Queens

Published on: February 17, 2012

School Administrator Worried about Football Injury Award

by Stephen Bilkis

In 1982 jury, in Seattle, Washington, awarded $6.3 million to a high school football player who sustained serious spinal injuries while playing for the school’s team.

That judgment worried one school official. He worried that school boards across the country would be prompted to review the benefits of sports programs unfairly against the possible costs of lawsuits. Programs that could lead to injury, he argued, could possibly be unnecessarily cut.

At the time of the settlement, the claimant was 21 years old.

Published on: January 21, 2012

Tasered Man Dies from Broken Neck in Washington

by Stephen Bilkis

A man in Washington State was determined to have died from a broken neck after being tasered by sheriff’s deputies. When he fell, he suffered the spinal injuryand died a week later, at the age of 68.

The Washington man was shot with the taser only after a stand-off of several hours. The man fell when struck by the taser and it was then that he broke his neck. The Sherriff’s Office maintains the deputies all acted according to policy and the broken neck was simply a terrible and completely unforeseen accident.

The medical examiner told officials that the official cause of death was, in fact, spinal cord injury due to cervical spine fractures caused by blunt face and neck injury.

Published on: January 12, 2012

Baseball Player Injured after Colliding with another Player

by Stephen Bilkis

A baseball player for the Georgia Bulldogs was injured during a game when he ran into another player. Both players were trying to catch a line drive during the third inning. The player, an outfielder, was taken off the field in a stretcher and transported to a nearby hospital, reports the team trainer. The player was treated for a few minor injuries and then underwent neck surgery to stabilize his spine. At present, little information is known whether the player will suffer permanent spinal injury like a herniated disc. The player was transferred from the hospital and rehabilitation center, however.

The player is a 20-year old junior who had played 117 games for the Bulldogs. Additional stats include 91 starts and a .312 overall batting average. The player was injured in a game against Florida State. The player’s coach has offered his condolences to the player’s family and hopes the player recovers soon. The player will most likely have to miss the rest of the baseball season. Hopefully, he will be able to return next season to play as a senior.

The other player, a second baseman, was able to walk off the field without help from medical personnel. He suffered only minor injuries. This is not the first incident of a Georgia State baseball player ending up with spinal injuries. In 2009, another player was riding his scooter on campus when he was hit by a campus vehicle. The player ended up paralyzed from the waist. This ended his baseball career, says a doctor.

Published on: November 21, 2011

Paralyzed 25 Year Old Quickly Becoming Dressage Champion

by Stephen Bilkis

A spinal injury has not slowed down a 25-year-old dressage champion, at least not much. According to a doctor, the young woman broke her spine in a tragic riding accident at the age of 20.

The young woman fell off of a friend’s horse when the horse suddenly reared, and then was further injured when the horse fell on top of her. Since the accident, the young woman from Inverness has worked her way back up to being a top competitor at Scotland’s Para Dressage Team. She has also competed in competitions for non-disabled riders with her horse, Murphy.

The Inverness woman knew she had been severely hurt as soon she landed. She began riding at the age of four, and literally grew up in the saddle, states a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer. She spent a month in physiotherapy at the Queen Elizabeth Spinal Injuries Unit in Glasgow. At the hospital she learned how to sit up by herself, and once she did so she was determined to ride again. Therapy like this are common at hospitals in Queens and Staten Island.

Published on: November 18, 2011

Three Men on Trial for Paralyzing Police Officer

by Stephen Bilkis

Earlier this month, a preliminary hearing wrapped up for three men accused of beating and causing paraplegia an Oklahoma City Police Officer. The Oklahoma County Special Judge ruled that the three men could stand trial.

The officer was attacked when he was escorting the defendants out of a northwest Oklahoma City bar last February after the bartenders there asked him to. The men were allegedly trying to start fights with customers.  Witnesses testified that one of the men held the officer in a headlock and lifted his body. This is likely when the officer’s neck broke.   The operating surgeon said the officer suffered a complete spinal cord injury. A spokesperson indicated that the injury likely shortened his life by 10 to 15 years.  Witnesses also reported that another of the men threw haymaker punches at the officer’s head while the third kept anyone from coming to the officer’s rescue.  All three men are charged with one count of maiming or assault and battery by means of force that is likely to cause death. If convicted, each defendant could face a life sentence in prison.  The judge dismissed another charge of conspiracy to assault and battery of a police officer. He agreed with defense attorneys who insisted the three men did not plan the attack.  The District Attorney reported that the man’s family has remained strong throughout the testimony, even if they were disappointed with the conspiracy charge being dismissed. The possibility of life imprisonment seems “just” enough to them, at this point.

The DA is expected to appeal the dismissal of the conspiracy charge. The three men are to be arraigned on June 10. The pre-trial date will be set then. Oklahoma City Police Officers have initiated a bowling and auction event set for June 11. The proceeds are to go to the officer and his family. Police in Queens and New York City are sympathetic to the officer in this case.

Published on: November 4, 2011

Farm Accident Causes A Construction Worker’s Life To Be Forever Changed

by Stephen Bilkis

A 26-year-old was working on top of a farm-building when the roof of building collapsed out from under him, causing him to fall six meters to the floor. The roof sheeting, which he had been standing on, is what collapsed.

The 26-year-old was sub-contracting for a larger company at the time of the accident, stated a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer. After the accident, the 26-year-old is now a complete paraplegic and is forced to use a wheelchair.

A researcher in Queens discussed how the Health And Safety Executive (HSE) had found that there were no measures in place to assure that this kind of accident would not take place. They also stated that there was no real indication in the job to require the 26-year-old to be on the roof in the first place.

Published on: September 27, 2011

Quick Stop on Bus Lands Man With Spinal Injury

by Stephen Bilkis

Something as simple as a bus ride changed a 49-year-old man’s life forever and New York Spinal Injury Lawyers were there to help him.

The plaintiff boarded the bus and while looking for a seat, the vehicle came to a sudden stop, throwing him 20 feet across the bus. He landed on the floor on his right hip, shoulder, and back. Though he was released from the hospital on the same day, the effects of his injuries still linger. He was moved from his job as a cardio-pulmonary technician to a desk job. It took months of physical therapy to discover he had a herniated cervical disc. Two more years of physical therapy did not relieve the pain in his neck, and eventually a ruptured disc had to be surgically removed from his neck. Hospitals in New York City and Queen have similar treatments for this kind of injury.

The defendants in the trial, four years after the accident, had a number of counterarguments, but New York City Spinal Injury Lawyers were there to counter them all. In the end, he was awarded $450,000 for past pain and suffering and $300,000 for future pain and suffering. The Transit Authority appealed, but if it comes to another trial, Lawyers will stay in the fight to the very end.

Published on: September 8, 2011

As with many injuries, spinal injuries can come with complications

by Stephen Bilkis

As with many injuries, spinal injuries can come with complications, according to New York Spinal Injury Lawyers. Specific ones include neurological dysfunction, hunchback, herniated discs, and bones that heal out of alignment. When high-impact force was involved, such as in a car accident, there can also be cuts or bruises on the heart or lungs. Spinal cord injuries come with even more possible complications, like sores caused due to prolonged inability to move. Even chronic constipation or inability to void the bladder may become an issue, requiring treatment in order to avoid potentially dangerous consequences. Hospitals in New York City and Queens are always on the lookout for these complications in car accidents.

Certain spinal cord injuries can cause such severe dysfunction to the nervous system that hypertension and other cardiovascular conditions result, New York Spinal Injury Lawyers have discovered. Such injuries occur in 48% to 90% of all individuals injured in specific portions of the spine, or by any painful or irritating stimulus below that portion of the spine.

Complications after surgery may include difficulties breathing, or cardiac complications, like heart attack, NYC Spinal Injury Lawyers have learned. Anemia from severe blood loss, problems with blood coagulation and difficulties stemming from fluid imbalances are all known to occur sometimes after spinal surgery. Urinary tract infections can also result from spinal surgery, and these infections can even spread to the spin and any hardware implanted there to support the area. There are a great many things that physicians need to keep an eye out for when attending to a victim of spine or spinal cord injury, and all of them can have a large impact on a patient’s life for a long time to come.

Published on: August 22, 2011

Compression fractures are also known as wedge fractures

by Stephen Bilkis

Doctors and New York Spinal Injury Lawyers recognize four major types of thoracic spine injuries: compression, burst, flexion-distraction, and fracture-dislocation.

Compression fractures are also known as wedge fractures. This is the most common type of thoracic spine fracture. When the spine is bent forward or backward at the time the injury occurs, the front or side of the vertebra is crushed by the force.

Burst fractures occur in a similar manner, except the entire vertebra is crushed, often causing splinters of bone to enter the spinal cord. Burst fractures rarely occur in the upper thoracic, high on the upper back, due to the curving shape of the region, but they do happen where the thoracic becomes the lumbar, or lower, section of the back, Injury Lawyers have discovered. Burst fractures often cause a loss of motor, sensory, and/or reflex function.

Published on: August 15, 2011

Helmets Can Prevent Spinal Injuries

by Stephen Bilkis

New York Spinal Injury Lawyers have discovered that bicycle riders who wear helmets are 22% less likely to sustain an injury to their cervical spins than riders who did not wear helmets, after crashing their bicycles or motorcycles. This contradicts the supposition of some who say the weight of the helmet causes enough torque on the neck in a motorcycle crash to contribute to spinal injuries.

“We are debunking a popular myth that wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle can be detrimental during a motorcycle crash,” a professor of surgery told a New York Spinal Injury Lawyer. “Using this new evidence, legislators should revisit the need for mandatory helmet laws. There is no doubt that helmets save lives and reduce head injury. And now we know they are associated with a decreased risk of cervical spine injury.”

The professor and his colleagues sifted through data of more than 40,000 motorcycle collisions that occurred between 2002 and 2006. Not only did the riders who wore helmets suffer fewer cervical spine injuries, but they also showed lower risks for traumatic brain injury and death.