brain injury lawyer

I am constantly amazed and disturbed by the level of abuse and neglect happening in nursing homes across the country. I talk to people everyday who say they can’t believe that any care facility could actually put residents at risk of harm or death.

To give credence to my pessimism, here are some very frightening stories gathered from recent news articles. (The titles provide links to full articles.) WARNING: Some of the following stories are highly disturbing and could be upsetting to many readers. Please read only if you have a strong stomach.

1. Pigeon Forge Nursing Home Aides Get Prison (Knoxnews.com): Two women who worked at Pigeon Forge Care and Rehabilitation Center in Tennessee were sentenced to two years in prison for taking nude and degrading photos and videos of patients.

‘The nature of these offenses were so shocking, reprehensible and offensive,’ said [Sevier County Circuit Court Judge Richard] Vance prior to handing down their respective punishments.

Some examples: An elderly man lying naked on the floor…an elderly topless woman lying in bed wearing a diaper…a naked elderly man sitting on the toilet with beads around his neck. The women who took the photos were responsible for dressing, changing, cleaning, and feeding severely disabled adults. They claimed they didn’t know what they had done was wrong. Thank heavens the judge gave them the maximum allowable punishment allowed by law.

2. Nursing Home Resident Left On Toilet (StarTribune.com): Workers at Good Samaritan Society nursing home in southern Minnesota forgot about a patient and went home for the day…leaving the patient on the toilet for 90 minutes. The patient had dementia, and was unable to call out for help. “She was found by chance and was still strapped into the mechanical lift used to transport her. She had dark red marks on her buttocks that eventually faded, the report said.”

3. Willmar Nursing Home Blamed for Resident Choking to Death on Raw Cukes (StarTribune.com): A resident of Bethesda Heritage Center in Willmar, Minnesota,  choked to death on raw cucumbers that should not have been served to her.

The resident, who was not identified in the report, was admitted to the center more than two years earlier for chronic breathing trouble and anxiety. She was on a restrictive diet, which banned raw vegetables and anything else that was not “well cooked,” because of difficulty swallowing.

4. Nurse Charged with Neglect (The Times Herald): A nurse has been charged with neglecting a patient at AristCare at Meadow Springs in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.

When the patient’s ventilator became detached on Aug. 13, 2009, an alarm sounded and continued until the respiratory therapist walked into the room about 90 seconds later and allegedly found Oke standing with his arms crossed behind the door.

When the therapist asked Oke about the woman being disconnected from the breathing apparatus, he reportedly said, “I connected her twice, now I want to see her suffer,” according to the prosecution. The respiratory specialist then reconnected the breathing tube while the nurse looked on without assisting.

The nurse was subsequently fired.

This next one is the worst, quite horrifying–consider yourself warned…

5. Everett Nursing Home Owner Settles Case for $3.5 Million (Herald.Net): A man died as the result of gross neglect and shoddy care at Everett Rehabilitation and Care Center in Washington. I’ll just quote from the article; it speaks for itself:

A nurse on Nov. 7, 2007, reported to the home’s residential care manager that the man had a wound on his penis, records show. The manager went on a three-week vacation, and when she returned she forgot about the nurse’s report, according to an investigation conducted by the state Department of Social and Health Services.

She said she didn’t hear anything more about the man’s wound until a doctor at the hospital called on March 14, 2008 — four months later — to report that the man’s penis was gone and instead he had a gaping wound, records show.

“They knew his penis and scrotum were disintegrating and it’s outrageous that no one in his family or his primary care physician were ever notified,” said [lawyer] Matthew Boller. [The man died of cancer of the penis.]

HensonFuerst Attorneys

At HensonFuerst, we hear stories of nursing home abuse and neglect everyday. We believe that nursing home residents should receive better care than they do–these are our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Every episode of human indignity diminishes us all. HensonFuerst fights to make sure nursing homes are held accountable for the care they give, and we fight for the basic human rights of residents.

If you believe someone you know is the victim of nursing home abuse or neglect, call one of the caring lawyers of HensonFuerst. We’re available 24/7. Just call 1-800-4LAW-Med, or visit our website at http://www.lawmed.com/. We’ll work to get your loved one the care he or she deserves. If you have a problem, HensonFuerst has a solution.

New information today from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of special interest to women with breast implants, and the family who love them.

The FDA announced a possible association between saline and silicone gel-filled breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), a very rare type of cancer. ACLC is not a form of breast cancer–it is lymphoma, a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system. Data reviewed by the FDA suggest that patients with breast implants may have a very small but significant risk of ALCL in the scar capsule adjacent to the implant.

This illustration shows the typical location of the ALCL that was diagnosed in patients with breast implants. ALCL is lymphoma, a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system. It is not cancer of the breast tissue. (From the FDA)

In an effort to gather more information, FDA and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons are establishing a registry of ALCL patients who have breast implants. FDA scientists hope the registry yields enough information to better understand what the risks for developing ALCL are for women with breast implants.

The message from Binita Ashar, M.D., a physician and FDA scientist evaluating ALCL cases is this:

Although the risk is quite small, we want women to be aware that there have been reports of ALCL occurring around saline and silicone gel-filled breast implants. In the cases reported, ALCL was typically diagnosed years after the implant surgery. In most of these cases, the women were diagnosed after they observed changes in the look or feel of the area surrounding the implant.

What does this mean for women who have or are considering breast implants? The FDA has some specific information:

• If a woman with breast implants has no symptoms, FDA does not recommend doing anything additional. Women should continue monitoring their implants and obtaining regular breast screening evaluations. FDA does not recommend removing the implants.
• Women who see changes in the way the area around the implant looks or feels—including swelling or pain around the implant—should see a physician for evaluation.
• Women considering breast implants should be aware of the very small, but increased risk of developing ALCL and discuss it with a physician.

The risk of anyone developing ALCL is very small–each year, only about 1 of every 500,000 women in the United States is diagnosed with this particular cancer. However, this new information suggests that women with implants have a higher risk than women without implants. This means that women who are highly cautious may choose not to receive implants…and that women with implants need to be more aware of breast changes, and to seek medical advice if changes are noticed.

In particular, women should watch for pain, swelling, lumps, or asymmetry. In addition, talk with your doctor if you have any of the more general symptoms of swollen lymph nodes…a lump in your armpit, neck, or groin…extreme fatigue…night sweats…chronic fever…unusual, unexplained weight loss.

In an effort to ensure that patients receiving breast implants are informed of the possible link between ALCL and breast implants, the FDA will be working with breast implant manufacturers in the coming months to update their product labeling materials for patients and providers.

To read more about this issue from the FDA, click here:  FDA Advises Women with Breast Implants

We’ll continue posting information about this issue as it becomes available. If you have been diagnosed with ALCL and would like to talk with someone about your legal options, please don’t hesitate to call the attorneys of HensonFuerst at 1-800-4LAW-MED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

Duke University is no stranger to controversy. The latest problem involves cancer patients who participated in clinical trials based on flawed research by a discredited associate professor named Anil Potti.

(For more details about this story, you can read our previous blog here: Another “Oops” for Duke; Or, you can watch our YouTube video here: Duke Clinical Trials Investigation.)

A lot of people find the topic of clinical trials confusing, so we’ve put together this brief explanation.

About Clinical Trials

When you go to the doctor to get medication, surgery, or other treatment for an illness, medical science has already demonstrated that the treatments or procedures work because they have passed extensive, pre-designed research “tests” known as clinical trials.

To explain how this works, imagine that there’s a brand-new, fictional medication called MEMOR-ALL, which was developed to help improve memory. Before MEMOR-ALL can be given to patients, it has to pass research tests to show that MEMOR-ALL:

1. Is safe, without serious side effects.
2. Does what it was designed to do. Put simply, does it really work? (In this example, does MEMOR-ALL actually improve memory?)
3. Works better than current standard treatments.

These questions are answered by a series studies collectively known as “clinical trials.” Each individual question is called a “Phase.” All Phase I clinical trials address the question of safety…Phase II trials address the question of whether the medication works…and Phase III trials address the question of whether the new treatment works better than old treatments.

People volunteer to participate in clinical trials for a number of really good reasons. Clinical trials can give people access to new research treatment before they become widely available… allow them to get treatment at a leading health care facility… and make a contribution to medical science. Of course, there are some major risks, depending on which Phase is being tested. For example, patients in Phase I run the risk of side effects, and patients in Phase II or Phase III may be placed in a research group that does not received the new treatment (receiving, instead, either an ineffective placebo or a different treatment, depending on the type of testing being conducted).

Before signing on for clinical trials, people are supposed to be fully informed about the potential risks and benefits of the research–a process called “informed consent.” This is an important part of research protocol to prevent people from being used as unwitting guinea pigs in a scientist’s risky research.

If you participated in these clinical trials (or underwent testing for them) and have questions about what your legal options might be, contact the compassionate lawyers of HensonFuerst. We’re available 24/7 to anyone in the United States at 1-800-4LAW-MED.

If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

Acetaminophen—the active ingredient in Tylenol products—is a popular, over-the-counter pain reliever. Because it is so useful to treat many types of pain, it is often added to prescription narcotic pain medications.

Even though you can buy acetaminophen in any supermarket or pharmacy, it is actually a potent drug, capable of causing permanent liver damage if taken in high doses. Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken new steps to reduce the severe liver injury. Specifically, the FDA has announce that is is:

• asking all makers of prescription products that contain acetaminophen to limit the amount of the drug to 325 milligrams per tablet or capsule;
• requiring a Boxed Warning on all prescription acetaminophen products, highlighings the potential risk for severe liver injury. (Boxed Warnings are FDA’s strongest warnings for prescription drug products, used for calling attention to serious or life-threatening risks.)

Acetaminophen (also called APAP) is used in many prescription products in combination with other drugs, usually opioids. The brand names of opioid+acetaminophen combinations include Tylenol with Codeine, Percocet (for oxycodone plus acetaminophen), Lortab and Vicodin (both include hydrocodone plus acetaminophen), and Ultracet (for tramadol plus acetaminophen).

If you take an opioid medication, the active ingredients are always listed on the prescription bottle, and will look something like this (example from Vicodin):  hydrocodone/APAP     10 mg/325 mg tabs. This means that each tablet contains 10 milligrams of hydrocodone and 325 milligrams of APAP, which is acetaminophen.

According to the FDA:

“Overdoses from prescription products containing acetaminophen account for nearly half of all cases of acetaminophen-related liver failure in the U.S., many of which result in liver transplant or death,” says Sandra Kweder, M.D., deputy director of FDA’s Office of New Drugs.

Most of the cases of severe liver injury occurred in patients who:

took more than the prescribed dose of an acetaminophen-containing product in a 24-hour period

took more than one acetaminophen-containing product at the same time

drank alcohol while taking the drug

“There is no immediate danger to patients who take these combination pain medications and they should continue to take them as directed by their health care provider,” says Dr. Kweder. “The risk of liver injury primarily occurs when patients take multiple products containing acetaminophen at one time and exceed the current maximum dose of 4,000 milligrams within a 24-hour period.”

If you have any questions about the medications you are using, talk with your health care provider or pharmacist. Do not stop taking any prescription medication without first talking with your doctor. In addition, keep yourself safe and reduce the risk of side effects by following these tips:

• take opioid/acetaminophen combination products only as prescribed by a health care professional
• don’t take more of an acetaminophen-containing medicine than directed
• carefully read all labels for prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, and ask the pharmacist if your prescription pain medicine contains acetaminophen
• don’t take more than one product that contains acetaminophen at any given time
• don’t take alcohol when taking acetaminophen
• don’t take more acetaminophen than the maximum daily dose of 4,000 milligrams (4 grams)
• don’t take acetaminophen-containing products if you have liver disease, unless approved by your doctor
• if you take so much medication that you feel the need to calculate the total amount of acetaminophen you take each day, don’t try to do it yourself. Instead, talk to your health care professional about all of the medications—prescription and OTC—you are taking and which include acetaminophen

In addition, seek immediate medical help if you think you have taken more acetaminophen than directed, OR if you experience allergic reactions such as swelling of the face, mouth, and  throat; difficulty breathing; itching; or rash.

The FDA has provided consumer-friendly information about acetaminophen. Click here for a printable PDF document:  FDA’s New Steps Aimed at Cutting Risks from Acetaminophen

For a video by the FDA about this topic, click here: Prescription Acetaminophen/Opioid Combinations

If you have suffered injury from taking these or other medications, and you want to explore your legal options, please feel free to call the lawyers of HensonFuerst. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning about a scam targeting people who purchase medications over the Internet or via “telepharmacies.” The criminals call the victims and identify themselves as FDA special agents or other law enforcement officials. The scammers tell the victims that purchasing drugs over the Internet or the telephone is illegal, and that law enforcement action will be pursued unless a fine or fee ranging from $100 to $250,000 is paid. Victims often also have fraudulent transactions placed against their credit cards.

The criminals always request the money be sent by wire transfer to a designated location, usually in the Dominican Republic. If victims refuse to send money, they are often threatened with a search of their property, arrest, deportation, physical harm and/or incarceration.

“Impersonating an FDA official is a violation of federal law,” said Dara Corrigan, the FDA’s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “FDA special agents and other law enforcement officials are not authorized to impose or collect criminal fines. Only a court can take such action.”

So if you get a troublesome call from a person claiming to be from the FDA, do not give out any personal information. If you believe that you have lost money as the result of this scam, or if you have received a phone call from someone demanding money to settle law enforcement action, contact the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations (once on the site, click the link for “Report Suspected Criminal Activity”).

The FDA also reminds consumers that pharmaceutical products offered online and by telephone are often of unknown origin, and therefore can pose a substantial health risk. During the course of investigating this issue, the FDA found that some products purchased from online or telephone sources contained trace amounts of heroin or other potentially harmful drugs… and sometimes they contained no active ingredient at all!  In addition to the risk of unsafe or ineffective drugs, websites operating outside the law may also take an use your personal data and credit card information.

For all these reasons, the FDA recommends purchasing medications only from licensed pharmacies located in the United States. For more information about how to protect yourself and your personal information from counterfeit drugs, click here:  FDA’s Protecting Yourself.

And if you have questions about your legal options after being harmed by a medication or supplement, contact the lawyers of HensonFuerst. If you have questions, we have answers.

The rapid response of the Tucson, Arizona medical team saved the lives of a dozen people shot in a gunman’s rampage. Among the injured was U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who had been shot in the head. This week, neurologist Richard C. Senelick, M.D., gives us a peek into the challenges Representative Giffords will face as she recovers from such a severe brain injury (“What Will Gabrielle Giffords’ Recovery Look Like“).

According to the article, the bullet traveled through the left side of Rep. Giffords’ brain. But, her doctors also pointed out that:

…the damage is not done just by the bullet passing through the brain but also by the shock wave or “cavitation effect” that damages the brain tissue around the bullet track.

People with brain injuries can face numerous disabilities, some quite unexpected. There are three categories of potential problems:

1. Physical Impairments, including seizures, paralysis, loss of feeling, problems with speech or swallowing, and fatigue.
2. Cognitive Disturbances, or problems with thinking. These include difficulty with memory, attention, concentration, planning, judgment, learning new things, and communication.
3. Behavioral Disturbances, or personality changes. Common behavioral issues include irritability, depression, verbal or physical outbursts. Perhaps the most difficult to deal with is something called “inappropriate behavior,” which is like losing your social censor—the person does or says whatever comes to mind, without any thought of consequences.

This brief overview is just a slice of what Rep. Giffords will face. Her recovery will be long and unpredictable. After she leaves the acute care hospital, she’ll be transferred to a rehabilitation facility where she will learn to take back her life. As Dr. Senelick says:

… [it is] difficult to predict Representative Giffords’ future…. I am frequently gratified by the impressive recoveries that many patients make after extensive rehabilitation efforts.

Like the rest of the world, all of us at HensonFuerst Attorneys send our best wishes to all the Arizona shooting victims and their families, and condolences to the families of those who died. It was a senseless act that stunned the rational world. There are no words… only prayers.

To read the full article, click here: What Will Gabrielle Giffords’ Recovery Look Like, by Richard C. Senelick, M.D.

Some great news for University of North Carolina (UNC) fans, especially those with an interest in brain injury:

NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League (NFL) owners, has awarded a $100,000 grant to the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at UNC to support concussion research. In addition, the NFL Players Association matched that grant for a total of $200,000. The principal investigator is Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., Kenan Distinguished Professor and chair of the department of exercise and sport science in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences.

As we wrote in this blog last August, research has shown that multiple concussions may cause brain damage that mimics the devastating effects of the neurological disorder known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Severe concussion trauma is found most often in people who suffer repeated head injury during their careers, such as soldiers and football players. In 2010, the NFL implemented new guidelines for dealing with concussion, and they began fining players for violating the rules of player safety.

This new grant will support continued research by UNC into the association between football head injury and dementia later in life. The project will study retired football players and try to determine if individuals who played more football, or who had more concussions (mild traumatic brain injury, or MTBI) are more likely to develop neurodegenerative disorders, compared to those who didn’t play football beyond college.

All of us here at HensonFuerst would like to send congratulations to UNC and to Dr. Guskiewicz for continuing to do good work, and for maintaining UNC’s international reputation for innovation and excellence!

RESOURCES

HensonFuerst blog: Brain Trauma May Mimic Lou Gehrig’s Disease

HensonFuerst Blog: NFL Backing Concussion Program with Fines

UNC Press Release: NFL Awards $100,000 Grant

News & Observer article: NFL Turns to UNC for Concussion Research

HensonFuerst website, with additional information about concussion: HensonFuerst

Imagine this:  You’re in your car, stopped at a traffic light when another car slams you from behind, pushing you across the road and into a light post. Your car is totaled and you have some serious medical bills. Who do you think will end up paying your bills?

Well, if the driver who hit you is uninsured, you may end up footing the bill yourself. It could be financially devastating.

Typically, the costs of an accident are paid by the insurance company of the at-fault driver. If that driver has no insurance, you can try to go after his or her personal assets in a court of law, but if the driver has no insurance and no personal assets, there is nowhere else to turn for compensation…unless you had the foresight to purchase an insurance add-on called “Uninsured Motorist’s Protection.”

Uninsured motorist’s protection covers you in the event that you are hit by an uninsured motorist. This coverage is relatively inexpensive, and can be purchases as part of your regular car insurance. According to AAA.com, in order to properly protect yourself, review the current level of uninsured or under-insured motorist on your auto policy. The level of coverage should be at least as high as the bodily injury or property damage limits.

Now, consider that, in North Carolina, 16% of drivers are uninsured.

The risk is higher than most of us would like to believe.

To read the full article, visit the website at AAA.com/magazine.

At HensonFuerst Attorneys, we represent a lot of people who have been injured in wrecks involving left turns in intersections. If you want to learn more about your legal options following a wreck, please feel free to visit our dedicated web page: Motor vehicle collisions. Or, if you prefer the personal touch, call us anytime at 1-800-4LAW-MED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

Road statistics show that of all normal (and legal) driving maneuvers, the most dangerous is something we do every day:  Making a left turn. Studies of intersection wrecks show that making a right turn caused only 4% of collisions, but making a left turn caused a whopping 50% of intersection collisions. The reason has to do with the multiple factors that have to be considered to make a left turn successfully, including traffic from three different directions, estimating speed of cars traveling straight across the intersection, and estimating the amount of time your car will need to cross the intersection, among others.

According to an article in the January-February 2011 issue of AAA magazine, the problem is so pervasive that UPS teaches its drivers to complete routes without making left-hand turns!

“Basically, our longstanding policy has always been to train our drivers to plan routes in loops so they always make only right turns,” says Ronna Branch of UPS.

To make left turns less risky, AAA.com offers these recommendations:

1. Find the balance between aggressive and timid driving. Aggressive drivers often overestimate their ability to cross an intersection safely; timid drivers hesitate, linger too long in an intersection, and create a hazard for other drivers. AAA teaches that if the light is green and no other vehicle is ahead of you preparing for the same left turn, it is usually safe to enter the intersection and wait for your time to turn.
2. Keep wheels pointed straight. Even though you may want to turn your wheels to the left in preparation for the turn, this is actually dangerous. If your stopped car is hit from behind, the force of the impact along with turned wheels could push you directly in the line of oncoming traffic. If your wheels are straight, a similar impact will push your car straight.
3. Stay patient. Don’t make a turn until you are positive that it is safe—ignore impatient drivers around you.
4. Plan for right turns only. There’s no glory in a left turn. As AAA.com says, “The safest left turn is the one you don’t make.” If you are in a city or town with roads laid on a grid, it is often easier to drive one block past your intended intersection, take a right at the next street…then another right…then another right. In that case, three rights make a left! (This is less effective in the country, when roads are more likely to wind for miles.)

To read the full article, visit the website at AAA.com.

At HensonFuerst Attorneys, we represent a lot of people who have been injured in wrecks involving left turns in intersections. If you want to learn more about your legal options following a wreck, please feel free to visit our dedicated web page: Motor vehicle collisions. Or, if you prefer the personal touch, call us anytime at 1-800-4LAW-MED. If you have questions, HensonFuerst has answers.

In a report by News 14 Carolina, tiny Colfax, North Carolina (located about halfway between Winston-Salem and Greensboro) is home to a special program that pairs horses with people who have suffered brain injury.

The non-profit Horsepower Therapeutic Learning Center calls on different aspects of horsemanship to develop athleticism, memory, balance, and speech among people who lost some of that function.

“There’s three different stations,” said Jan Clifford, executive director and founder of Horsepower, Inc. “They’re working on the farrier, who provides the footwear for the horses. They have a riding segment where they actually ride the horses and work on balance and speech. Then they have a section where they go in and work on memory and recall, working on different things that horses and equestrian activities do.” (from the News14 story)

The news piece tells the story of Brandy Gilliam who was hit by a car 11 years ago. She spent 3 months in a coma, and another year in the hospital. She has participated in the Horsepower program for three years, and has experienced significant improvements in her posture, walking, and speaking abilities.

This amazing program provides help to more than 250 people every year. There is no cost to the participants, thanks to a grant from the Winston-Salem Foundation.

To read or watch the full news story, click here: News14 Carolina.

To read more about Horsepower, visit their website here: www.horsepower.org

For more information about the Winston-Salem Foundation, click here: Winston-Salem Foundation

And if you have legal questions about traumatic brain injury, visit our website here: HensonFuerst Law (www.lawmed.com)