Head Injuries: What to Watch for Afterward

A serious head injury is most likely to happen to someone who is in a car wreck and isn’t wearing a seat belt. Other major causes of head injuries include bicycle or motorcycle wrecks, falls from windows (especially among children who live in the city) and galls around the house (especially among toddlers and the elderly).

Are head injuries serious?

They can be. Bleeding, tearing of tissues and brain swelling can occur when the brain moves inside the skull at the time of an impact. But most people recover from head injuries and have no lasting effects.




Types of head injuries

- A concussion is a jarring injury to the brain. A person who has a concussion usually, but not always, passes out for a short length of time. The person may feel dazed and may lose vision or balance for a while after the injury.

- A brain contusion is a bruise of the brain. This means there is some bleeding in the brain, causing swelling.

- A skull fracture is when the skull cracks. Sometimes the edges of broken skull bones cut into the brain and cause bleeding or other injury.

- A hematoma is bleeding in the brain that collects and clots, forming a bump. A hemahoma may not be apparent for a day or even as long as several weeks. So, it’s important to tell your doctor if someone with a head injury feels or acts oddly. Watch out for headaches, listlessness, balance problems or throwing up.

What happens after a head injury?

It’s normal to have a headache and nausea, and feel dizzy right after a head injury. Other symptoms include ringing in the ears, neck pain, and feeling anxious, upset, irritable depressed or tired.

The person who has had a head injury may also have problems concentrating, remembering things, putting thoughts together or doing more than one thing at a time.

Source: Familydoctor.org

Head Injuries: What to Watch for Afterward

Lab boost for spinal injury rehab

A team from the Centre for Brain Repair in Cambridge treated rats with the enzyme chondroitinase.

They found the treatment increased the length of time that the nervous system was responsive to rehab. The study raises the possibility of faster and more effective treatments for neurological patients. These results can only be seen as extremely encouraging for the many thousands of people left paralysed after a spinal cord injury

After damage to the nervous system, patients go through a rehab programme to try to regain some of the neurological function that they have lost. This usually helps them regain some useful function but they need to work hard for a long time in order to be successful.

Rehab works by encouraging the nervous system to make new connections between cells to replace those that have been lost through injury.

However, the ability to make new connections - known as plasticity - is very limited.

The researchers, led by Professor James Fawcett and Dr Guillermo Garcia-Alias, said: "The discovery opens up the possibility that rehabilitation for neurological conditions can be made much faster and much more effective by giving treatment such as chondroitinase to make the nervous system plastic."

Dr Mark Bacon, of the charity Spinal Research, said the joint approach - pharmacological and rehabilitative - appeared to stimulate nerve tissue and fine tune new growth.

However, he stressed that it was vital that rehab programmes were chosen carefully to maximise the therapeutic impact. He said: "These results can only be seen as extremely encouraging for the many thousands of people left paralysed after a spinal cord injury but the next step is to work out how to deliver this bacterial protein to humans in a safe and effective way."

Source: BBC | InjuryLawyers4u

Lab boost for spinal injury rehab

47,000 Elderly Falls in US Tied to Canes, Walkers

Health officials say more than 47,000 elderly Americans end up in emergency rooms each year from falls involving walkers and canes.

That's almost 3 percent of all falls among people 65 and older. Government researchers came up with the estimate by looking at six years of ER medical records. Nearly 9 out of 10 of the injuries involved canes, rather than walkers.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday their study shows that doctors should take more time to better fit patients with walking aids and to teach how to use them safely. The study is being published this month in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Source: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

47,000 Elderly Falls in US Tied to Canes, Walkers

Walt Disney World monorail crash kills employee

Officials at Walt Disney World Resort were investigating what caused the first fatal accident in the 38-year history of the park's Monorail, a one-time symbol of founder Walt Disney's vision for future transportation.

Two of the monorail's trains collided in the park's Magic Kingdom section, killing one of the train's operators, emergency officials said. At least five guests were treated at the scene for minor injuries, authorities said. The other train's operator was not injured, but was emotionally shaken and taken to a hospital.

The transit system, which shuttles thousands of visitors around the sprawling resort each day, was shut down while authorities investigated.

"They are extremely rare," Griffin said of accidents at the park. "The safety of our guests and cast are a top priority above all else."

This is yet another high profile reminder that accidents do indeed happen at work. An accident at work is defined as an external, sudden, unexpected, unintended, and violent event, during the execution of work or arising out of it, which causes damage to the health of or loss of the life of the employee (the insured).

In the UK, if you are injured whilst at work and would like a no win no fee injury claim consultation, whatever the nature of your injury - common or uncommon - InjuryLawyers4U can provide you with a specialist solicitor experienced in handling your type of claim.

Source: InjuryLawyers4u.co.uk | Daily Mail Online

Walt Disney World monorail crash kills employee

UK Product Recalls Surge | Law Implications

Manufacturers remain woefully unprepared as product recalls surge, according to a report compiled by customer management expert Navigator Customer Management (NCM).

Already this year, there have been over 20 food product recalls issued in the UK - nearly double the level at the same time in 2007. But contingency facilities are often insufficient to meet the sudden spike of enquiries, claimed the report.

Given the vastly increased number of phone calls during recalls, firms find that existing care line facilities are not sufficient to cope with demand, said the study. However, the rate at which recalls are rising is outstripping the rate at which appropriate contingency centres are being set up, it claimed.

NCM MD Rob Denton said: "The upward trend has exposed an area of risk where many brands simply do not have contingency facilities in place. And no worse impression is created, nor brand damage done, than in the situation where a firm is uncontactable or unhelpful just when consumer concerns have been escalated."

UK Product Recalls Surge | Law Implications

Product recall | Weight-loss Supplement Hydroxycut recalled worldwide

The maker of the widely sold Hydroxycut weight-loss supplements is recalling 14 products after reports of liver damage and one death.



The Food and Drug Administration urged consumers to immediately stop using the recalled products, which are made by Iovate Health Sciences Inc and marketed for weight loss, boosting energy and other uses.

"The FDA urges consumers to discontinue use of Hydroxycut products in order to avoid any undue risk. Adverse events are rare, but exist," said Dr. Linda Katz, interim chief medical officer in the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. The agency has received 23 reports of liver problems ranging from jaundice to damage that required a liver transplant, Katz said. One person died.

The company agreed to voluntarily pull the 14 products even though the FDA has not seen reports of serious harm with all of them, Katz said. Agency officials are investigating which doses and ingredients may be harmful, she said.

Two products with different ingredients, Hydroxycut Cleanse and Hoodia, were not included in the recall. The recalled products contain a variety of ingredients including herbal extracts. They are sold as dietary supplements, which do not require the evidence of safety and effectiveness needed for medicines before they can be sold.

Critics say supplements need more oversight.

A 2007 law required manufacturers to turn over reports of problems with consumers, helping the FDA better monitor potential side effects, agency officials said.

"These reports are vital in helping FDA identify unsafe dietary supplements," said Vasilios Frankos, head of the FDA's Division of Dietary Supplement Programs. People who took the recalled products should consult a doctor if they have symptoms of liver injury such as nausea, vomiting, light-colored stools, excessive fatigue, weakness, stomach pain, itching or loss of appetite, the FDA said.

If you are injured as a result of using a defective product, you may be entitled to compensation from the supplier or manufacturer of the product. Companies sometimes fail to invest the proper focus and time to safely and successfully manufacture reliable consumer goods. As such, quality often suffers, safety regulations are not adhered to, and innocent consumers bear the consequences. Recently, strict legislation has been passed in order to further protect the rights of consumers against defective and dangerous products.

For advice on defective product litigation in the UK, go to InjuryLawyers4U.co.uk

Product recall | Weight-loss Supplement Hydroxycut recalled worldwide

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ALL-TIME TOP 10 | INJURY LAWYER TV AD FAILS

Heating duct collapses onto desks during an exam | UK Injury Law News

Parents of some of the pupils injured when a metal heating duct collapsed during an exam have said they are taking legal action against the school.

Twelve Year 9 students were hurt, four seriously, during the fall in Minster College sports hall on 12 May. Parents of 10 of the students have begun or are considering legal action.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said on Tuesday that the duct fell because the wires attaching it to the roof of the hall failed. About 150 children were inside at the time. Rhys Sullivan, who suffered the worst injuries, had surgery to fit metal plates after breaking his jaw in two places. He also broke seven teeth and needed stitches in his chin and lip.

His mother Vicki said he was "bearing up quite well" but had not yet returned to school.

"I just want answers more than anything else," she said.

"We sent our kids to school to be safe and obviously it's not been safe."

Tim Bancroft, a personal injury lawyer dealing with the case, said: "The impression I get is they are not looking to victimise any particular individual at Minster College. They just see it as getting something that is fair to their son or daughter."

Head teacher Alan Klee said he was not surprised parents were getting lawyers involved.

"Nobody should be in this position, no child should be injured in the way that they were injured. Schools are the safest place in our communities, yet on that day 12 children came to school and yet we had to return them back injured to their homes. That's not acceptable."

Heating duct collapses onto desks during an exam | UK Injury Law News

Injury Law and Sports | Where's the line drawn?

This month a Canadian judge acquitted of assault a high-school player whose punch broke an opponent rugby player’s nose and cheekbone.

In a bedeviling display of logic, the British Columbia provincial court judge ruled that players consent to violent contact within and certain violent conduct outwith the rules of the game. The judge stated that there are certain aggressive actions that are taken in the course of a scrum which appear to be acknowledged by most players including eye gouging, head butting, raking, kneeing, elbowing, kicking and punching and that there is implied consent to a range of injuries from bruises and broken noses to broken necks.

The defendant was exonerated on the grounds that the punch was randomly thrown and not intended to target and hit the injured plaintiff and, as such, fit within rugby’s unwritten but accepted code of conduct. Whilst there is no suggestion that a civil suit will be launched, a strong case could be argued that the defendant player was guilty in negligence.

Source: BClocalnews.com

Injury Law and Sports | Where's the line drawn?