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Personal Injury Law

Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog

Information, news and legal updates for individuals and families who have suffered a traumatic brain injury.
By Bruce Stern

Post Frequency: 5/day

Last Entry: May 08, 2013 at 10:09:27

International Brain Injury Association Call for Abstracts

Posted on May 08, 2013
The International Brain Injury Association has announced the call for abstracts for the 10th World Congress on Brain Injury, which will take place on March 19-23, 2014 in San Francisco. The call for abstracts is posted on the IBIA website and will be echoed in the next issue of the International Neuro Trauma Letter...

Sex Lives Often An Overall Casualty of Traumatic Brain Injury

Posted on May 06, 2013
Health Day News recently issued a story on a study published in NeuroRehabilitation in which the author Jhon Alexander Moreno, a neuropsychologist at the University of Miami, analyzed the results of fourteen studies that together included almost fifteen hundred patients, spouses, partners, and people without traumatic brain injury as well as rehabilitation professionals...

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Detects White Matter Abnormalities and Associated Cognitive Deficits in Chronic Adolescent TBI

Posted on May 03, 2013
Researchers in Australia and Cincinnati utilized diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine the long?term alterations in white matter microstructure following traumatic brain injury in adolescents. The researchers utilized DTI in this study, noting that rotational and shearing forces associated with traumatic brain injury often result in multi?focal and diffuse axonal injuries which are not evident on CT scans or conventional T1 or T2 weighted MRI...

Clinical Use of DTI in Neurosurgery

Posted on May 02, 2013
Forensic courtroom doctors hired by the defense to attack the scientific admissibility of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) often argue that DTI is only acceptable in research and has no clinical use. As such, DTI should not be admitted in civil actions...

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Federal Court Upholds Vocational Economic Testimony

Posted on May 01, 2013
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois-Eastern Division denied defendants' Rule 702 Daubert motion to strike the testimony of David Gibson, president of Vocational Economics, Inc. The case is Rossi v. Groft, Case No...

Brain Injury Journey: Hope, Help, Healing

Posted on April 29, 2013
I just received the premier issue of 'Brain Injury Journey, Hope, Help, Healing", a magazine for the brain injury community published by Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. According to the mission's statement, 'Brain Injury Journey – Hope, Help, Healing' helps persons with brain injury, families, and providers successfully navigate challenges and live a full and satisfying life...

Fourth International Conference on Concussion in Sport Consensus Statement

Posted on April 04, 2013
Last month, the Fourth International Conference on Concussion in Sport issued its consensus statement on concussion in sport. According to the Preamble, this consensus paper is a 'revision and update of the recommendations developed following the first (Vienna 2001), second (Prague 2004), and third (Zurich 2008) international consensus conferences on concussion in sports and is based on the deliberations at the Fourth International Conference on Concussion in Sport held in Zurich, November 2012...

Good Old Days

Posted on March 29, 2013
I previously commented on an article authored by Grant Iverson, Ph.D. discussing the concept of 'Good Old Days Bias' in which patients remember being healthier prior to their sustaining their traumatic injury. More recently, clinicians at McGill University in Montreal interviewed parents of children five to twelve years old approximately one month after the children had sustained a concussion...

Traumatic Brain Injury: Is It Time We Stop Using the Terms Mild, Moderate and Severe?

Posted on March 27, 2013
It is well understood that traumatic brain injury is a continuum with mild at one extreme and severe at the other. What constitutes the mildest form of traumatic brain injury was the subject of much disagreement, ultimately leading to the American Congress of Rehabilitation to develop a definition of mild traumatic brain injury in 1993...

Seeking Comments on the Pediatric Mild TBI Guideline Protocol

Posted on March 22, 2013
Between March 7 and April 7, the Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Guideline Workgroup is seeking public comment on a guideline protocol on diagnosing and treating pediatric mild TBI (among patients age 18 and under). Comprised of leading experts in the field of TBI, CDC Injury Center's Board of Scientific Counselors established the Pediatric Mild TBI Guideline Workgroup to create a clinical guideline for health care professionals working in the acute care and primary care setting...

AAN Guideline Recommends Removal of Player If Concussion Suspected

Posted on March 21, 2013
An evidence– based guideline from the AAN for evaluating and managing athletes with concussions recommends that athletes who are suspected of having a concussion be removed from the game immediately and not be returned until assessed by a licensed health care professional trained in diagnosing and managing concussion...

Abstract on Structural Changes to the Brain One Year After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Posted on March 20, 2013
I recently read an abstract in the journal Radiology in which the researchers demonstrated structural changes to the brain one year after injury after a single concussive episode. According to an article published in Health Imaging, Yongxia Zhou, PhD, from the department of radiology at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues enrolled 28 MTBI patients with posttraumatic symptoms after injury and 22 matched control subjects in the study...

American Academy of Neurology Issues New Report On Evaluation and Management of Concussion in Sports

Posted on March 19, 2013
The American Academy of Neurology's (AAN) guideline development subcommittee has issued a new report updating and replacing the 1997 AAN practice parameter regarding sports concussion, focusing on four questions: What factors increase/decrease concussion risks? What diagnostic tools identify those with concussion and those that increase risk for severe/prolonged early impairments, neurologic catastrophe, or chronic neuro behavioral or impairment? What clinical factors identify those that increase risk for severe/prolonged early post concussion impairments, neurologic catastrophe, recurrent concussion, or chronic neuro behavioral impairment? What interventions enhance recovery, reduce recurrent concussion risks, or diminish long-term sequelae? To read the report, Click Here...

Stern Presents at American Conference Institute's 2nd Annual Summit on Brain Injury Claims and Litigation

Posted on March 19, 2013
Last week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the American Conference Institute's 2nd Annual Summit on Brain Injury Claims and Litigation. On Friday, March 15, 2013, I had the pleasure of participating in a panel presentation on the topic of 'Using Neurologists, Neuropsychologist, Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist, and Lay-witnesses to Persuade the Jury and Maximize the Strength of Your Case...

Brain Injury May Be Auto Immune Phenomenon, Like Multiple Sclerosis

Posted on March 15, 2013
A new study published online at PLOS One found that 'the brain degeneration observed among professional football players could result from an out-of-control immune response, similar to what multiple sclerosis patients experience. 'Consequences of Repeated Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption in Football Players, Nicola Marchi, Jeffrey J...

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Used to Diagnose White Matter Damage After TBI and to Predict Neuropsychological Outcome in Individual Patients

Posted on March 11, 2013
A new paper published in the Annals of Neurology by trained pattern classifiers discriminated between patients with microbleeds and age-match controls with a high degree of accuracy, and outperformed other methods. 'Individual prediction of white matter injury following traumatic brain injury,' Hellyer PJ, Leech R, Ham TE, Bonnelle V and Sharp DJ, Ann Neurol 2013...

Risk for Addiction-Related Disorders Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Posted on March 07, 2013
This month's issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, the Aflagship@ journal of the American Psychiatric Association, includes a study entitled ARisk for Addiction-Related Disorders Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in a Large Cohort of Active-Duty U...

Binder, Rohling and Larrabee Meta-Analytic Review Criticized Again

Posted on March 01, 2013
Neuro law attorneys are very familiar with the meta-analytic review of neurological studies that was authored by Binder, Rohling and Larrabee (Binder 1997). It is a study that is often cited by defense attorneys to support the myth that recovery after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) occurs within the first three months, with any subsequent changes in performance being of limited statistical and clinical significance...

Florence Township Bus Driver Held Partially Responsible for Incident

Posted on February 27, 2013
A Burlington County jury recently returned a verdict in favor of my client, finding that the Florence Township Board of Education and its school bus driver were partially responsible for an incident that occurred at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Railroad Avenue in Florence Township, New Jersey...

Neuropsychological, Functional and Behavioral Outcome in South African Traumatic Brain Injury Litigants

Posted on February 21, 2013
The February 2013 issue of Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology included an interesting article out of Cape Town, South Africa, wherein researchers from the University of Cape Town examined the extent to which, during the process of litigation, individuals with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury might malinger in their performance on neuropsychological assessment batteries...

Stern Speaks at Union County Inns of Court

Posted on February 11, 2013
On January 10th I was the invited speaker at the Richard J. Hughes American Inn of Court in Union County, New Jersey. My topic was 'Preparing and Handling the Traumatic Brain Injury Case', a presentation designed to teach attorneys how to prepare and handle cases on behalf of individuals with acquired traumatic brain injury...

Literature Review Finds Diffusion Tensor Imaging Effectively Differentiates Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury from Controls

Posted on January 31, 2013
This month's issue of the American Journal of Neuro Radiology includes one of the most important research neurolaw articles. Researchers from the Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center and the Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine reviewed over 100 published articles involving diffusion tensor imaging and traumatic brain injury published over the past ten years...

New Study Leaves No Evidence that Individuals with Moderate to Severe TBI Malinger or Deliver Sub-Optimal Effort During Neuropsychological Evaluation

Posted on January 24, 2013
This month's issue of Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology published a fascinating study out of South Africa that addressed the issue of whether individuals with moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury might malinger in their performance on neuropsychological assessment batteries...

New Study on Long-Term Effects of TBI in Former Football Players

Posted on January 22, 2013
A new study out of the University of Texas at Dallas that was reported online in JAMA Neurology demonstrated that former football players were more likely to suffer cognitive deficits and depression as they grow older than their normal cohorts. This study, by lead author Dr...

Therapeutic Treatment after TBI May Help Prevent Further Deterioration of Brain Cells

Posted on January 17, 2013
A study conducted by researchers from the University of South Florida and the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital has shown that traumatic brain injury results in progressive brain deterioration, as seen by increased inflammation as well as blocked cell regeneration...

Lack of Effort by Normal Undergraduate Students in Neuropsychological Test Performance

Posted on January 11, 2013
I read an interesting article in the December 2012 issue of Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology. The paper by Kelly Y. An, Konstantine K. Zakzanis and Steve Joordens of the Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough is entitled 'Conducting Research with Non-Clinical Healthy Undergraduates: Does Effort Play A Role In Neuropsychological Test Performance?' Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 27 (2012) 849-857...

Boston University Research Team Discover Evidence of Chronic Traumatic Encaphalopathy

Posted on January 09, 2013
Researchers from Boston University led by Ann McKee and Robert C. Cantu, M.D. and their colleagues from the Boston School of Medicine, Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy have published a new study in Brain, A Journal of Neurology, published on December 2, 2012...

Researchers Use DTI to Investigate White Matter Abnormalities in Veterans with Mild TBI

Posted on January 07, 2013
his month's issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry contains an important new research study by Ricardo E. Jorge, M.D. entitled 'White Matter Abnormalities in Veterans with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.' AM J Psychiatry 2012; 169:1284-1291. In the study, the researchers utilized diffusion tensor imaging to examine white matter integrity in a relatively large group of veterans with a history of mild traumatic brain injury...

Secondary Service Connection for Diagnosable Illnesses Association with Traumatic Brain Injury

Posted on January 04, 2013
I have previously reported on the BIAA white paper authored by Brent Masel, M.D. describing traumatic brain injury as a chronic disease. The Federal Register has published a proposed rule of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) which is proposing an amendment to its adjudication regulations concerning service connection...

MRI and Mild TBI

Posted on January 02, 2013
I recently reviewed an interesting article in the annals of Neurology entitled: 'Magnetic Resonance Imaging improves three-month outcome prediction in mild traumatic brain injury.' Ann Neurol 2012; 00:000-000. The article authored, by Geoffrey T...

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