An excellent new video helps explain how to spot whether an athlete has suffered a concussion.  Concussions in sports, and especially football, have been a large part of health news lately.  Traumatic brain injury attorneys like me have been waiting for years for this focus to finally be placed.  I see all too often the consequences of failing to recognize concussion, and it is heartbreaking to know that many of these consequences, such as brain hemorrhaging, further neurological injury, and even coma or death, could have been prevented if proper evaluation had taken place after someone suffered a hard hit to the head.  I encourage everyone who has a connection to athletics, whether it be coaches, training staff, athletic trainers, parents, and student-athletes, to click on the following link.  What you learn may save a life.
http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=30255&fID=6574

Last spring, HensonFuerst senior partner Bob Fuerst was contacted by Sue Humphreys (far right) and Jerry Dawson of ALS. Sue is the director of care services and Jerry is the executive director. After discussing the needs of the local chapter, the 2009 HensonFuerst Health Initiative funded the annual NC ALS Support Group Facilitators Conference, the name of which was actually changed to add “sponsored by HensonFuerst.” Our partner, Anne Duvoisin (beside Bob Fuerst, far left), made a presentation to the conference, which was held on July 25, about challenges ALS patients face in assisted-and-long-term care. Today, the 2009 HensonFuerst Health Initiative received this fine award, which was accepted by Bob & Anne on behalf of the entire HensonFuerst family. The local ALS Association chapter is named in honor of Jim “Catfish” Hunter, thus the home plate-shaped plaque.

HensonFuerst Partner Anne Duvoisin was a speaker at the American Advocates for Justice nursing home litigation seminar in Chicago, Illinois this past weekend.  Her topic related to nursing home ownership transparency and accountability.  For a complete listing of seminar topics , click on the link below:
Agenda

Our  Court of Appeals upheld a punitive damages award against a business for putting self-protection from litigation ahead of customer safety as a matter of policy.  In so holding, the Court wrote: “This evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to Ms.Everhart, shows that, although Mr. Witherspoon knew Ms. Everharthad ingested some unknown substance that had made her sick, he refused to find out what she had actually been served or the first aid protocol for that substance before completing O’Charley’s'incident report form. Moreover, that form is not designed to provide assistance to the customer, but is focused on “anticipat[ing] . . . litigation.” A jury could reasonably find from this evidence that Mr. Witherspoon chose to give preference to protecting O’Charley’s from possible litigation over providing assistance to Ms. Everhart who had been served a possibly toxic substance.” To read the full opinion, click on the link below:
Everhart v. O’Charley’s 10.6.09 ncapp

Sec. Gene Conti announced today that National Teen Driver Safety Week will take place next week, beginning Oct. 18 and ending Oct. 24.

In 2007, Congress passed a joint resolution making the third week in October National Teen Driver Safety Week. Its mission is to bring teens, community leaders, educators, and parents together to take action and increase awareness to help prevent teen crashes, the leading cause of death for American teens.

“We are losing far too many young drivers in North Carolina to traffic-related crashes,” said Conti. “I urge teachers, parents and communities to seek out ways to educate teens on the importance of safe driving, such as the ‘R U BUCKLED’ program, which is administered by the Governor’s Highway Safety Program.”

In 2008, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, there were:
•       46,492 traffic crashes involving 15-to-19 year olds;
•       81 fatalities;
•       More than 8,000 injuries;
•       54 percent of the drivers were not wearing seat belts;
•       And drinking was involved in more than 1,200 of these crashes.

The majority of teen crashes occur between the hours of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The three most common contributing factors of teen crashes include, failure to yield, failure to reduce speed and driving too fast for conditions. In 68 percent of teen crashes, the teen driver was named at fault for the crash.

In conjunction with the University of North Carolina School of Law’s Small and Medium Firms Week, our managing partner, David S. Henson, was an invited panelist on Thursday, October 15 for a discussion, “Setting Up and Running a Solo or Small Law Office Practice.” This panel discussion was part of the UNC School of Law’s “A Practical Tips” seminars and was sponsored by the North Carolina Advocates for Justice (NCAJ). David graduated from UNC in 1995 and from the UNC School of Law in 1998.  This year, and in 2007 he received the Order of Service for his contributions in advancing the NCAJ’s mission of protecting people’s rights.

Encourage your senators and representatives in Congress to vote for the Nursing Home Transparency Act, w hich will require nursing home owners to identify themselves.  For years, the nursing home industry has dodged its responsibility to nursing home patients by hiding who the owners and operators are.  Only a person or company with a license can operate a nursing home.  Often, nursing home operators create many companies to run one company, making sure that the company with the license has no assets, no employees and no insurance.  Lawyers trying to sue the responsible parties when nursing home patients are seriously injured or killed is sometimes impossible. When it is possible, a lengthy and expensive legal investigation that can take years is necessary – to try to uncover who actually runs and profits from the nursing home’s business.  I represent the family of a woman who died in a North Carolina nursing home in 2003 and, after years of work on the case,  I have just recently  succeeded in amending the lawsuit to reach the persons we believe are responsible.   Click on link to see Order amending complaint and to see proposed legislation.
62F ORDER 2nd Motion to Amend Complaint 09.11.09

Britthaven, Inc. operates over 50 nursing homes — almost all of them are in North Carolina. Its Jacksonville facility is currently under investigation by the State.  See attached story.

http://www.jdnews.com/news/state-68641-agency-investigation.html

An arbitration panel awarded over 2 million dollars on behalf of an elderly woman residing in a Mariner nursing home in Tennessee. The plaintiff successfully contended that the legal entities were each other’s alter egos.

The elderly woman developed pressure sores and languished in her own wastes for lengthy periods of time because there was not enough staff to take care of her.  See the story.