Brain Injury Lawyer

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.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education began consideration of the FY10 funding bill last week. Over the next few days, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education will be considering a bill which will provide the funding allocation for programs authorized through the TBI Act and for NIDRR's TBI-related research programs, including TBI Model Systems of Care.

Federal funding for these important TBI programs has remained stagnant over the last several years, as Congress has not provided increases sufficient to keep up with the increasing cost of doing business. The urgent need for increased federal support for a national TBI public health infrastructure and TBI research is further heightened by the recognition of TBI as the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To read more on this bill and what you can do to help, click here.

On July 1, 2009 Governor Corzine announced another 62,000 households in New Jersey will receive the

applications they requested on their state tax forms. This second regional mailing is for families residing in Essex and Hudson counties.

The New Jersey Family Care Express Lane ensures that children in New Jersey will have access to the health care services they deserve.

Governor Corzine states, “Ensuring that children have a healthy start in life has been a personal priority for me,” Governor Corzine said. “It has been a precedent in each of my budgets and last July, we even expanded the program to include a child mandate and enrolled thousands more kids and their families.  And when the Bush administration tried to cut 10,000 kids out of New Jersey’s Family Care Program, we said ‘NO,’ taking appropriate legal action. So I am particularly proud that through this new Express Lane option, New Jersey is making even greater strides to reach and enroll every eligible child and in doing so has become a national model for other states to follow.”

You can read the full press release online here.

A few months ago I reported on the Brain Injury Association of New Jersey's new initiative to develop a website for parents of teenage drivers. I am pleased to announce that the website, www.NJTeenDriving.com, is now up and running. This website was built in conjunction with the recently launched UGotBrains.com website, which serves as a source of information for new teen drivers on the safety issues they will face most often.

NJTeenDriver.com will offer parents teen driver safety statistics, quick tips for keeping your teen safe, educational videos, and reports from the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, and AAA. The site will also provide parents with updates on new laws and legislation which will impact teen drivers, and reports on the latest technology designed to protect new young drivers.