetrating object injuries, it is often through the face, orbit of the eye, or base of the skull, all areas not covered by the helmet. Even when the helmet does prevent an object from penetrating the skull there can still be associated cTBI (closed head traumatic blast injury) that may cause anything from mild concussions to severe contusions and skull fractures, where the helmet is dented from the blow, studies have discovered.

The force of a flying object and where it penetrates are of utmost importance, doctors have told Lawyers. Something traveling at a low speed might penetrate the skull, but actually cause little damage, while something traveling a greater speed could very well cause a secondary cavity in a vital area.

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After seven hours of deliberation, a District Court jury delivered a majority, or 11 jurors to one, verdict in the case of a 22-year-old stepdad. The man was found guilty on the charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The stepfather had always denied the charge that he caused a head injury that left a 2-year-old child with little more than 50% of his brain function. He stood passively in the dock as he was remanded to custody for a July sentencing. As he was escorted from the court, a supporter mouthed “I’m sorry.”

The Judge thanked the jury and told them, based on the evidence, their decision was the only one open to them.

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Another factor that doctors need to consider when it comes to head injury is the location of the impact on the head. Where an impact deforms the skull, or the level of the acceleration of the head, can be very important in determining the nature of a head injury.

When the skull is deformed by an impact, it generally causes injury to the brain through direct contact. This is a common occurrence when it comes to an object displacing part of the skull so it hits the brain tissue. Studies, however, have discovered there are some impacts that can indent the skull for just a few milliseconds, but the skull will return to its original shape, without any evidence in the bone.

Experiments using anesthetized monkeys showed doctors that occipital impacts did not deform the skull, nor did it create any lesions on the brain. Impacts in the temporoparietal region of the brain did show evidence of skull deformation, however, along with the accompanying lesions on the brain. This is further proof that the location of impact is very important, and can mean the difference between a major and a minor injury. Studies in New York City and Westchester have shown that impacts that produce a skull fracture in one region of the skull may have to be at least twice as forceful to cause a fracture in another part of the skull.

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When it comes to injury of any kind, including head injury, classification of severity is important. The first AIS (Abbreviated Injury Scale) was published in 1971, propelled by the American Medical Association, the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, and the Society of Automotive Engineers. It was originally created to assess impact injuries, but it has been revised a number of times since then.

The scale uses numbers to rank injuries by severity, based upon the anatomical injury. This means that any lingering consequences of the injury, like disabilities, are not noted. Each injury only receives one AIS score, and there is no single assessment for multiple injuries.

The system has a 6-point scale, with 1 meaning a minor injury and 6 being the worst possible injury. Later revisions included a six-digit code for each injury. The first number signified body region, the second anatomic structure, the third and fourth the specific nature of an injury if external, and the fifth and sixth related to the level of injury in an anatomic region. Later revisions included further categorization for brain injuries.

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