Brain Injury Lawyer

This year, 1.4 million people will sustain a traumatic brain injury. This number exceeds the number of breast cancer, HIV, multiple sclerosis, and spinal cord injuries combined. Additionally, in recent years, traumatic brain injuries have emerged as the "signature injury" of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with as many as 20% of soldiers sustaining brain injuries. Brain injuries remain a leading cause of death and disability in both children and adults.
 
The TBI Act, which was originally passed in 1996 and reauthorized in 2008, is the only federal law that specifically addresses the needs of the growing population of brain injury survivors. The programs authorized under the TBI Act provide public awareness and education through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and State TBI care capacity-building and protection, legal, referral, and advocacy services at the Health Resources and Services Administration.  Furthermore, the TBI Model Systems of Care at the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) represent a vital national network of TBI research and expertise, providing the only source of non-proprietary longitudinal data on TBI experiences and a key source of evidence-based medicine.
 
Please join us in supporting these programs by sending the below letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Ed requesting $22 million for the programs authorized by the TBI Act and $11 million for TBI Model Systems of Care.   
 

Dear Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Tiahrt:
 
The undersigned members of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, and other Members of Congress, respectfully request your support for $22 million for FY 2011 to fund programs authorized by the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Act as amended in 2008 in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  We also request $11 million for the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) TBI Model Systems administered by the Department of Education.
 
Known as the "silent epidemic," TBI continues to be the signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and incidence is increasing here at home among our nation's civilian population.   From the battlefield to the football field, TBI remains a leading cause of death and disability in both adults and youth.  Primary funding to address this growing population is provided through these programs.
 
Therefore, we request funding for TBI-related programs in the following amounts:
  
* $10 million (+$4 million) for the CDC TBI Registries and Surveillance, Brain Injury Acute Care Guidelines, Prevention, and National Public Education/Awareness
* $8 million (+$1 million) for the HRSA Federal TBI State Grant Program
* $4 million (+$1 million) for the HRSA Federal TBI Protection & Advocacy (P&A) Systems Grant Program; and 
* $11 million (+$1.5 million) for the NIDRR TBI Model Systems Program
  
CDC - National Injury Center - We specifically ask for additional funding for CDC's National Injury Center will support continued work in tracking the incidence of TBI; the creation and dissemination of public and professional educational materials; coordination with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs; and recent collaborations with the National Football League and National Hockey League to improve awareness of the incidence of concussion in sports.  Additionally, CDC plays a leading role in helping standardize evidence-based guidelines for the management of TBI, and $3 million of this request would go to fund CDC's work in this area as well as support a pilot project to improve hospital compliance with existing guidelines.
 
HRSA Federal TBI State Grant Program - Further, increased funding for the HRSA Federal TBI State Grant Program is necessary due to recent changes in the awarding of grants.  Beginning in FY 2009, HRSA increased each grant award from $118,000 to $250,000 resulting in a reduction in the number of state grant awards to 15.  This means that many States that had participated in the program in past years have now been forced to close their operations, leaving many unable to access brain injury care. 
 
Increasing the program to $8 million will provide funding necessary to sustain the grants for the 15 states currently receiving funding along with the three additional states added this year and to ensure funding for four additional states.  Steady increases over five years for this program will provide for each state including the District of Columbia and the American Indian Consortium and territories to sustain and expand state service delivery; and to expand the use of the grant funds to pay for such services as Information & Referral (I&R), service coordination and other necessary services and supports identified by the state. 
 
HRSA TBI P&A Program - Additionally, the state P&A systems-funded through the HRSA TBI P&A Program-serve to protect the legal and human rights of individuals with TBI.  P&A advocates must possess specialized skills, and their work is often time-intensive.  A $4 million appropriation would ensure that each P&A system can develop and operate comprehensive programs with appropriate staff time and expertise.
 
NIDRR TBI Model Systems of Care - Finally, enhanced funding for the NIDRR TBI Model Systems of Care will sustain the existing 16 TBI Model Systems research centers around the country and allow for the creation of one new collaborative research project.  These investments will ensure that this valuable TBI research capacity is not diminished.   The TBI Model Systems of Care represent a vital national network of expertise and research in the field of TBI.  In addition, given the national importance of this research program, the TBI Model Systems of Care should receive line-item status within the broader NIDRR budget.
 
We ask that you consider favorably these requests for the CDC, the HRSA Federal TBI Program, and NIDRR TBI Model Systems Program to further data collection, increase public awareness, improve medical care, assist states in coordinating services, protect the rights of persons with TBI, and bolster vital research.
 
Sincerely,   

If you have any questions or would like to sign on, please contact Mandy Spears in Congressman Pascrell's office or Becky Wolfkiel in Congressman Platts' office.

The Family Support Program at the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey has expanded its services due to additional funding from the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Developmental Disabilities.  This program provides free care coordination services for people who have sustained an acquired brain injury before the age of 22 and for their families.  If you would like to learn more about this program, please contact Judi Weinberger, Director of Family Support, at (732) 745-0200 or jweinberger@bianj.org.

Just a reminder that The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey will host its 2010 Annual Gala on Tuesday March 9, 2010 at the Hanover Marriott in Whippany, New Jersey. The Gala will celebrate the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey’s 25 years of service and dedication to the brain injury community and will honor individuals who have made significant contributions to advancing the quality of life in New Jersey throughout the past 25 years.

For additional information on the event and the honorees, please visit the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey’s website.
 

Experts in the field of neuroscience will discuss the integration of Military, Professional Sports and Youth Sports programs to better prevent, identify and treat brain injuries at a special Host Committee dinner discussion during the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation's Annual Angel Awards banquet, the organization announced today.

The SJBF also announced that 100% of the donations received from the American PABI Heroes Concert, which will be held after the Angel Awards Reception, as well as all of the online donations made during its live webcast will be donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (which is building the National Intrepid Center of Excellence for Traumatic Brain Injury in Bethesda, MD).  All of these events will be held at Webster Hall in New York City on Tuesday, November 17 and will be open to the media.

The Discussion will be moderated by Dr. Daniel Perl, Director of the Neuropathology Division at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the host Committee Dinner Dialogue Discussion will feature:

• Dr. David Hovda, Director the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center who is advising the Pentagon on brain injuries
• Dr. Thom Mayer, Chairman of Best Practices and Medical Director for the NFL Players Association
• Dr. Gerard Gioia, Chief, Division of Pediatric Neuropsychology; Director, Safe Concussion Outcome, Recovery & Education (SCORE) Program at Children's National Medical Center
• Mr. Chris Nowinski, President and CEO of the Sports Legacy Institute

Imediately following the Annual Angel Awards Reception, Webster Hall will be opened up for a concert performance by all the semi-finalists, with 100% of the ticket sales being donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.  The concert will be webcast live and all of the online donations made during the day will also be donated to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

Ten bands who were selected this spring as semi-finalists from around the country compete during the day to become the "American PABI Hero." The bands competing include:

• Boston, MA: Slow Century
• New York, NY: April's End
• Raleigh, NC: The Wayves
• Raleigh, NC: Sights of Sound
• Miami, FL: The Nicole Patrick Band
• Columbus, OH: OfHuman
• Chicago, IL: ZC Flawless Drumline
• Dallas, TX: Lately
• Denver, CO: J. Co
• Los Angeles, CA: Me & Heath

The events will take place Tuesday, November 17, 2009, at Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, New York City beginning at 11:00 am - 3:00 pm with the American PABI Heroes Grand Finale. From 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Annual Angels Awards Reception will be held at a cost of $150 per person (VIP tickets: $1,000). Immediately following the dinner will be the Host Committee Dinner Dialogue Discussion about the Integration of Military, Professional and Youth Sports programs for the prevention, identification and treatment of brain injuries from 8:00 - 10:00 pm. Additionally, the American PABI Heroes Concert for The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund will be held from 8:00 pm - 12:00 am.

For questions or additional information, please contact Sarah Jane Brain Foundation's Communications Director, Jennipher Dickens at (212) 576-1180 or Jennipher@TheBrainProject.org.
 

The New Jersey Division of Disability Services has decided to change the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Fund. Current financial conditions and a growth in the number of fund cases has resulted in changes which will impact benefits and coverage. As a result, medical co-pays for doctor visits; pharmaceutical co-pays; health insurance / COBRA premiums; disposable medical supplies; co-pays for therapy services; and medical gym memberships will no longer be covered.

For those individuals who have previously been awarded coverage for these items, the Division will continue payments for up to 90 days of service ending on or before December 31, 2009. As of January 1, 2010, no further payments will be made.

For more information on what these changes will mean to you and your family, visit the Division of Disability Serives online here.

The Brain Injury Association of New Jersey’s Children & Adolescents Committee will hold the next session of Brain Injury Basics for Parents & School Professionals next Tuesday October 20, 2009 from 6:30 – 8:30 PM at Rowan University, Chamberlain Building, Room 221, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ 08028. The seminar will be presented by Barbara Leech, Ph.D., a Pediatric Neuropsychologist.

The educational seminars are intended for parents, school professionals, and other interested health and disability professionals. During the seminar, attendees will learn to identify, understand and respond to the special needs of students with brain injuries. Professional Development Hour certificates can be presented to school professionals. For additional information or to RSVP, contact Justin Stanley of the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey at 732-745-0200 or by email at jstanley@bianj.org.

Researchers from the University of California have published a new study validating prediction rules for identifying children at very low risk for clinically-important traumatic brain injuries for whom CT can routinely be obviated.  The researchers, noting that CT imaging of head injured children has the risk of radiation-induced malignancy, aim to identify children at very low risk of clinically-important TBI for whom CT scans might be unnecessary.  The research utilized patients under the age of 18 presenting with 24 hours of head trauma with Glasgow Coma Scale scores between 14-15 in 25  North American emergency departments.
 
The researchers analyzed over 42,000 children, obtaining CT scans on approximately 15,000 patients.  Of those, clinically-important TBI occurred in about one percent (376) and of those, 60 underwent neurosurgery.  The researchers concluded that for children younger than two years who had normal mental status, no scalp hematoma except frontal, no loss of consciousness or loss of consciousness for less than five seconds, non-severe injury mechanism, no palpable skull fracture and acting normally according to the parents, had a negative predictive value for clinically-important traumatic brain injury.  For children aged two years and older, the prediction rule with normal mental status, no loss of consciousness, no vomiting, non-severe injury mechanism, no signs of basilar skull fracture and no severe headache had a negative predictive value of 99.95 percent and sensitivity of 96.8 percent.  Neither rule missed neurosurgery in the validation populations.
 
The study was funded by the Emergency Medical Services for Children Programme of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau Research Programme, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services.  The study was published in the Lancet and can be found onilne here.

I recently read an interesting article in “Brain” a Journal of Neurology.  The article is entitled “Impaired eye movements in post-concussion syndrome indicate suboptimal brain function beyond the influence of depression, malingering or intellectual ability”.  The paper was authored by Marcus H. Heitger and his colleagues in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The researchers examined whether post-concussion syndrome patients continued to show disparities in eye movement function at 3-5 months following mild traumatic brain injury as compared with patients who had a good recovery.  The researchers “hypothesized that eye movements might provide sensitive and objective functional markers of ongoing cerebral impairment in post-concussion syndrome.  Thirty-six PCS participants were matched with thirty-six controls (patients of similar injury severity but good recovery) on reflexive, anti- and self-paced saccades, memory-guided sequences and smooth pursuit.

The researchers found that the PCS group performed worse on anti-saccades, self-paced saccades, memory-guided sequences and smooth pursuit, suggesting problems and response inhibition, short-term spatial memory, motor-sequence programming, visuospatial processing and visual attention. 

The researchers concluded that compared with neuropsychological testing, eye movements were more likely to be markedly impaired in post-concussion syndrome cases with high symptom overload.  “Poorer eye movement function, and particularly poorer subcortical oculomotor function, correlated more with post-concussive symptom load and problems on activities of daily living whilst poorer neuropsychological function exhibited slightly better correlations with measures of mental health.”

Once again, this is another important research study indicating that patients with post-concussion syndrome do not all recover within a short period of time and provides objective evidence of such injury.

The below entry is an article from a guest-blogger,  Emily Thomas, who writes about the Associates Degree. She welcomes your feedback at Emily.Thomas31@ yahoo.com.

While a traumatic brain injury can be a life changing and often difficult obstacle to over come, it is in many cases by no means an impediment from attending an institution of higher learning, getting a degree and pursing an independent career. There are a number of great resources out there that can help ease the transition into college life and help students who have problems with memory and abstract thinking. Here are a few that you can utilize and research before making the leap into college life.

1. College Living Experience – While based out of Maryland, this is only one of the many larger programs across the nation that offer support and help for TBI college students. Through it, students will get tutoring, help with time management, adaptive computer technology and assistance with household tasks. Additionally, staff members will help pave the way for students to engage actively in social activities on campus as well.
2. Brain Injury Association of America -This great organization has put out a pamphlet all about the challenges and rewards associated with attending college for those with brain injuries. Read it to learn how to choose a school, get assistance paying for it and to better access your options.
3. Post Injury Academics – One of the best ways to prepare for your own academic career is to learn from those who’ve been there and done it before you. Try reading this article from determined student Paul Gianni about his experiences as a student and where he failed and succeeded.
4. AHEAD: The Association for Higher Education and Disability can be an invaluable resource for families looking to learn more about their options and ways to make the transition easier.
5. DO-IT: Check out some of the programs and resources offered through this University of Washington organization dedicated to making it easier for those with disabilities to attend college and get jobs.
6. Peterson’s Online Degree Search: For some, going to school online may be a simpler way to ease into college life, as not everything needs to change at once. See what your options are on this site.
7. Brain Injury Resource Center: Through this site you can find out just about anything about your rights and opportunities as a college student with a TBI.
8. Scholarships for Disabled Students: You may be able to qualify for a range of scholarships when you attend school, greatly reducing the cost. This link will highlight a few and show you where you can search for others.

The International Brain Research Foundation, Inc.  is a non-profit organization dedicated to making advances in brain injury research in order to support progress in the care and treatment of injured patients. The foundation is based in New York and New Jersey. Through a network of neuroscientists and clinicians, the foundation works to develop partnerships with various institutions worldwide. Through this global reach, the foundation is able to expedite discovery and to accelerate the scientific findings in an efficient manner, which ultimately will accelerate progress in solving some of the complex issues related to brain health and disease processes.

The foundation is dedicated to advancing cutting-edge brain research through global collaboration. The foundation’s goals consist of designing, conducting, supporting, and overseeing research studies in brain disorders. The foundation works to make progress in the application and development of brain mapping techniques, nanotechnology, brain-computer interface and other ground-breaking technologies to further advance diagnostic and interventional capabilities in neuroscience.

For additional information on the foundation, please visit their website online here.