Oregon Injury Lawyer Blog

This story from Seattle is worth noting because it highlights one of the things bike riders in an urban environment fear most, and one of the types of Oregon and Washington bicycle accident that is most easily preventable - and one for which there is never really any good excuse.

According to West Seattle Blog, a local online publication, a cyclist in the Seattle area was hospitalized yesterday after “a car door opened in front of him causing him to flip over the door.” Quoting local police, the blog reports that despite the fact that he was not wearing a helmet the rider, a 30-year-old man, “remained conscious and responsive but could not remember the accident,” when police and emergency services personnel arrived to help him. He was taken to a local hospital “in stable condition.” The fact that the victim could not remember the accident is an especially worrisome sign – indicating a possible traumatic brain injury.

Several notable issues arise from this short item. The Washington bicycle accident is a reminder of how dangerous riding in a city can be – even a city as bike-friendly as ours are here in the Pacific Northwest. The victim in this accident appears to be extremely lucky, especially granted that he was not wearing a helmet. It is worth adding that the accident he experienced – being launched head-first over the handlebars – is just about the most dangerous kind of bike accident a rider can be involved in. That is why it is especially important that drivers always remember to look carefully before opening a car door. Checking one's mirror alone is not sufficient: people getting out of a car need to turn around and look directly behind and beside the vehicle. We are all aware of our cars' blind spots when they are moving. That awareness should not cease just because the car is parked.

Of all the imaginable bicycle vs car encounters this is arguably the most easily preventable type. It is important that people responsible for accidents like this one be held accountable for their actions, but from the perspective of an Oregon bicycle accident lawyer, the easiest and best way to prevent Portland bicycle accidents is for cyclists and drivers alike to respect the rules of the road and exercise due caution. “Share the Road” should be more than a slogan – it should be second nature for anyone behind the wheel in Oregon, Washington or anywhere else.

West Seattle Blog: Bicycle rider collides with car door, taken to hospital

In a Miami courtroom today, a panel of federal judges are scheduled to hear arguments in a case with implications for athletes here in Oregon suffering from traumatic brain injuries. According to the Associated Press, the judges are “considering whether to consolidate lawsuits filed around the country by more than 300 former NFL players seeking damages for concussions they suffered.” The list of defendants includes some players, such as Tony Dorsett and Jim McMahon, who were once among the game’s biggest stars.

With the NFL fully engaged in the annual hype surrounding the Super Bowl the timing is, perhaps, unfortunate for the league. It serves, however, as an important reminder of risks of the game, even as it seems likely to revive the bad publicity the league has received for what some former players, attorneys and doctors describe as its lack of attention to long-term mental health issues. Granted the example that professional players set for other football players, and aspiring players, at every level the implications of the suit are significant. The growing public realization here in Oregon and elsewhere of the seriousness of traumatic brain injuries is surely not something the NFL wants to remind fans of in the run up to February 5’s clash between the Giants and the Patriots.

As ESPN notes, the number of players filing or joining traumatic brain injury suits has grown rapidly in recent months. The suits have been filed across the country, and today’s hearing in Miami deals with the narrow legal issue of whether all of these cases should be consolidated and go forward as a single legal action. The NFL denies charges that it failed to protect the players both during and after their careers. The players counter with painful personal stories all too familiar to any Oregon brain injury victim or their family: memory loss and more serious conditions including, as reported by ESPN, “headaches, dizziness and dementia.”

Any Oregon brain and spinal cord injury lawyer knows all too well how serious such injuries can be. The toll taken by Oregon brain injuries extends far beyond the victims and their immediate families. By publicizing the dangers inherent in the game, these retired football players are doing parents and young people throughout the country a service. Making the game safer, particularly for children and teens, must be a priority for us all.

AP via the Miami Herald: US panel mulls merge of NFL concussion suits

ESPN: NFL, retirees eye unified concussion suit

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a voluntary recall of “Little Tricky” kids bike helmets. See the link below for the original CPSC news release, including pictures of the helmets themselves. Parents should immediately double-check their kids’ helmets to ensure that the children are not using the affected products.

The agency news release says that the helmets “do not comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance.” That means that in the event of an Oregon bicycle accident the helmets might fail to offer the required protection. “Customers could suffer impact head injuries in a fall,” the CPSC warns.

According to the CPSC the helmets have been on sale since 2006. The company’s “Triple Eight” and “Sector 9” size “S/M” (for “small/medium”) models are affected by the recall. The government is urging parents to ensure that their children stop using the helmets immediately, and to return the helmets to the manufacturer for a full refund.

The risk of serious traumatic brain injuries cannot be overstated in a case like this. Helmets are especially important when cycling because of the risk of being thrown head-first over the handlebars in the event of a crash. While it is equally true that no helmet can prevent every conceivable accident, it is important for Oregon parents to take pro-active action whenever news of a faulty product, such as this, comes to light.

CPSC: Bicycle Helmets Recalled by Triple Eight Distribution Due to Risk of Head Injury

Kevin Pierce’s long journey back to snowboarding is an object lesson for everyone here in Oregon concerned about traumatic brain injuries in sports. Once one of the world’s top riders and a likely member of the 2010 US Olympic team, the snowboarding star was severely injured “when he fell and hit his head on the icy wall” of a halfpipe where he was training.

A few weeks short of the second anniversary of that accident, Pierce got back on a snowboard, last week according to the New York Times. The paper reports that his road to recovery has been long and slow. That first run, at a ski resort in Colorado, was a slow cruise down an easy slope: “No tricks. No big air,” the newspaper reported.

Even now, Pierce’s life remains marked by “an unsteady walk, blurry vision and a diminished memory.”

And this, remember, is the portrait of an elite athlete coping with the after-effects of a traumatic brain injury. For almost anyone else it is safe to say that the road to recovery could well be longer and more difficult.

Pierce’s story is also a reminder to the rest of us that even the most talented athletes can suffer horrendous injuries – a fact that, in turn, places a special burden on equipment manufacturers and those who run athletic facilities: to offer the safest gear and the safest environment possible. From an Oregon product liability attorney’s perspective, it is unfortunate to ever see a person suffer because of someone else’s negligence. Particularly when the injury involves a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury. The law can be an important force in helping ensure that justice is done after tragedy strikes, but any Portland brain injury lawyer will affirm that it is better when things function smoothly in the first place, ensuring that lawyers and courts need not get involved.

New York Times: Pearce to ride for first time since 2009 accident

An article published this week in the New York Times offers details of a “class-action suit that claims the NCAA has been negligent regarding awareness and treatment of brain injuries to athletes.”

According to the newspaper there are currently four plaintiffs involved in the suit – three football players and, unexpectedly, a soccer player. As the newspaper notes, the suit is particularly interesting because it targets the NCAA, the body that oversees most college athletics here in the United States, rather than the individual schools for which the plaintiffs played.

The focus of the article is a former University of Central Arkansas football player, described in the piece as once having been a three-sport athlete, straight-A student and talented trumpet player. Following a severe hit as he was returning a punt last year he has been unable to play. Heeding doctors’ advice he has now permanently abandoned contact sports, the newspaper reports.

As the Times observes, one of the key problems facing those who believe they have suffered traumatic brain injuries here in Oregon or elsewhere while playing a college sport is the unique status of college athletes. They are not, legally speaking, children, like players in High School or Middle School games. But they are not employees either (at least not in a formal sense) like pro players in the NFL. That is one reason why the Washington State brain injury lawyer in charge of the case says he is focused on arranging “insurance that would provide for training and evaluation for players and follow-up care for athletes,” as part of any resolution of the lawsuit. The NCAA, rather than individual schools, is the focus of the suit because the plaintiffs want to change the way severe brain trauma is handled across the world of college sports, not merely in any particular sport or institution.

From an Oregon traumatic brain injury lawyer’s perspective the approach these plaintiffs are taking is particularly interesting. If we start from the premise that the real purpose of going to court is to see justice done, we must also acknowledge that justice that only looks backwards is, philosophically speaking, incomplete. Victims and their families should know that the people responsible for an injury have moved to ensure that the injury will not be repeated. Any suit that seeks to improve the way the world of college sports handles all athletes is a welcome addition to our national discussion of the problem of sports-related head and brain injuries.

New York Times: College Athletes Move Concussions into the Courtroom

The National Hockey League’s 2011-12 season kicked off last night with both the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and the team they edged out last summer, the Vancouver Canucks, losing close fought, first-night match-ups.

Those games (along with a Montreal-Toronto contest) were the first official ones to be played under new NHL rules that severely restrict (but do not entirely ban) hits to the head during play. Long known as a fast and violent game, professional hockey has shown increasing concern for the long-term health of its players in recent years. Concussions and traumatic brain injuries emerged as a concern partly because of changes in the game itself – players are larger, skate faster, hit harder and wear better padding than their predecessors a generation (let alone half a century) ago, and the wear and tear on their bodies shows. The issue became especially salient for the league in the wake of several high-profile injuries that have sidelined star players for extended periods of time.

The most notable examples are Boston’s Marc Savard who has never completely recovered from a grade 2 concussion sustained in March 2010, and Pittsburgh’s Sydney Crosby, arguably the league’s most famous active player, who has not played since the beginning of the year after suffering two hits to the head in rapid succession during games on January 1 and January 5.

During the off-season the league hired a recently retired star, Brendan Shanahan, as its Senior Vice President in charge of player discipline. In a video distributed to all teams before the season began (and readily available to any fan on the NHL website) Shanahan outlined the new, stricter, rules on contact to the head last month. As soon as pre-season games began he indicated he was serious about his new job by passing out an eyebrow-raising number of suspensions for illegal contact, several of which will extend into the regular season.

From the perspective of a Portland concussion and traumatic brain injury attorney the NHL’s attempt to keep its game rough and fast while improving safety must be applauded. Whatever the League’s shortcomings, at least it is making a serious, public effort to cut down on dangerous plays that may lead to brain or spinal cord injuries. The NHL opted not to go as far as college and international hockey and ban hits to the head entirely, but it is hard not to see the new rules as a step in that direction. The game remains rough, even violent, but at least there is the acknowledgement that in the wake of so many traumatic brain injuries, something in the hockey world needs to change.

New York Times: With stricter rules on hits to the head, some NHL stars are split on a full ban

New York Times: Shanahan is enforcing Rules with Gusto

In an extraordinary, and welcome, initiative reported last week by the New York Times, the national retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods plans to offer millions of baseline concussion scans to student athletes in an effort to cut down on traumatic brain injuries.

“Through a program it calls Protecting Athletes Through Concussion Education, or PACE, Dick’s will pay for schoolwide neurocognitive testing of athletes across more than 3,300 schools totaling more than a million students,” the paper reports. The goal is to help schools know when athletes have been injured by establishing a baseline against which their brain functions can be compared following a sports-related traumatic brain injury. The idea is to test athletes before their seasons begin.

Having data on “functions like verbal memory, visual memory, and reaction time” collected while a student is healthy will make it easier to determine later on whether injuries, even subtle ones, have altered the way the brain is functioning. The paper notes that the same tests are now routinely administered to professional baseball, football and hockey players.

Dick’s has promised to donate up to $1 million to fund the program, and is also promoting it in television advertisements. The company has hired former NFL player Jerome Bettis as its spokesman for the initiative. Bettis told the newspaper that he now realizes he suffered “numerous minor concussions” in addition to the major ones of which he was aware during his playing career. The minor concussions were never properly diagnosed and Bettis now says he would have approached his career differently had he realized at the time how serious their cumulative effect can be.

From a Portland traumatic brain injury lawyer’s perspective an initiative like this can only be applauded. Anything that helps cut down on serious injuries to children and other student athletes has to be welcomed. Kids do not always appreciate the dangers inherent in the sports they love. Giving parents and coaches more tools with which to keep them safe both on and off the field should make everyone rest a bit easier.

New York Times: Sporting goods chain supports concussion testing in schools

According to The Oregonian a shocking number of Portland-area children have been injured in falls from windows since the beginning of the summer. The newspaper recently reported that there have been eight such accidents in recent weeks, the latest one involving a toddler who fell “from the second-floor window of his family’s Southeast Portland home.”

The paper, quoting Portland fire officials, says the injured Oregon child suffered “a skull fracture and broken teeth.” Thankfully, the child is reported to have suffered no Oregon traumatic brain injury as a result of the accident. Such injuries are a particular concern when children fall from windows, as I noted in an earlier post.

In a related article the newspaper reports that there are roughly 4000 such injuries to children nationwide each year, with Oregon averaging “40 to 50.”

These injuries are particularly tragic because they are so easy to prevent. As The Oregonian, citing window safety experts, notes, simple solutions like stops which prevent a window from opening more than four inches are cheap, easy to install and can dramatically cut the number of Oregon children injured each year in accidents like this one.

Tragedies like this are also a reminder of the important role our courts, and Portland child injury attorneys, play in ensuring that people and companies take appropriate precautions to protect kids when they are near windows and in danger of falling. It is, of course, far preferable that accidents never happen, but also reassuring to know that our legal system provides opportunities for victims to seek justice when that becomes necessary.

The Oregonian: Southeast Portland boy recovering from injury after falling out of window

The Oregonian: Simple hardware, common sense can prevent children from falling out of windows

A class action lawsuit filed in Salem is taking aim at a perhaps surprising target. According to area television station KDRV the lawsuit alleges that a major insurance company has been “fraudulently denying claims after car crashes.”

The target? USAA, a banking and insurance giant that deals exclusively with current and former members of the military and their families. Because of its focus on the military community USAA has long cultivated a customer-friendly, service-oriented image far removed from that of most commercial banks and insurance companies.

The Oregon suit, however, charges the company with “using medical reports by physicians to say treatment for injuries suffered in car crashes were not medically necessary. Plaintiffs allege in their suit that the insurance medical reviewers of their cases never even talked or consulted with them.” The station’s report said USAA “declined to comment on the lawsuit.”

The seriousness of the allegations in this Oregon lawsuit is a reminder of the important role Salem and Portland personal injury attorneys play in our legal system. When confronted with red tape and a large, powerful and inflexible insurance bureaucracy many ordinary Oregonians often feel they have no recourse. It is an unfortunate fact of American life that many of us must buy insurance to cover our basic needs in times of crisis – knowing full well that many insurance companies will do everything they can to avoid meeting their obligations at the moment when, for us, it matters most.

Whether you are fighting an insurance company to get the claims and treatment you deserve in the wake of an Oregon auto or motorcycle accident, a traumatic brain injury, severe burn, spinal cord injury or an industrial accident, it is important to know that Portland personal injury attorneys are available to help you navigate the often intimidating world of the court system in your search for justice.

KDRV.com: Oregon lawyer files suit against USAA

Insurance Networking News: Class Action Suit Brought Against USAA

A recent column in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call highlights a potentially serious attack on patients rights here in Oregon and elsewhere, one that has received relatively little notice in the months since the new Congress convened.

The focus of the piece is HR 5. Formally titled the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare Act (i.e. the “HEALTH Act”), it is billed as a centerpiece of Republican efforts to repeal and replace the health care reform act passed by President Barack Obama and the Democrats last year. According to the federal government’s legislative bill-tracking service, Thomas.gov, the bill is co-sponsored by about half of all the Republicans in the House. Among Oregon’s congressional delegation only Rep. Greg Walden, whose district covers much of rural eastern and central Oregon, is a co-sponsor.

The official summary says that the bill “sets conditions for lawsuits arising from health care liability claims.” In particular, it establishes a three-year statute of limitations for most health-care related injuries. In addition, the bill “limits noneconomic damages to $250,000 (and) makes each party liable only for the amount of damages directly proportional to such party’s percentage of responsibility.” It also forbids the awarding of punitive damages “in the case of products approved, cleared or licensed” by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In practical terms what does all of that mean for personal injury and medical malpractice victims here in Oregon? The most important effect of the bill would be to sweep away state law where medical malpractice and patients rights are concerned. As the Roll Call column notes, these matters have traditionally been left to the states (making it somewhat ironic that among HR 5’s sponsors are many of Congress’ most vocal defenders of states’ rights). It would, in effect, replace decades of carefully considered state law on Oregon product liability, medical malpractice and patients’ rights with a national, one-size-fits-all, approach.

From a Portland personal injury lawyer’s perspective, this legislation deserves closer public scrutiny. The effect on victims seeking justice for a medical malpractice claim or severe brain injury here in Oregon could be devastating – shifting the scales of justice decisively in favor of large companies or irresponsible players within the health care system. It is particularly worrisome that the legislation would, in effect, provide blanket immunity from lawsuits to any product or drug approved by the FDA regardless of the circumstances of the product’s failure or the nature of the damage it caused. Clients should know, however, that Oregon’s medical malpractice, traumatic brain injury and personal injury attorneys will be here to defend them, regardless of what happens in Washington DC.

Roll Call: Vance: Medical Malpractice Is Issue for the States

Thomas.gov: Official summary of HR 5

A poignant reminder of the long-term effects of concussions on football players cane over the weekend when Terry Bradshaw revealed in a blog post that “he is suffering from deficits in short-term memory and impairments in his hand-eye coordination,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reports that the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, a long-time NFL commentator on television, attributes his ever-worsening problems to “at least six concussions” sustained during his NFL career.

Bradshaw, of course, played in the 1970s and it might be argued that today’s players are better-trained and use better equipment than their predecessors. Two minutes watching NFL films from that era, however, will show any viewer that while today’s equipment may be better, today’s players are bigger, stronger, play the game faster and hit much, much harder than those of a generation ago.

Bradshaw’s revelations of the ongoing effects of brain injuries come at a time when the league is trying to improve its less-than-stellar record of caring for players once their careers are over. It also, as the paper notes, arrives at a time when team officials and players in the worlds of football and hockey are increasingly aware of the damage lesser hits can cause. The Times cites a doctor at UCLA who mentions the cumulative effects of multiple less-than-concussion-level hits – an issue that the NHL has recently begun paying particular attention to.

The lives and long-term health of professional athletes are important not only for their impact on those individuals’ health and the well-being of their families, but because of the signals they send to young athletes.

As a Portland sports injury lawyer, it is especially heartening to see both professional sports and society at large paying more attention to these issues. As I have said before, the legal system is there to help victims an their families obtain justice in the wake of an Oregon brain or spinal cord injury – but when athletes and their families are forced to go to court to protect their rights that is an unfortunate sign that the system has failed in broader, more important ways.

Los Angeles Times: Football concussions catching up with Terry Bradshaw, he says

A surprising – and heartening – article in the sports section of the New York Times last week revealed that heightened awareness of the serious nature of sports-related concussions and other traumatic brain injuries has turned up in an unexpected forum: video games.

The paper reports that “Madden NFL 12, the coming version of the eerily true-to-life NFL video game played by millions of gamers, will be realistic enough not only to show players receiving concussions, but also to show any player who sustains one being sidelined for the rest of the game – no exceptions.”

Considering the extent of the criticism being weathered by the real-life NFL over head injury issues and the long term health of the league’s players, this development can only be called striking. The article quotes John Madden himself saying that the change in the game’s format was driven partly by the desire for ever-greater realism, but also from a belief that children need to understand how serious a matter concussions can be. “We want that message to be strong,” Madden told the Times.

With parents more focused than ever on safety in school sports this is an important development. Here in Oregon we have seen a rise in concern over head and spinal cord injuries, particularly among football players. As Madden highlights in his interview, children develop their attitudes toward the game – and how it should be played – at an early age. Anything that helps reinforce a message of on-field safety should be welcomed.

In the final analysis, it should be schools and coaches, parents and players who serve as the main defense against Oregon head injuries on the athletic field. When the issue reaches the office of a Portland personal injury lawyer that is a sign, frankly, that the rest of the system has failed. Lawyers and courts play an important role in ensuring that justice is done, but their responsibilities come into play only to right wrongs that arise elsewhere.

New York Times: Madden Puts Concussions in New Light in His Game

A Florida judge has issued a key ruling in a closely watched wrongful death case that may have implications for student athletes here in Oregon and elsewhere.

The case concerns the death of Ereck Plancher, a 19-year-old student and football player at the University of Central Florida. Plancher died in March 2008 after collapsing during a spring workout that was being supervised by the university football coach. According to the Orlando Sentinel “an autopsy found that the stress of the workout triggered Plancher’s sickle cell trait, causing misshapen blood cells to damage his organs and shut down his body.”

Though the university “contends it did everything possible to save his life,” Plancher’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the school, its trustees and the UCF Athletics Association. Last week’s ruling allowed the parents to seek punitive damages in the case, but instructed the jury only to award such damages if the jurors “specifically find that no water and no athletic trainers were present for the final portion of Palncher’s workout.”

This case is worth watching, even from across the continent, because of the increased attention that safety among student athletes has been receiving, especially here in Oregon. Much of this attention has focused on Oregon traumatic brain injuries and Oregon spinal cord injuries. Still, wrongful death stemming from an overly intense workout, or inadequate precautions on the part of a school or its coaching staff, have emerged as issues in several cases in different parts of the country, and it is worth paying attention to how different courts resolve these issues.

The attorney representing the victim’s family put it well, telling the Sentinel: “It’s not about compensating the Plancher family, it’s about stopping football programs from disregarding the safety of student athletes.” Here in Portland, any Oregon wrongful death and traumatic brain injury attorney would agree with that sentiment.

Orlando Sentinel: Ereck Plancher family can seek punitive damages from UCF Athletic Association, judge rules

In terms of violence and physical contact baseball is a far cry from football or hockey, but today’s news brought word that the National Pastime is following in the footsteps of higher-impact competitions in seeking to address concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.

According to an analysis published by Bloomberg News, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has announced new procedures for dealing with head injuries in baseball. The measures, which take effect on Thursday when the 2011 season officially begins, include changes to the manner in which “concussions are diagnosed and the determination on when players or umpires can return to the field.”

The news agency notes that each team will be required to designate a brain injury specialist as part of the medical team based in its home city. It also establishes a new, head-injury-specific seven day disabled list and establishes consistent “protocols for evaluating players for a possible concussion after high-risk incidents, such as being hit in the head by a pitched, batted or thrown ball, or colliding with another player or fixed object.”

Though baseball clearly has fewer serious traumatic brain and spinal cord injury problems than some other sports, it is gratifying to see the sport move in a direction pioneered by other leagues, notably the NHL, which has wrestled with rule changes several times over the last few years as it looks for ways to minimize head injuries.

Responsible conduct at the professional level is important not least because of the example it sets for colleges, schools and youth sports programs. Here in Oregon, concern over traumatic brain injuries is rising, just as it is in the rest of the nation. From the perspective of a Portland brain and spinal cord injury attorney, increased awareness is an important first step both toward preventing future accidents and in the fight to obtain justice for those who are already suffering.

Bloomberg: Major League Baseball Institutes Seven-Day Disabled List for Concussions

An important article published in the New York Times last week indicates that the manufacturers of football helmets are moving to address problems in the way their products are used – a move that could benefit many young athletes in a time when traumatic brain injuries stemming from football and other rough sports are an issue of increasing concern.

According to the newspaper, “the National Athletic Equipment Reconditioners Association (Naera) announced (last) Thursday that is would no longer accept helmets more than 10 years old.” As the paper notes, many schools regularly send football helmets in for reconditioning, but concerns have been rising that as the products age it can become difficult if not impossible to bring the gear back to a point where it meets appropriate safety standards. Under current standards, the paper notes, so long as the equipment met applicable safety standards when it was new “helmets of any age and condition can be worn, despite concerns over how the stiffening of foam and the degrading of the polycarbonate shell can leave a player more susceptible to concussions.”

Though the article does not say this, it appears that football helmet manufacturers and reconditioners may be taking a cue from the ski industry. For several decades the manufacturers of ski bindings have indemnified their products for a finite period of years (usually 10 or 12). Once that period expires, skiers quickly discover that few ski techs will agree to make even minor adjustments to the bindings. A cynic might say the companies are forcing skiers to purchase new equipment on a regular basis, but the policy also ensures that the vast majority of skiers are using relatively up-to-date equipment – an important consideration in such a potentially dangerous sport.

The new football helmet standards have the potential to offer significant peace of mind to Portland-area parents who fear concussions and other Oregon traumatic brain injuries when their children participate in contact sports.

Oregon personal injury attorneys are likely to keep a close eye on the new standards. We must all ensure that schools and others running youth sports are paying attention and using the tools the industry is giving them to help fight the battle against Oregon brain injuries.

The New York Times: Group to phase out old football helmets

A recent Oregonian story on young athletes and Oregon brain injuries focuses not only on the potential consequences of head injuries here in Oregon and elsewhere, but spotlights how seemingly minor incidents can lead to TBI. As the article notes: “Despite national campaigns and state laws to increase awareness about teenagers and concussions, victims… still struggle to find effective relief.”

The article focuses on a high school basketball player who wound up missing nearly two years on the court after “a stray ball bopped her on the head.” The incident seemed relatively minor at the time, but coming, as it did, shortly after another head injury (“a sharp knee to the head during a spirit-building game of tunnel tag,” as The Oregonian puts it) it was enough not only to sideline the teenage girl’s basketball career but also to launch her into a two year odyssey of headaches, lowered cognitive function and repeated rounds of treatment.

The girl, now 17, is finally back in school and was recently able to return to her high school basketball team, the paper reports. But her experience is a reminder of how difficult diagnosis and treatment of Portland brain injuries often is where younger athletes are concerned. This is especially worrisome since, as the paper notes, a CDC study found that “adolescents are more likely than adults to get a concussion and take longer to recover.”

Oregon and other states have sought to address the issue with legislation. A new state law requires players suspected of concussions to be removed from games immediately. As the piece cited here indicates, however, greater public awareness is still needed of the Oregon brain injury dangers involved in sports – such as basketball – that we are not accustomed to think about as violent. Put another way, the problem is not confined to football and hockey, but it has taken time for parents, school officials and athletes themselves to understand that fact.

Families looking for a way to move beyond trauma often require legal as well as medical advice. A Portland brain injury lawyer can be offer invaluable assistance to athletes and their families coping with the aftermath of an Oregon head injury sustained on the field, diamond, court or rink.

The Oregonian: Concussions, an injury rising among teen athletes, more profound and enduring than previously known

An article just published by the online magazine Slate raises an intriguing question: is it safer to drive head-first into a parking spot, the way most Americans do? Or to back into it? The question is relevant because if there is strong data suggesting that backing into parking spaces is, by and large, safer that, in turn, would mean that we ought to begin looking at Oregon car accidents in different ways.

We all know, of course, that Portland car accidents can lead to any number of traumas: Oregon brain injuries, injuries to children, even wrongful death. Who among us has not had a near miss either when backing out of a parking space or when passing by (whether in a car or on foot) someone who is doing so without paying sufficient attention.

Though Slate notes that “parking lot crash statistics are a bit hazy,” it goes on to note: “a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2001 and 2002 found that 14 percent of all damage claims involved crashes in parking lots (some number of which must have involved vehicles moving in and out of spaces).” Further, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a report to Congress last year estimated that “backover crashes,” as they are officially known, “cause at least 183 fatalities annually” as well as approximately 7000 injuries. The NHTSA is studying new rules that it hopes may lower these numbers by cutting the size of vehicle blind spots.

Pedestrians of all ages are at risk where Oregon backover crashes are concerned, as are Portland cyclists. As the government report notes however, it is children who are particularly vulnerable where backover injuries are concerned.

An Oregon child injury lawyer can help victims and their families as they as they consider their next moves in the aftermath of a backover crash or other Portland car accident. For the moment, it might also be good for the rest of us to at least think about Slate’s advice and consider backing into parking spaces more often. As the magazine notes, when you back in you have the opportunity in driving past the space to glance over and ensure that it is clear before starting to park. Similarly, when pulling out one has a clearer view of the traffic or the rest of the parking lot.

Slate: You’re Parking Wrong

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Vehicle Backover Avoidance Technology Study – Report to Congress

The issue of Oregon traumatic brain injuries and sports has been covered in this space on a number of previous occasions. I have noted in the past that while Portland is not an NHL city, the increased attention being paid to head injuries and concussions in the hockey world merits our attention.

Last spring I wrote about the serious concussion suffered by Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Savard, one of the team’s stars, was knocked unconscious by a check to the head and taken off the ice on a stretcher. He returned briefly during the playoffs about two months later but was clearly far from 100% and was placed back on the disabled list soon afterward. Partly because of the injury to Savard (one of several especially serious head injuries in the latter part of last season) the league revised its rules on hits to the head before the current season began in October.

Savard himself missed the first two months of the current season. After playing well over the last six weeks, however, he is once again spending time with doctors, rather than on the ice in the wake of yet another blow to the head and yet another possible concussion in a game against Colorado last week, according to the Boston Globe.

What makes this latest injury of special interest to Oregon athletes and their parents is its repetitive nature. Unlike the brutal check Savard sustained last year, last week’s hit was not, by NHL standards, especially nasty (though it probably would have bought the checking player an ejection from a college game and would certainly have merited a penalty in a game played under international rules – such as an Olympic or World Championship game). Yet, according to the Globe, the hit has likely ended Savard’s season and may, at age 33, have ended his career. There is a lesson for Portland, Ashland, Salem and other Oregon parents here: a reminder that head injuries are particularly serious and that a nominally less severe second or third incident can build on an initial injury to cause greater damage.

These are exactly the sort of issues that victims and their families are well-advised to discuss with a Portland brain and spinal cord injury attorney at the earliest possible opportunity. Youth sports leagues, high schools and colleges have an obligation to offer their athletes adequate protection. When they fail to do so an Oregon TBI lawyer can be an essential ally for families seeking to ensure that justice is served.

Boston Globe: A win – with a catch

Boston Globe: Savard leaves hole at center

Senator Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) is making headlines this week as the man leading efforts by Senate Democrats to reform rules governing filibusters. As the New Year begins he also, however, is emerging as the congressional point person for a very different issue: traumatic brain injuries, specifically those sustained while playing football.

According to The New York Times, Udall is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to “investigate what he called “misleading safety claims and deceptive practices” among helmet manufacturers and refurbishers.”

As I noted in this post last fall, safety standards for football helmets have not changed meaningfully since the early 1970s. The Times article notes that Udall “took specific aim at Riddell, the official helmet manufacturer of the N.F.L., for its prominent claim that its popular Revolution models decrease concussion risk by 31 percent.” Udall contends that the testing standards used to evaluate helmets – along with much of the advertising based on those tests – are misleading. A spokesman for the company told the Times that Riddell welcomes the scrutiny, but hopes other helmet manufacturers will be subjected to it as well.

Perhaps the most shocking detail of this story, however, is buried far down: the fact that 4.4 million children under 18 play football in America and that they suffer around 500,000 concussions each year. Put another way: 1 in 9 youth football players suffers a concussion in any given year. In a country that is becoming more and more concerned about traumatic brain injuries in general, and TBI among children participating in sports in particular, these are sobering numbers.

Oregon parents concerned about the effect of football and the possibility of Oregon child injuries resulting from games played using inadequately tested or maintained equipment should consider contacting an Oregon traumatic brain injury attorney to discuss the effects the game may be having, especially on younger players.

New York Times: Senator calls for helmet safety investigation

Earlier this month New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed wide-ranging legislation designed to protect student-athletes in his state. As reported by the website Safe Kids New Jersey, the bill will require the state’s Department of Education “to develop an interscholastic athletic head injury safety training program to be completed by school physicians, coaches and athletic trainers” in both public and private schools.

The website goes on to note that the New Jersey program will include teaching school personnel how to recognize “symptoms of head and neck injuries,” how to judge when an athlete should be allowed to return to the field and when someone requires further treatment, including hospitalization. As the organization notes, “currently, there is no uniform method of handling suspected concussions in interscholastic sports.”

As I have noted in previous posts looking at both football and hockey, concern over concussions and other traumatic brain injuries at all levels of competition is rising here in Oregon and nationwide. Parents as well as coaches and trainers are becoming more and more aware of the dangers improperly diagnosed or treated head injuries can pose, especially to younger athletes. Below you’ll find a link to an especially helpful checklist of questions every parent should know to ask when talking to a doctor treating a child for a suspected head injury (the list is compiled by the federal government’s National Institutes of Health).

The issues surrounding Oregon concussions and other traumatic brain injuries are serious, and it is good to see them drawing more attention both here and nationwide. Legislation is a good first step but, ultimately, both parents and the justice system must remain vigilant to ensure that responsible adults act appropriately, particularly when caring for our children. Consulting an Oregon traumatic brain injury attorney can be an important step for parents wondering whether a sports-related injury could, or should, have been avoided.

Safe Kids New Jersey: Governor Christie Signs Comprehensive Concussion Safety Bill to Protect New Jersey’s Student-Athletes

National Institutes of Health: Concussion – what to ask your doctor – child

As the nation settles in for another football-filled fall weekend many of the sport’s fans are focusing on new enforcement measures announced by the NFL in the last few days. The league wants to contain the damage being caused by violent, potentially catastrophic, hits. As has been reported just about everywhere, an unusually large number of stomach-churning plays last week led the league to issue fines, threaten suspensions and warn players that enforcement of the sport’s existing rules is going to be tougher from now on.

But as a pair of articles published at opposite ends of the country this week remind us, the dangers of traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, concussions or other serious injuries faced by high school, middle school and youth players are, in some ways, far greater than those confronting the highly-trained, closely monitored athletes of the NFL.

In a wide-ranging article published yesterday, the Los Angeles Times noted that, in Southern California, no baseline set of standards exists for medical care at high school football games. The article dramatically contrasts the situation at private schools that can afford to have a staff of as many as four athletic trainers and a doctor roaming the sidelines to that of poor public schools that make due with an ambulance parked at one end of the field. Such a situation, the paper notes, offers reassurance in the event of a catastrophic brain or spinal cord injury, but does little or nothing for players who suffer milder, harder to diagnose – and far more common – injuries, such as concussions.

Concussions, in turn, are the focus of the New York Times piece, which states bluntly that many parents may be putting far too much faith in the helmets their children wear when playing football. “Helmets both new and used are not – and never have been – tested against the forces believed to cause concussions,” the paper reports. It goes on to note that football helmets – standards for which have “not changed meaningfully” since they were first written in 1973 – are designed mainly “to withstand only the extremely high-level force that would otherwise fracture skulls.” Put another way, football helmets do relatively little to prevent the jarring injuries, such as concussions, which are increasingly being acknowledged as an issue at all levels of football.

These articles raise critical issues that Oregon parents need to consider when deciding whether to allow their children to play football or other sports. Oregon sports injuries can cause damage that permanently alters a child’s life. When such a tragedy occurs, an Oregon sport injury attorney can provide essential counsel to parents considering the best way to achieve justice and restore balance to their family. A Portland traumatic brain and spinal cord injury lawyer can be a traumatized family’s most important ally when school or sports officials fail to live up to their responsibilities to create a properly safe sports environment here in Oregon.

New York Times: As injuries rise, scant oversight of helmet safety

Los Angeles Times: High school football’s medical tightrope

The NHL’s 2010-11 season opens at 9am PT tomorrow when the Carolina Hurricanes and Minnesota Wild face off in Helsinki, Finland, one of several Europe-based openers the league has planned. But when the Boston Bruins take to the ice against the Phoenix Coyotes in Prague, Czech Republic a few days later the specter of traumatic brain injuries will hang over the team in the form of their absent star center, Marc Savard.

As I noted in several blogs last spring, the concussion Savard sustained after a vicious hit to the head spurred interim rule changes while last season was still under way. After having the summer months to consider tweaks to those rules, the NHL recently announced that it is banning what are known as “blindside hits” to the head – like the one that took out Savard – according to the Reuter News Agency.

Speaking to reporters, however, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman noted that the new version of the rule is also designed to ensure that “some of the responsibility for player safety remains with the player being targeted,” according to the Reuters report.

Savard returned to the ice briefly some weeks after his injury last March, but it quickly became clear he had not fully recovered from his traumatic head injury. He has not been able to practice fully throughout the summer, and is not traveling to Prague with his teammates. Exactly when, if ever, he will be able to return to the game remains uncertain.

Hockey, like football, is a game built around tough, often violent, action. Still, it is also clear that the pro leagues have an obligation to try to make the game safe. This extends not only to the players the league and its teams employ. It also includes the example the pros set for younger players, including children, who take them as models. Severe head injuries, here in Oregon and elsewhere, remain both a problem and a serious risk in hockey, football and other sports. If you are a parent who believes that responsible adults may have failed to take reasonable precautions to prevent a Portland traumatic brain injury you owe it to yourself to consult with a Portland brain injury lawyer on the options the legal system may be able to offer you.

Reuters: Rule on NHL blindside hits to have biggest impact on new season

NESN: Marc Savard’s rehab schedule will keep him from traveling to Prague

After a spring and summer spent, in part, answering claims that the league may not take brain and spinal cord injuries seriously enough, NFL officials cannot have been pleased that the new season’s first week brought all of these questions back into play. During last Sunday’s season opener, as the New York Times reports, Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Stewart Bradley lay motionless on the field for several minutes. Though taken off the field for medical reasons he returned to the game, the paper reports, “less than four minutes later.” At halftime team doctors diagnosed him with a concussion.

As the Times notes, however, the real question is what example all of this is setting for younger players. NFL teams are well-positioned to offer their players immediate and on-going medical care. At the high school level, in particular, that is far less likely to be the case. As the Times notes, “only 42 percent of high schools in the United States have access to a certified athletic trainer, let alone a physician.”

The danger is that youngsters inspired by dreams of NFL glory are taking and giving sharper hits than they should, and that many schools are ill-equipped to deal with the consequences.

It is at such moments – when coaches and schools fail our kids – that the law must step in to hold responsible parties accountable. If your child has suffered a Portland head injury while participating in youth or school sports you owe it to yourself to begin consultations with an Oregon traumatic brain injury lawyer who can help you consider your options.

As the Times reports: “Research suggests that 10 percent to 50 percent of high school football players will sustain a concussion each season, with as many as 75 percent of those injuries going unreported and unnoticed.” Take the time to speak with a Portland child brain injury attorney for an outside opinion on the best way to guarantee justice if your son’s football experience has been neither as safe nor as fun as you had hoped.

New York Times: Eagles’ Handling of Head Injury Draws Spotlight

A new measure signed into law in Massachusetts this week raises questions about whether Oregon has sufficiently strong laws regarding young riders and ATVs. As outlined by Boston TV station WCVB, the measure, known as “Sean’s Law," raises the minimum age for ATV operation in Massachusetts from 10 to 14. The law is named after a 8 year old boy who died in an ATV accident in 2006.

New laws such as this are necessary because of the disturbing ways in which some ATV manufacturers market their products. Advertising materials show families using ATVs - in some cases portraying children who in many states would be breaking the law by being on one. Manufacturers downplay the tendency of ATVs to flip over and the serious consequences that can come from being pinned under one. ATVs are neither small nor light.

Here in Oregon there is no minimum age for operating an ATV, though operators below the age of 30 are required to complete a safety education course (by 2014 that requirement will apply to all Oregon ATV riders regardless of age). The course can be taken either in person or online, though beginning in 2012 the “hands-on” version will be required for Oregonians 15 and younger.

The data that drove passage of the Massachusetts law, however, should lead Oregon parents to ask whether these vehicles are actually safe for younger teens and pre-teens to operate under any circumstances, and whether the resulting Oregon ATV accidents - some leading to death or Oregon traumatic brain injuries - are worth the risk. With ATV use growing the number of deaths associated with the vehicles has grown as well. Federal data shows Oregon with 124 ATV-related deaths between 1982 and 2005 – an average of 5.4 deaths per year. From 2006-2008, however, the figure jumps to 40 for only that three- year period: more than 13 deaths per year – a 247% increase.

According to WCVB, the Boston doctor who treated the fatally injured boy for whom the Massachusetts law is named, and who later became one of the new law’s strongest advocates, says he was swayed by data from Nova Scotia. There, a similar law led to a 50% drop in ATV deaths among children in the first year after it was enacted.

ATVs can be fun, but they are also inherently dangerous vehicles. If you or a loved one have been the victim of an Oregon ATV accident, immediately contacting an Oregon personal injury attorney with a specialization in Oregon ATV injuries to children is a crucial first step in protecting your rights.

WCVB.com: Young victim’s family gets ATV laws changed

Oregon Parks & Recreation Department: ATV page

Consumer Product Safety Commission: ATV Statistics Page

A report this weekend in The New York Times raised new, and troubling, issues regarding football helmets and their ability to protect younger players from traumatic brain injuries.

The newspaper reported that the NFL, last Friday, released data sets related to helmet testing, despite criticism that the information is potentially misleading. The league, its committee on head injuries and the player’s union all concurred in the action, the paper reported. According to the Times, the release took place despite criticism from Congress that the data involved is “infected”, rendering the results potentially misleading. Two months ago the league promised New York Congressman Anthony Weiner that the testing program that yielded the data would be abandoned.

Particularly at issue was the nature of the testing undergone by several leading brands of football helmet used in NFL games. According to the Times, the data compiled by the league and later confirmed by independent analysts sought to recreate the kind of hits the equipment would experience in an NFL game. The goal was to determine which brands of helmet offer the best protection against skull fractures – a serious concern for players at the NFL level. Aside from criticism of the tests’ methodologies, Congress and other critics took issue with the results issuing from these tests, in which certain brands were labeled “top performing” for professional use – a designation that makes a compelling selling point for manufacturers.

The problem for parents here in Oregon and elsewhere is that youth, high school and even college football games bear little resemblance to the NFL in either the speed of play or the intensity of hits. In particular, the skull fractures about which pros worry are relatively uncommon at lower levels of the sport, whereas concussions and traumatic brain injuries are the especially serious issues. Both Rep. Weiner and the league’s outside critics worry that parents or coaches shopping for safety gear may wind up buying helmets that are not necessarily designed to offer the sort of protection they are actually seeking.

The Times piece is a reminder of the important role Oregon product liability issues can play in Portland traumatic brain injury cases, especially those stemming from sports injuries. The disputes outlined by the newspaper highlight how complex and nuanced Oregon personal injury law cases focusing on sports equipment can be. This, in turn, is a reminder of the important role a Portland traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury attorney can play in helping you sort through your legal options and obtain justice in the wake of an on-field tragedy.

The New York Times: Releasing Disputed Data on Helmets Puts Heat on NFL

If you arrive in a hospital emergency room unconscious and suffering from an Oregon traumatic brain injury can the doctors use you for a medical experiment without your consent? You might have thought the answer to that question was pretty obvious: absolutely not. According to a recent article in the Portland Tribune, however, you would be wrong.

The Tribune reports that researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, beginning this week, are using a loophole in federal regulations governing medical studies on humans to move ahead with an Oregon brain injury study. Under the so-called “community-wide study exception” the hospital has staged about 20 community meetings to explain its proposed brain injury study and may now presume that any unconscious person brought into the emergency room with an Oregon traumatic brain injury has consented to involvement in the study unless they are wearing a bracelet that declares otherwise, or family members arrive at the ER within one hour of the patient’s admission and refuse to consent to the injured person’s enrollment in the program.

The study in question involves use of progesterone, a hormone that may help severely injured patients recover from brain injuries. It raises, however, a broader question of what ‘informed consent’ ought to mean in the real world. Can an entire community legitimately be said to have agreed to be involved in a study on the basis of a series of public meetings, some of which, according to the paper, were attended by only a handful of people? What about people from elsewhere in Oregon or from out of state who are unlucky enough to be involved in a Portland auto accident and just happen to be taken to OHSU?

This development is particularly troubling for the precedent it sets. Indeed, the Tribune article notes that other studies have been conducted here in Oregon under the “community-wide” exception.

Situations like these are a reminder of the important role a Portland traumatic brain injury attorney can play in protecting your rights when you are unable to speak for yourself. Medical studies are important, but that does not mean a severely injured person’s consent to participate in a serious medical experiment ought to be presumed on the basis of where they live or what hospital first-responders happened to transport them to. An Oregon brain injury lawyer can work with your loved ones to ensure that your wishes are honored – not merely inferred.

Portland Tribune: Brain injury study hopes to overcome ‘consent’ concerns

A football player at Eastern Oregon University abruptly died last week after suffering an Oregon traumatic brain injury during what appeared to be an otherwise normal play, according to the Associated Press.

Dylan Steigers was 21. He had recently transferred to Eastern Oregon from the University of Montana and was listed as a freshman on the school’s football roster. The AP quotes school officials as saying they are investigating the incident, even as they offer counseling to Steigers’ teammates and family.

The Oregon traumatic brain injury that is believed to have led to Steigers death was an acute subdural hematoma, an injury in which jarring of the head leads to bleeding between the brain and the skull. The blood accumulation, in turn, puts pressure on the brain itself, a condition that can rapidly lead to serious injuries or death.

Despite the growing awareness around the country of the seriousness of sports-related head injuries – particularly for football players – athletes and their families need to remain aware of the possibility of serious Oregon head injuries while participating in school or college sports (there was a Congressional hearing on the subject just this week).

If you or a loved-one have been the victim of a severe Portland, Medford, Eugene or Corvallis brain or head injury one of the most important calls you can make is to an Oregon traumatic brain injury lawyer. An experienced Portland personal injury attorney with specializations in wrongful death, negligence and brain and spinal cord injury cases can offer invaluable advice on how the law is likely to look on your particular circumstances. Every case is different, but protecting your rights and achieving justice begins with an in-depth knowledge of Oregon’s courts and legal system.

AP at The Oregonian: Dylan Steigers, Eastern Oregon football player, dies after collision during scrimmage

AP at FoxSports.com: Officials look into football player’s death

An appropriate piece of news with which to wrap up National Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month: with a speed few observers expected the National Hockey League has instituted new rules against hits to the head. The NHL Players Association, the final official body that needed to sign off on the rule change, gave its approval late last week. That accomplished, the changes taking effect immediately. The measure, which I wrote about earlier this month, is specifically designed to reduce the risk of traumatic brain injuries, and comes in the wake of several high profile incidents involving serious head injuries to players.

NCAA hockey has long banned hits to the head. Such a rule has been discussed on-and-off in the NHL for years, but had never seemed to gain much momentum (there was, in particular, a strong traditionalist faction in the League which opposed any move to lessen the sport’s roughness). Impetus for the new move appears to have come from a combination of two things. First, the Olympics – where hits to the head have long been banned. The Games may have shifted the conversation because they displayed, for fans and League officials alike, a consistently high level of rough play despite the ban on hits to the head. Second, immediately after the games the NHL was shocked by a rash of high-profile head injuries in the space of a few weeks.

All this month I have worked to highlight the dangers of Oregon traumatic brain injuries and the dire consequences that can follow for victims and their loved ones alike. While the media have recently emphasized the dangers of sports-related traumatic brain injuries, it is worth remembering that auto accidents are, by far, the most common causes of traumatic brain injuries in Oregon and nationwide.

In the wake of such a tragedy it is important to seek the advice of a Portland brain injury lawyer, who can offer advice on how the injury you or a loved one have sustained fits into the evolving legal landscape governing Oregon brain injuries. As I have highlighted throughout the month, this area of the law is evolving rapidly. That fact alone makes a consultation with an Oregon brain and spinal cord injury lawyer a crucial step on your road to recovery.

ESPN: NHLPA approves of head shot rule

In the wake of raised awareness of the seriousness of traumatic brain injuries, the military has become the latest institution to adjust its rules in a bid to lessen traumatic brain injuries and their consequences.

The Defense Department announced earlier this month that it will “launch a new policy in the coming months that will make head-injury evaluations mandatory for all troops who suffer possible concussions.” As a recent article in the San Bernardino Sun noted, the concern is with secondary injuries.

“A second injury as the brain is recuperating from the first can cause brain cells to die, resulting in a permanent loss of function – or even death,” the newspaper reports.

In practical terms this means that troops exposed to an incident that may lead to a concussion or other traumatic brain injury (such as a roadside bombing in which they are significantly shaken up but have no other outward injuries) will be pulled from combat duty for 24 hours, even if they show no TBI symptoms. During that time they will be evaluated for signs of a traumatic brain injury, “such as ringing ears, double vision and (will undergo) an assessment of short term memory and concentration,” according to the Sun.

Here in Portland, an Oregon traumatic brain injury lawyer can help people who have fallen victim to an Oregon brain injury accident assess responsibility for the incident. If you feel that you or a loved one needs assistance in protecting your rights and achieving justice following an Oregon concussion or head injury, consulting with a Portland head injury attorney is the key first step in getting all the compensation to which you are entitled.

San Bernardino Sun: Military services beginning new focus on traumatic brain injuries

Defense Department News Release: Policy to Mandate Head Injury Evaluations

Resource:
Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury

Following-up a story I blogged about last week, news reports today indicate that the NHL is seriously considering an immediate change to its rules that would lessen the risk of traumatic brain injuries by banning hits to the head. Though there have been several serious traumatic head injuries and concussions this season, the league’s public view as recently as 48 hours ago was that any move to revise the rules should wait for the offseason. League officials had cited the difficulties of briefing players and officials in mid-season as their reason for putting the issue off until the summer.

According to the Associated Press, however, thinking at the NHL’s Toronto headquarters has changed, and a proposed rule change tentatively approved by general managers last week may be implemented before the current regular season ends next month and before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. The NHL’s board of governors will have the final say on the matter, but AP reports that a DVD presentation that “will illustrate what would, and wouldn’t, be allowed under the proposed rule change” has been prepared for circulation to all 30 NHL teams, as well as referees and League officials.

The move seems particularly apt since March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month. It comes at a time when awareness of the seriousness of traumatic brain injuries is rising throughout the sports world, in part because of the direct effect such injuries have on players and, in part, as an acknowledgement of the example professionals set for their younger fans in Oregon and throughout the nation.

Oregon traumatic brain injuries can be a shattering and life-altering experience for both victims and their families. Whether an injury occurs while playing sports, as a result of a Portland auto accident or because of an accident in the home, consulting with an Oregon traumatic brain injury attorney is an important step for the injured person, or loved ones, to take in the wake of a Portland brain or spinal cord injury. Depending on the circumstances and nature of the injury the victim may be entitled to substantial compensation to help pay for medical bills or cover lost wages and mitigate pain and suffering.

AP at ESPN.com: Report: Rule on blindside hits in the works

Oregon does not have an NHL team, but many in the state who worry about Oregon traumatic brain injuries have been watching developments in the world of professional hockey over the last few days. As I have previously noted, NHL hockey differs in significant ways from the game TV viewers saw during last month’s Olympics. Among the biggest differences: the NHL still allows hits to the head – an action that carries a significant danger of traumatic brain injuries, even among athletes wearing helmets (which are required in the NHL). Such hits are banned in international hockey.

What brought this issue to the fore is not the fact that March is Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness month, but rather a gruesome incident in an NHL game last Sunday. During the third period of a game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins was knocked unconscious by a check to the head administered by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke. Savard, one of the team’s star forwards, was taken off the ice on a stretcher, wearing a head-brace. According to ESPN he has been diagnosed with a grade 2 concussion and is widely expected to be out for the remainder of the season.

What has outraged hockey fans – and not just in Boston – is the league’s decision not to punish Cooke for the infraction, despite the fact that he has been suspended on three previous occasions for unnecessarily rough play (two of those suspensions involved hits to the head). Even one of Cooke’s own teammates, Bill Guerin, “expected Cooke to be suspended”, according to the Boston Globe, and expressed incredulity when he was not. “If a guy gets hurt like that with a shot to the head, there’s got to be something,” the Globe quoted Guerin saying.

The lone bright spot in this story comes from reports that the hit on Savard – coming on the heels of several similar incidents this season – has prompted the League’s general managers to give serious consideration to changing NHL rules to outlaw all hits to head when the 2010-11 season begins next October.

Though Oregon has some of the country’s stronger laws concerning student athletes and head injuries, the ongoing debate in the NHL is a reminder that sometimes the legal system has to step in when the rules of the game are inadequate. If you or a loved one has sustained a concussion and believes an Oregon traumatic brain injury may have resulted, consulting with a Portland head injury lawyer is a prudent step. An experienced Oregon brain injury attorney can advise whether you are entitled to damages or other compensation as a result of the injury.

ESPN: GMs frame rule for hits to head

Boston Globe: Guerin: NHL should outlaw hits to head

March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month, an appropriate moment to remind ourselves of the dangers that can accompany many otherwise fun and healthy activities. CBS Sports touches on this with the harrowing story of a teenager who sustained a concussion playing middle school football. Because the injury was not properly evaluated on the field Zachary Lystedt, then 13, returned to the game, with devastating consequences.

According to CBS, the teenaged Tahoma, Washington linebacker “writhed on the ground” after an initial hit near the end of the first half of a 2006 game. He returned to the field after halftime, but as the game ended collapsed in pain, his eyesight gone because swelling in his brain was cutting off an optic nerve. The teenager was rushed to the hospital where he spent a month in a coma, and another 20 months on a feeding tube. Today, “he has very little feeling and movement on his right side and remains dependent on a wheelchair,” according to CBS.

As he recovered Lystedt became an advocate for stronger rules governing student athletes and potential traumatic brain injuries. Last year Washington’s legislature passed a law, named in his honor, establishing “the most stringent return-to-play protocols of any state in the country,” according to CBS. Among other things, the law bars student-athletes who suffer a suspected concussion from returning to the playing field until they have been examined and cleared by a licensed medical professional. Lystedt now spearheads an effort to get similar legislation adopted in all 50 states, and possibly at the federal level.

The lingering effects of an Oregon traumatic brain injury can be devastating for friends and loved ones, as well as for the victim him or herself. If you, or a loved one, falls victim to an Oregon traumatic brain injury consulting with a Portland traumatic brain injury attorney at your earliest possible opportunity is an important early step toward protecting your rights and examining the legal implications of the injury and the circumstances surrounding it.

CBSSports.com: Young player helps turn trauma into action on concussions

Brain Injury Association of America: 2010 Brain Injury Awareness Month Homepage

New parents have been told for years to use rear-facing car seats until their babies turn one year old and weigh 20 pounds, after which front-facing child seats are the norm. But data from both Oregon and the federal government are leading medical and safety professionals to reassess this long-held belief, according to state publications and a recent article in the Bend Bulletin.

Expert opinion is coalescing around the idea that children should face backwards until they are at least two years old, the Bulletin reports. Oregon’s Public Health Service adds that “children under the age of two are 75% less likely to be killed or severely injured in a motor vehicle crash is they are riding rear facing rather than forward facing.”

There is an especially great danger of Oregon traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries when young children are not properly restrained in an approved car seat. The Bulletin, citing child emergency physician Dennis Durbin, notes that “young children have weaker neck muscles than older children and adults. Their ligaments are looser. And the bones in the neck aren’t locked together in the same way as an adult’s.” These physiological factors put small children at a significantly higher risk of traumatic brain injuries when they are in a forward-facing car seat. Rear facing seats are safer because in a crash they tend to provide more support for a child’s neck and back.

In the horrifying event that your child suffers an Oregon traumatic brain injury as the result of a Portland, Beaverton or Corvallis auto accident the assistance of a Portland traumatic brain injury lawyer can be essential in helping you sort through the accident’s legal and financial consequences. An Oregon brain injury attorney can help address questions of fault and financial responsibility, and advise on compensation to which you may be entitled.

Bend Bulletin: Rethinking Car Seat Safety

Oregon DHS Public Health Office: Link to August 25, 2009 newsletter on car seats

An Oregon bicycle and car accident in which a Portland man allegedly intentionally hit a cyclist is being heard in the Clatsop County courts. Prosecutors say the 23 year old driver “just took off” after hitting a cyclist in Seaside, according to TV station KVAL. The station reports that the suspect was found hiding in the woods after abandoning his truck near the scene of the accident.

The Oregonian reports that the cyclist was seriously injured in the incident, and that the driver has been charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and felony hit-and-run. Bail was set at $250,000.

The accident is a reminder of the importance of both cycling safety, and of the need for the strict enforcement of laws requiring motor vehicles to share the road with law-abiding Oregon bicycle riders. Drivers who intentionally run down cyclists are, mercifully, rare. Far more common, however, are careless motorists who simply do not pay as much attention as they should to Oregon bike riders. A Portland bicycle injury lawyer can advise cyclists who have been hit by cars – whether accidentally or intentionally – on their legal rights and whether they are entitled to damages to cover expenses incurred as a result of an Oregon cycling accident involving a car or truck. Such accidents can be especially dangerous, since Portland cyclists hit by a car stand a significant chance of suffering an Oregon traumatic brain injury.

Oregon’s high quality of life is based, in part, on our state’s bicycle-friendly reputation. Bikes are entitled to share the roads with cars, and the legal system offers remedies for bikers who find that motorists are not holding up their end of the law.

The Oregonian: Portland-area man accused of deliberately running down a bicyclist on U.S. 101 near Seaside

KVAL.com: Oregon man accused of intentionally hitting cyclist with car

The men’s hockey tournament at the Vancouver Winter Olympics got underway last night. As a recent article in the New York Times details, though many of the players appearing in the Olympics come from the NHL, hockey played under international rules – including all games in the Olympics – differs in several significant ways from the game Americans are accustomed to seeing. Many of the rule changes are designed to minimize traumatic brain injuries.

As the newspaper writes: “The biggest difference is on checks to the head. While the N.H.L. continues to debate whether some hits to the head should be penalized, the I.I.H.F. (hockey’s international governing body) has outlawed them.”

Another obvious difference: international hockey – like college hockey here in the States – shows no tolerance for on-ice fighting. More subtle differences include rules requiring visors and the use of chin straps on players’ helmets, and mandating that a player whose helmet comes off leave the ice immediately.

Taken collectively, the rules demonstrate a pronounced concern for player safety and a desire to prevent traumatic head injuries. The result will be games that, while hard-hitting, more closely resemble what one sees regularly in Oregon and elsewhere at the college level, as opposed to the NHL or other North American professional leagues.

These rule differences will come as a relief to anyone who has ever contemplated the effects of an Oregon traumatic brain injury and the effect it can have on a loved one’s life. If a loved one has been the victim of a Portland brain injury, whether through sports or as the result of an auto or bicycle accident, consulting with a Portland, Oregon traumatic brain injury attorney is a painful, but essential, step in the process of rebuilding a family’s life. Depending on the nature and circumstances of the injury your family, or loved one, may be entitled to compensation that will help cover medical bills, lost wages or other expenses.

New York Times: At Olympics, an NHL rink, but not an NHL style

The venerable CBS Sunday morning show Face the Nation took a break from politics today to talk, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as the program’s main guest. Among the topics on the agenda: traumatic brain injuries, a subject that has been much in the news here in Oregon with the recent enactment of laws aimed at lessening the number of Oregon traumatic brain injuries sustained through youth sports, including football.

This is an issue I have written about before (see this post from last November), and one which has caused the NFL a certain amount of public relations trouble in recent months. On CBS, Goodell rejected any suggestion that the NFL has been, as host Bob Schieffer put it, “late to recognize” the seriousness of concussions and brain injuries as a problem at the professional level. The commissioner said the league has been on top of the issue “since the mid-90s”; adding: “Medical science is still trying to determine what are the long-term effects of concussions. How do you treat these?”

This is a position with which some might take issue. As I noted in November, the league is working to counter accusations it ignored or downplayed the seriousness of concussions in football for years. When Schieffer pointed out that the NFL’s own studies show that football players are five times more likely than members of the general population to suffer brain injuries or memory loss and that among 30-49 year olds that figure rises to 19 times the average, Goodell was quick to dismiss the very NFL studies he had been touting as examples of League responsibility a few minutes earlier. “This wasn’t a medical survey,” he said.

Oregon’s leadership on the issue of brain injuries has recently been praised by outside activists. Our new laws, however, are not likely to eliminate Oregon brain injuries entirely. If a tragedy like this befalls a member of your family, or if you believe a sports injury sustained years ago is now manifesting itself in the form of memory loss, it is important that you contact an Oregon traumatic brain injury lawyer at the earliest feasible time. The process of safeguarding your rights begins with an understanding of where you stand in legal terms. Every situation is different, but a Portland sports injury lawyer can help in sorting through the difficulties of your particular circumstances.

Face the Nation web page (includes video of the full interview with Goodell)

A recent New York Times article highlights an area where Oregon and other Pacific Northwest states are leading the nation: laws and policies recognizing the growing seriousness of concussions and other brain injuries in sports.

As the paper notes, “last year Washington and Oregon passed the first concussion-specific laws covering scholastic sports.” As I have previously noted (see this blog entry from November), traumatic brain injuries are increasingly being acknowledged as a problem, particularly in professional football. The Times notes that Florida Governor Charlie Crist is trying to use the fact that the Super Bowl is being played in his state this week to spur his own legislature on to passing brain injuries legislation. The Oregon brain injury laws, however, are among the first in the nation to acknowledge the extent to which this problem also exists in college, high school and even youth sports. The Times notes that traumatic brain injury laws focusing on student-athletes are currently being considered by legislatures in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, as well as Florida.

The Winter Olympics, due to begin February 12 in Vancouver, Canada, may also bring some of these issues into focus. As a recent Los Angeles Times article recounts, several top American snowboarders have recently been seriously injured, including Kevin Pearce, widely considered a possible gold medalist in half-pipe but hospitalized in Utah since December with a severe brain injury sustained during training.

If you or a loved one have been the victim of an Oregon traumatic brain injury it is important to consult with a Portland personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after the incident. Treating Oregon traumatic brain injuries can cost thousands of dollars. If someone else – by either through their actions or through negligence – is responsible for a brain injury the injured party may be entitled to compensation.

New York Times: States taking lead in addressing concussions

Los Angeles Times: Snowboarder Shaun White’s new Olympic reality: It’s no cakewalk

The New York Times reports today that the two doctors leading the NFL’s study of concussions and other head injuries have quit following charges that they do not take evidence of mounting long-term brain injuries among professional football players sufficiently seriously. It is a development with resonance for those battling Oregon traumatic brain injuries.

As the paper notes, one of the doctors, Ira Casson, has been a member of the league’s committee on brain injuries since 1994 and has co-chaired the committee since 2007. According to the paper, “Casson has been the league’s primary voice discrediting all evidence linking football players with subsequent dementia.” He has recently been criticized both by the families of former NFL players and by members of Congress.

At issue, and of interest to those of us outside the world of professional football, is whether the accumulation of repeated, more minor, head injuries can add up to a traumatic brain injury over time. One need not take the sort of punishment football players endure every week to be in a situation where the sum of many concussions is greater than the damage done by the individual parts.

The issue of Oregon traumatic brain injuries has also been on the local agenda here in the Portland area during 2009. This summer the governor signed an Oregon traumatic brain injury bill mandating that insurers cover medically necessary cognitive therapy for those suffering from Oregon traumatic brain injuries. Another law signed at the same time mandates education for high school football coaches in the hopes of cutting down on Oregon traumatic brain injuries at the high school level.

Despite the new legislation, the ongoing debate in the NFL highlights the extent to which brain injuries remain a subject of controversy. A Portland traumatic brain injury lawyer can help you or your loved ones sort through the changing legal landscape and claim the damages to which you are entitled if you believe you or a member of your family has suffered an Oregon brain injury.

CNN: NFL needs help in policy to deal with dangerous concussions

New York Times: NFL head injury study leaders quit

Resource:
Brain Injury Association of Oregon

Natasha Richardson, who died this month from a traumatic brain injury, was just 45-years-old. The movie star was young, talented, had a loving husband and two young boys, and no one expected her to die so suddenly and unexpectedly—after a fall on a beginner’s ski slope.

Richardson struck her head, and although there are reports that she initially turned down an offer for medical attention—it wouldn’t be until a second ambulance arrived at the ski resort that she was finally whisked away—one can’t help but wonder how her life’s story would have turned out if she or someone else had known enough to insist that she receive medical care immediately.

Autopsy reports indicate that the movie star died because of a blunt impact to the head that resulted in an epidural hematoma. This kind traumatic brain injury can cause the brain to swell and bleeding to occur. It can also take awhile for symptoms of this TBI to appear, and if too much time passes, this injury can prove fatal.

Common causes of an epidural hematoma include fall accidents, assault incidents, motor vehicle crashes, motorcycle accidents, and slip accidents. Of course, there are other kinds of traumatic brain injuries that can also occur from these kinds of accidents.

The sooner someone with a TBI or another kind of head injury gets medical attention—even if the injury appears mild or minor—the faster any potentially serious condition can be diagnosed and the more time there will be to prevent the injury from becoming catastrophic or fatal.

A person who survives an accident with a serious brain injury could end up permanently impaired and debilitated and, depending on the seriousness of the TBI, require ongoing, costly medical care. The financial and emotional toll on the TBI patient and his or her family can be tragically life changing, which is why, if someone you love sustained a traumatic brain injury in an Oregon accident that occurred because another party was negligent, you should speak to a Portland personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.

Richardson died during Brain Injury Awareness month.

911 Calls Show Urgency Of Richardson Fall, CBS News, March 31, 2009

Actress Natasha Richardson buried in Upstate New York, Chicago Tribune, March 23, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Brain Injury Awareness Month 2009

Brain Injury Association of America

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