Sacramento Brain Injury Lawyer Blog

Actors Danny DeVito, Tony Danza and Marilu Henner made riding in a cab look hilarious in the popular 1980s sit-com, Taxi. In real life, taking a jaunt in a taxi isn’t always a fun ride.

As a paralegal for a Sacramento personal injury attorney, we have assisted a number of clients who were severely injured in a taxi trauma. Keep in mind that if you are ever injured in a car crash as a taxicab passenger, you may have a personal injury claim.

In order to protect yourself while riding in a taxi, SFSAFE, a leading crime prevention education organization in San Francisco, suggests you take the following safety precautions.

1. Plan your travel in advance and let family and friends know of your itinerary.

2. Contact taxicab companies that you are familiar with.

3. It is better to call for a taxi rather than flagging for a ride. Flagged taxicab pickups are not recorded. Dispatched taxi rides are recorded and lost property can be traced if the ride is recorded.

4. Note the taxicab number before you enter the vehicle. The company number is usually marked on either the front quarter panels or the rear truck area.

5. When entering a taxicab, check for photo identification on the dashboard facing the passenger. The driver should match the photo identification.

6. Listen to your instincts. If you feel unsafe, leave the vehicle.

7. Alcohol and drugs can impair your judgment as a passenger and make you look like an easy target.

These are important safety tips to consider when traveling by taxi. And while they don’t completely eliminate the possibility of getting in a car crash, they will help to provide you with some peace of mind that you are doing everything possible to protect yourself.

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In today's world people can suffer a personal injury in many different cases. An injury which seems to be growing rapidly both in Sacramento and throughout the US is Spinal Cord Injury. You can severely injure your spine from a car accident, falling, sports, violence, and many other ways.

According to the Spinal Cord Injury Facts And Statistics:

# SCI injuries are most commonly caused by:

* Vehicular accidents 37%
* Violence 28%
* Falls 21%
* Sports-related 6%
* Other 8%

Spinal Cord Injuries can lead to Paraplegia or Quadriplegia. Paraplegia is when you loose feeling and movement in both your legs. Quadriplegia is when you lose feeling and movement in all four limbs (Legs and arms). Generally, treatment for persons with Quadriplegia costs almost triple the cost of treatment for persons with Paraplegia.

" * Length of initial hospitalization following injury in acute care units: 15 days

* Average stay in rehabilitation unit: 44 days

* Initial hospitalization costs following injury: $140,000

* Average first year expenses for a SCI injury (all groups): $198,000

* First year expenses for paraplegics: $152,000

* First year expenses for quadriplegics: $417,000

* Average lifetime costs for paraplegics, age of injury 25: $428,000

* Average lifetime costs for quadriplegics, age of injury 25: $1.35 million

* Percentage of SCI individuals who are covered by private health insurance at time of injury 52%

* Percentage of SCI individuals unemployed eight years after injury 63%. (Note: unemployment rate when this article was written was 4.7%)"

These firgures are national averages. The medical costs in Sacramento and throughout California are higher.

Here at the Law Office of Moseley Collins we have dealt with numerous Spinal Cord Injury cases. Moseley Collins has been a practicing personal injury lawyer in San Jose, Salinas, and Sacramento California for over 28 years and he believes that if you have been wrongfully injured and are now suffering from a spinal cord injury you should retain an experienced lawyer immediately. It is obvious that suffering from Spinal Cord Injuries results to large medical bills. Obtaining a personal injury attorney will help you recover the money you need and deserve.

if you would like to read more facts and statistics on Spinal Cord injury please CLICK HERE

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I have a bouncing, beautiful baby boy. He is two years old, has long curly blond hair and a smile that won’t quit. He also has Cerebral Palsy.

According to Webmd.com, Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of motor problems and physical disorders related to a brain injury. The charitable organization March of Dimes estimates that approximately 2-3 children of every 1,000 born in the U.S. develop Cerebral Palsy. Around 800,000 people in the U.S. are currently diagnosed with CP. Most who suffer with CP are born with it, as was the case with my son.

However, some children can acquire CP after birth due to a traumatic brain injury. Car crashes are a leading cause of this type of Cerebral Palsy. As a paralegal for a Sacramento personal injury attorney I have seen a number of children badly injured because of a traumatic car collision. If someone else is at fault such a child has a claim for personal injury. If, God forbid, your child, or another child you know, is ever severely injured in an automobile accident with a brain injury or head trauma, ask the doctor to look for signs of the development of CP. The symptoms to watch for, per the Web site Webmd.com, are discussed below.

These babies and young children may retain newborn reflexes and fail to reach age-appropriate developmental milestones. Parents and caregivers usually are the first to notice that a baby has developmental delays that may be early signs of CP.
When CP is severe, signs are often noticed at birth or shortly thereafter. However, some early signs of severe CP vary according to the specific type of CP present.
Common signs of severe CP that may be noticed shortly after birth include:
• Problems sucking and swallowing.
• A weak or shrill cry.
• Unusual positions. Often the body is either very relaxed and floppy or very stiff. When held, babies may arch their backs and extend their arms and legs. These postures are different from and more extreme than those that sometimes occur in babies with colic.
Some problems related to CP become more evident over time or develop as a child grows. These may include:
• Smaller muscles in affected arms or legs. Nervous system problems prevent movement in affected arms and legs. Inactivity affects muscle growth.
• Abnormal sensations and perceptions. Some people with CP feel pain when touched lightly. Even everyday activities, such as brushing teeth, may hurt. Abnormal sensations can also make it difficult to identify common objects by touch, such as feeling the difference between a soft foam ball and a hard baseball.
• Skin irritation. Drooling is common when facial and throat muscles are affected. Drooling irritates the skin, particularly around the mouth, chin, and chest.
• Dental problems. Children who have difficulty brushing their teeth have increased risk of developing cavities and gum disease (gingivitis). Seizure medications may also contribute toward developing gum disease.
• Accidents. Falls and other accidents are a risk, depending on muscle control, joint stiffness, and general physical strength. In addition, CP-related seizures can cause accidental injuries.
• Infections and long-term illnesses. Severe CP causes problems with eating. If food is inhaled into the lungs, a child's risk of developing pneumonia increases. Adults are at a higher risk for heart and lung disease.
Some children with CP often also display a group of behavioral symptoms, such as excessive sleepiness, irritability, and little interest in their environment.

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Fourteen year old Jerry Pham from Milpitas, just south from the capital Sacramento, California, is now suffering from serious brain injuries after being underwater for several minutes before anyone saved him from drowning in a pool.

On October 12th Milpitas high School's Physical Education teacher Kristina Edwards had a mandatory swimming unit day. Edwards didn't take in account that Jerry Pham was filed as a "non-swimmer" when he entered the pool for the class.

according to http://www.themilpitaspost.com:

"Edwards was socializing with students about clothing styles that were popular in the 1980s. Meanwhile Pham began to drown. Students began to notice something at the bottom of the pool, some believing that they saw clothing, according to the claim. When Edwards noticed the commotion and realized Pham was laying at the bottom of the pool, she ordered everyone out of the pool, but did not dive in to rescue her drowning student."

Edwards called for campus security but not 911, and once security arrived Edwards was no where to be seen and had fled the scene. Now the School and Mrs. Edwards are being sued for negligence in several regards. The School should not have appointed Edwards to do swimming activities if she was not trained in that area. They also should of had some type of device, such as a pole with a large hook on the end, to pull him up. If they could have saved him from nearly drowning he probably would not be suffering from brain injury or any sort of personal injury for that matter.

Remember, water is dangerous, especially if you cannot swim well.

These type of accidents can be prevented, but when they're not there are serious consequences. This young man will now have to live with these personal injuries for the remainder of his life. He will have to pay medical bills, and may never be able to earn a living. But obtaining a lawyer could help him pay off the medical bills and give him a reasonable sum with which to start his life over.

Here at the offices of Moseley Collins we believe that you have the right to an experienced Attorney who will fight for the money you deserve.

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Way back in 2003, a Truckee man shocked the world with his bizarre injury...and miraculous recovery. The story was so unbelievable that many wrote it off as a hoax, but, in fact, it actually happened.

Up in beautiful Truckee, CA, an adventure-resort town just a few hours north of Sacramento, California, lives a man named Ron Hunt, nick-named the "Miracle Man". In 2003, Hunt was working at a construction site when he fell from a ladder and landed, face first, upon an 18 inch, 1 1/8 inch chip-auger drill bit. The drill went through his eye, pushed his brain aside, and exited his skull by his ear. Tahoe World reports the following:

Just to write the description of the injury gives us the heebie-jeebies. But miraculously, Hunt survived the accident with minimal trauma, losing the eye and having titanium plates installed where the bit went through his skull, as well as some minor nerve damage in the right side of his face.

Amazingly, Hunt survived! The whole world was captured by this story and Hunt was interviewed by many magazines, newspapers, and even television programs, including Good Morning America.

Clearly, God wants to keep this man around for a while!

Please see tahoe-world.com by clicking on this link. There are some amazing pictures you need to see!

Though this article brings us good cheer, many head injuries do not end so happily. Many head injuries result in brain trauma, which can severely damage a person's cognitive ability, making the tasks they did at their jobs before the accident difficult or impossible. Brain trauma can also hurt the victims' family life, and can possibly cause them to become paralyzed. If you or a loved one has suffered a head injury that was not your fault, we can help you. Please call our office at 916.444.4444, or visit our website by clicking this link.

God bless you.

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A young mother in Canada has suffered tremendously due to medical malpractice, specifically neglect from her treating doctors and nurses. Jennie, a 27-year-old mother of a three-year-old and three-month-old, injured her back about five weeks ago. She was taken by an ambulance to the emergency room at a Toronto hospital where a CT scan showed she had an enlarged disc. Rather than treat the problem, the doctors gave Jennie some anti-inflammatorys and pain killers, and sent her home.

Jennie's pain continued. Soon she began feeling numbness in her lower extremities. Her family doctor told her she needed to return to the hospital and get an MRI. Jennie went to a different hospital this time but they did not have the time to see her. She was transferred to yet another hospital where they gave her an MRI and, due to the alarming results, sent her into an emergency surgery.

Still her injury grew worse. All it was was a herniated disc, a very treatable condition, but due to the lack of care she received from her doctors, it slipped farther and farther down her spine and damaged a bundle of nerves. As she recovered from the surgery in the hospital, Jennie and her husband grew alarmed at the black color that was spreading around the surgery site. The nurses she informed did nothing to fix, change, or alert anyone else of the discoloration. Within days Jennie had to undergo another surgery to remove the black tissue.

Jennie’s doctors were very negligent with her. Along with the above listed they also did not catheterize her in the appropriate time period, causing her bladder to become dangerously distended, and they did not give her blood thinners as they should have, resulting in a pulmonary embolism.

Presently, Jennie is unable to walk without assistance and remains numb below the waist. What began as an extremely treatable condition, a herniated disc, has turned into a nightmare of eclectic injuries, all due to her doctors and nurses' negligence.

For the full story click this link.

A story such as this makes one wary of socialized healthcare. If the doctors and nurses whom treat us are too busy to actually treat us, then what good is health care at all?

Sadly, the sick and injured are often times neglected in our country as well, where we do not have socialized health care. Many patients in Sacramento, CA are injured each year due to the negligence of the doctors and nurses who tend to them. These injuries can be bed sores, injuries from surgeries gone wrong, misdiagnoses, etc. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a doctor or nurse's neglect, we can help you. Please call me, Attorney Moseley Collins, at 916.444.4444, or visit my website at www.moseleycollins.com. We would love to help you.

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On September 4, 2006, Australian doctor, Verena Doolabh, was shot in her spine while traveling in Jordan. The culprit was a gunman who opened fire on the tourist group Doolabh was traveling with. On March 10, 2008, Doolabh shared her story with the Australian newspaper, The Daily Liberal:

“Being a doctor the first thing that went through my head when I was shot was ‘I’m going to be in a wheelchair’,”

Unfortunately, her intuition was right. Doolabh was immediately paralyzed from the waist down. An immediate surgery to remove the bullet plus six months of intensive therapy, however, set her upon her feet again. Recalling her recovery, Doolabh said:

“I was very determined to get better no matter how hard it was,”

Now she is motivated to help others like her. She says that she feels she was given a second chance at life and wants to spend it in a worthy manner. In that stead, Doolabh has created an organization called Spinal Care Australia to raise money for research and to raise awareness of spinal injury and recovery.

“I want to be able to help and raise money and awareness for spinal research so that maybe one day in the future they can do more for spinal injury patients.”

To raise funds for her organization, the formally paralyzed Doolabh plans to climb to the Mount Everest base camp with her mother and four friends. She aims to raise $10,000 by doing so. As of yet, she has raised $3,200. If you are interested in helping Doolabh reach her goal, visit her website at www.spinalcare.org.au and follow the links to her Everest climb.

For the full story click here.

If you or a loved one have involved in accident that was someone else's fault and have suffered a brain or spinal trauma, please call me at the The Law Office of Moseley Collins. We are waiting to help you.

God bless.

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Brain Injuries are often times either fatal or severely debilitating. A young woman, Anna Kindt, knows the fragility of the brain first hand. Driving her car one night, Anna, lost control of her Honda Civic as she passed another vehicle and swerved into a nearby lawn. Slamming into several trees later, the Civic was left totaled, with a collapsed roof and smashed side.

Anna was rushed to the hospital. Suffering a traumatic brain injury, doctors tried to keep Anna’s brain from swelling.

There is a relatively new method some hospitals have been implementing to prevent serious brain injury and death after an accident such as Anna’s. The method is to place the patient in a state of hypothermia. This method of hypothermia has been show to have some positive effects on an injured brain. For one thing, when a brain suffers an injury, it will produce a chemical that can be harmful to its cells, hypothermia can slow this down. Hypothermia also reduces swelling, which in injured brain can cause severe mental damage and even death.

After 32 days in the hospital and 10 days in a state of hypothermia, Anna was released from the hospital. She has had an amazing recovery. Anna's initial prognosis was a mere 20% for survival and, if she did in fact survive, mental retardation was a guarantee. Although Anna's family says that her personality has altered somewhat with more moodiness and she suffers from memory loss, Anna's beat out the odds by a dramatic amount.

If you have been injured in an accident at someone else’s fault, and have suffered from a traumatic brain injury, please call the Law Offices of Moseley Collins. We are here to help.

Web Resources:

Hypothermia May Help With Severe Head Injuries, Red Orbit

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At our Personal Injury Law Office in Sacramento, we can face the most horrific of acts carried out against an individual. I was reading the news today, when I came across one of those acts in the nearby area of Auburn, California. The story told of a case against a woman for allegedly killing a 16-month old child through shaken baby syndrome.

The accused woman, Veronica Salcedo, was babysitting three children the night of the incident. The youngest child, Hannah, is the center of the case. According to News 10, prosecutors are calling for Veronica to be tried for “second degree murder and child abuse causing death or great bodily injury”. It is their claim that Veronica shook Hannah so violently that the child ended up in the hospital on life support and died two days later.

On the opposing side, defendants state this is not what happened at all, but rather the cause of Hannah’s death was from a neurological undiagnosed illness. They state that there is evidence that the child’s brain was swelling the night before the incident. However, doctors never did the neurological testing for the illness, so there is no way of truly knowing.

Veronica did state that she shook Hannah. However, she states that it was only slightly and just to get her to come to when she found her unresponsive. Supposedly, Veronica had confessed to shaking the child harder when police first spoke to her, but has now withdrawn that on account of a language barrier (Veronica only speaks Spanish).

Shaken Baby Syndrome is child abuse. Shaken Baby Syndrome, or SBS, occurs when a child is shaken hard enough that their brain bounces inside the child’s skull, causing damage or death. This diagnosis usually will occur in children two years or younger. At this age children have weak necks, large, heavy heads, and developing brains. These characteristics put together make an instance of strong shaking very threatening to a baby’s life.

If you have a child who has been diagnosed with SBS because of someone else’s abusive behavior, please call me at the Law Offices of Moseley Collins.

To read the full news article, please click here.

For more information on Shaken Baby Syndrome, please click here.

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I was reading the news today when I came across a story about a young girl who was a part of a car accident 10 months prior. The crash left her in a coma and in critical condition. Two other passengers of the car were killed and the driver, her boyfriend at the time, was also in critical condition. It is amazing how one moment can so incredibly alter the course of one’s life. The young girl, 19-year old Savannah Willson, now is learning to cope with life again, from a different angle.

The car crash was caused by Savannah’s boyfriend, who took part in a sudden street race on his way home from a night out. His car reached speeds of 70 mph, well over the posted 25 mph speed limit. The car lost control in midsts of the race and slammed into a tree. From that moment on, Savannah would see her life change. After a week in a coma, she awoke to find the right side of her body paralyzed. She had suffered brain damage to the left side of her brain in the accident, causing neurons to disconnect. She also was not able to swallow her saliva and doctors had to perform a tracheotomy, which left a tube in her windpipe for 90 days.

Three months after the accident Savannah was able to leave the hospital and had regained partial use the right side of her body. Savannah will continue to undergo physical therapy and rehabilitation to regain use of the right side of her body.

Savannah’s ex-boyfriend is now facing trial for two counts of vehicular manslaughter. Street racing is such a dangerous game to play, especially when others' lives are involved. The lives of loved ones, friends, and even strangers can be alter and/or lost forever.

To read the full article in the Sacramento Bee, please click here.

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I was reading an article in the Sacramento Bee this afternoon on the amount of children that fall out of windows and injure themselves. The article states that thousands of children fall out of windows each year and are hospitalized as a result. That is incredible to me, but it does make sense. Children are so curious, especially at young ages they want to explore everything that catches their eye. An open window is an open invitation for these children to accept. In our Sacramento area alone, doctors at UC Davis hospital stated that over the course of three years, 44 children were hospitalized after falling out of a window.

The Sacramento Bee gave an example of a little girl, Taia Herring, who fell out of a second-story window just days after her third birthday. She was left alone for a moment and out the window she went. Her mom found her on the grass outside, barely conscious. She was rushed to the hospital to find out that she had suffered major brain injury and fractured her femur.

Taia’s parents were devastated, but they held fast to hope and submitted themselves to prayer every day for their daughter. And then her remarkable recovery took hold. Within two months, Taia was able to speak and left to return home. She is still learning to walk on her leg and continues with physical therapy. Her parents say that they know it is the blessing of God that Taia was saved in that fall.

If you have small children take precautions to prevent them from climbing out of windows. This could protect your child from suffering from a major brain injury or even death. Keep objects away from windows that could enable your child to get easy access to the outside. Close windows on the second story or keep close watch on your children when they are playing upstairs.

To read the full article in the Sacramento Bee, please click here.

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A story I blogged about a couple weeks ago on a high school football player has been updated. In Southern California, a high school senior, Scotty, is still in critical condition after he collapsed on the field during one of the high school football games about two weeks ago. News reports state that he actually stumbled off the field and then slipped into a coma. He has been comatose since this incidence.

His doctor informs news sources that Scotty’s injury is due to a traumatic brain injury, very similar to what one would see from a serious car accident. Despite suspicions that the injury was due to a previous hit or accident, Scotty’s doctor says that this injury had to have happen within hours of Scotty reaching the hospital.

Doctors cannot predict how Scotty will, or even if he will, recover. At this point in time, with such a major brain injury, and with Scotty in such a deep coma, it is difficult to see signs of recovery. Over the past couple of weeks, Scotty has only slightly moved the right side of his body and cracked his eyes open once. Unfortunately, this could be due to reflexes rather than signs of improvement.

Students and parents around the area of San Marcos have formed a support group for Scotty. The team had their first game this past Friday, and the stadium, on both sides, were filled with people adorning Scotty’s football number, number 54. There were also fundraisers at the game to help pay for the extensive medical bills that Scotty’s parents will undoubtedly face.

It is such a tragedy to see someone so young go through such horrific injuries. Scotty’s football coaches have scoured videotapes of the game in which Scotty was injured, but have yet found an exact hit which caused Scotty's traumatic brain injury. Let’s pray for Scotty’s recovery and strength for his family.

To read the full article on Scotty’s traumatic brain injury, please click here.

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