|
|
 |
 |
|
Utah Brain Injury Lawyer, Utah Brain Damage Lawyer
Utah Brain Injury and Brain Damage lawyers have compiled the following resources for families of people who have sustained brain injury.
BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION
Helpful Utah traumatic head injury legal information can
be found at the website of the Brain Injury Association
of Utah (BIAU) .
The BIAU is a non-profit corporation founded in 1984 to educate
the public about prevention of and recovery from brain injury
in the State of Utah.
A list of brain injury support groups is provided on the site.
These meet regularly in the Salt Lake, Ogden, Logan and St. George
areas.
BRAIN INJURY RING
The Brain Injury Ring consists of Brain Injury Resources as well
as homepages of brain injury lawyers, Caregivers, Friends, Family, and Survivors of
Acquired and Traumatic Brain Injuries (ABI / TBI).
The goal is to serve as a resource to this on-line community as
well as educate people about Brain Injuries.
A WebRing Community is a group of web sites with a common theme
connected by a NavBar providing you easy access to more sites
with related content.
To join the Brain Injury Ring click here.
NATIONAL CENTER FOR INJURY PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Those seeking Utah traumatic brain injury legal information will
find useful resources at the Traumatic Brain Injury page of the website
of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
Included among the traumatic brain injury legal information
is a definition of traumatic brain injury, statistics on the number
of people who are injured each year, including statistics on the number
of deaths from this type of injury.
Also included are statistics on causes of TBI, signs and symptoms,
long-term outcomes of TBI.
JOURNAL OF HEAD TRAUMA STATISTICS
According to a study published in the Journal of Head Trauma
and Rehabilitation an estimated 5.3 million Americans,
approximately 2% of the U.S. population, currently have a
long-term or lifelong need for help to perform activities of
daily living as a result of a TBI.
UTAH STATE OFFICE OF REHAB
Families of Utah head injury victims can benefit from knowledge of
Utah head injury legal resources. One very important resource
is the Utah State Office of Rehabilitation
This agency exists to help retrain people who can no longer perform
their jobs to injuries.
MEDICAID and MEDICARE WAIVER PROGRAMS
Are you aware that as a disabled individual you are entitled to
waiver programs that will help you support yourself or allow you
to continue you education. Many unknown government programs are
afforded to you through your classification as a
Medicaid and/or Medicare Insured. Little is known about these
waiver programs. All of us desire to be self-supporting,
independent, and never failing short of a positive self-esteem,
which all too often a disability does not allow. Applications for this program are available from specialists at the Utah Department of Human Services
BRAIN INJURY SOCIETY
While their primary focus is on New York City and the State of New York the
Brain Injury Society has a website loaded with useful information for the families of those who have sustained brain injury. The site gives info about programs that assist brain injured people in New York with
household needs, assistive devices, transportation that might
one return to work, attend a vocational institution,
retrain skills, train for new skills or advance education levels. Once aware of these programs you can then look for them at comparable Utah State institutions.
Contact the Brain Injury Society -
at 718-645-4401 or see their website at www.BISociety.org.
BRAIN INJURY LAW BLOG
If you are looking for Utah brain damage legal information a useful resource
is the Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog ("TBILB"). This blog is published by a prominent brain injury lawyer.
Utah brain damage legal principles are similar to those in other states.
The TBILB has a wonderful video that will help you in understanding traumatic brain injury. The video shows the structure of the skull, the three protective layers of the brain and the four lobes of the brain. The different symptoms that arise
from injuries to each of the four lobes is explained. The video shows the two
different ways the brain is injured: localized and diffuse.
A mild brain injury can have serious even devastating consequences and
the video explains why this is so.
The blog also has brain injury FAQ and a section on brain injury resources and links.
MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY RECOVERY COURSE AND DAMAGES NEWS
Diagnosing, treating, and managing Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) is one of the most complex issues for clinicians and Utah brain injury lawyers who deal with this population. It is estimated that 70-90 percent of all treated TBI cases are mild, with approximately 1.4 million emergency department visits annually.
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), MTBI is a major public health problem and it is thought that lost productivity after MTBI accounts for the largest component of the economic costs of brain injury annually in the US.
DIAGNOSING BRAIN INJURY
One of the biggest challenges in addressing neuropsychological functioning and recovery from MTBI is that of diagnosing MTBI itself; there is no consensus diagnosis. Numerous systems have been developed to classify TBI along the continuum from mild to severe. Most rely on acute injury characteristics such as Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, length of loss of consciousness (LOC), posttraumatic amnesia (PTA), as well as findings from neuroimaging techniques.
DEFINITIONS
One of the most commonly used definitions was adopted by the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee of the Head Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM). This standard indicates that a patient has sustained a MTBI if he or she has a "traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function, as manifested by at least one of the following:
1) Any period of LOC (loss of consciousness)
2) Any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the accident
3) Any alteration in mental state at the time of the accident (e.g., feeling dazed, disoriented, confused); and ,
4) Focal neurological deficits(s) that may or may not be transient."
It also adds that the severity of the injury does not exceed the following:
1) LOC of 30 minutes,
2) After 30 minutes, an initial GCS score of 13-15; and
3) PTA not greater than 24 hours.
BIOMECHANICS
Although a discussion of the biomechanics of MTBI is beyond the scope of this commentary, several studies have begun to establish a minimal biomechanical threshold sufficient to cause MTBI (linear gravitational acceleration of 80-100g) and the influence of rotational forces must be considered when determining if an accident was sufficient to cause brain injury and whether the presenting complaints correlate with the biomechanics.
Common post-concussion symptoms include headache, blurred vision, dizziness, subjective memory problems and other cognitive difficulties. Most studies indicate a pattern of gradual acute symptom recovery within the first 1-2 weeks after MTBI in the majority of cases, extending out several weeks in other cases. A very small percentage of cases have symptoms persisting beyond 3 months.
COMPLICATED CASES
In "complicated' MTBI, in which there is evidence of structural pathology on imaging, this increases recovery time and is more consistent with that seen in cases of moderately severe TBI.
UNCOMPLICATED CASES
However, in uncomplicated MTBI, persistent symptoms may be attributable to factors other than MTBI including psychosocial problems, pre-existing psychiatric diagnosis or personality disorder, other medical etiology (prior history of TBI, etc) and other situational factors (e.g., litigation/compensation, PTSD).
GUIDELINES
McCrea notes that the following guidelines hold up across studies:
1) most severe symptoms are evident within minutes of injury;
2) delayed symptom onset is rare;
3) a combination of physical and cognitive symptoms is most common;
4) there is measurable improvement within hours of injury;
5) gradual symptom recovery occurs in 7-10 days (with the exception of more complicated MTBI cases);
6) symptoms persisting beyond expected recovery course are often attributable to non-injury related factors.
With regard to neuropsychological symptoms based on McCrae's review of prospective MTBI studies, there are measurable impairments in cognitive functioning after MTBI without LOC, PTA, or focal neurologic deficits.
However, these improve within minutes after the injury. Much like the above resolution of acute symptoms, cognitive recovery follows the same trajectory with complete recovery usually within one week post-injury.
MEMORY
Memory is the most susceptible to change after MTBI but also shows complete recovery within days. Gross disorientation and other cognitive abnormalities are less common in MTBI. Several meta-analyses have revealed that uncomplicated MTBI is most often followed by a favorable course of neuropsychological recovery over a period of days to weeks, with no indication of permanent impairment in testings conducted three months after the injury.
WHEN SYMPTOMS PERSIST
Neuropsychologists evaluate and diagnose the nature of neuropsychological symptoms that persist beyond the usual recovery time expected for MTBI. They recognize the nature of the possible cognitive consequences as well as assess for other non-injury-related factors that may perpetuate post-concussive symptoms.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information, please contact Atrium Psychological Group by clicking here
Kimberly Alfano, Ph.D., ABP (CN)
Board Certified Neuropsychologist
Click here if you would like more information from a Utah brain injury lawyer.
|
|
|
