Michigan TBI attorney warns auto accident victims who have suffered traumatic brain injury about a popular insurance medical examiner

On Tuesday, I wrote about the havoc “independent” medical examiners are bringing to car accident victims and the No-Fault insurance system in Michigan. Which brings me now to John Baker, Ph.D. This man is a neuropsychologist in Oakland County (Royal Oak), who is often hired by auto insurance companies for “second opinion” defense examinations of injured car accident victims who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

Michigan traumatic brain injury lawyer discusses the promise of blood biomarkers for TBI victims

I read an article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal that promises hope to traumatic brain injury victims and survivors and the TBI lawyers who help them in America’s courtrooms.

The article is a must read for any lawyer who represents people who have suffered traumatic brain injury.  What makes the article notable is that it discusses how serious traumatic brain injuries can be, how difficult TBI is to diagnose, how emergency rooms and doctors often miss many of the subtle symptoms of TBI, and how this delay in diagnosis leads both to improper treatment and sometimes catastrophic consequences for accident victims who have suffered serious closed-head injuries.

Why experienced motorcycle accident lawyers urge representatives to vote no on a bill that would allow bikers to go without helmets

Today, the Michigan Legislature takes up House Bill 4747. Basically, the bill lets motorcyclists legally ride without a helmet. As a lawyer helping motorcyclists who’ve suffered serious personal injuries for the past 16 years, I believe HB4747 is a terrible idea.

Currently, Michigan law requires all people riding a motorcycle, and anyone less than 19 years old operating a moped on a public thoroughfare, to wear a crash helmet. The Michigan Department of State Police has been given the legislative responsibility to approve crash helmets and to implement this law. Here, you can read more about the current Michigan helmet law.

Both lawyers Brian Bornstein and my friend from Texas, Steve Laird, recently commented on my observations about the critical connection between traumatic brain injury and chronic pain in The Jury Expert. It is a connection that most personal injury lawyers miss.

The Jury Expert is an online litigation advocacy publication. The article that started the discussion is Injured Body, Injured Mind: Dealing with Damages for Psychological Harm. It addressed the double standard with respect to the law’s treatment of physical versus psychological injury. I had originally commented that there’s not only a double standard between physical and psychological injury, but in most serious personal injury cases, that line becomes blurred. Science has now shown that injury to the mind affects the body, and likewise, injury to the body affects the mind.

TBI Lawyer gives brain injury prevention tips, so Michigan drivers can protect themselves from the “silent epidemic”

There are 1.4 million people across the country who sustain a traumatic brain injury every year.

About 50,000 people die from brain injury.

Another 235,000 are hospitalized annually.

And 1.1 million people are treated and released from hospital emergency rooms.

These statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are startling, and show how pervasive this “silent epidemic” can be.  But what the CDC  cannot count is the number of people with TBI who are not seen in an emergency room, or who receive no care.

Michigan TBI lawyer says ERs and doctors frequently miss head injuries, lists signs so you can protect yourself

It’s a sobering fact: Emergency rooms will miss up to 85 percent of traumatic brain injuries after a person has been in a car accident. Our TBI lawyers have witnessed cases where a catastrophically brain-injured person literally walked away after a car crash, without even an ambulance or ER visit, only to become permanently disabled with a brain injury.

What happens when Michigan no-fault law and real-life medicine conflict?

Our attorneys tell people that the law in Michigan is black and white: Anyone injured in a car accident must provide information as to the nature or type of injury to his auto insurance company within one year, or the insurance company can deny payment for medical bills and other no-fault benefits (MCL 500.3145(1)).

It’s very easy to comply with a one-year notice provision when there is a physical injury like a broken arm - after all, it hurts immediately and upon X-ray, it’s either there or it isn’t. Notice for a tangible injury like this on an application for benefits to an auto insurance company can be easily made.

A reader recently wrote in after reading my blog on the Dirtiest Insurance Company Trick of All. “Phil” stated that in the very serious car accident case I had written about, Farm Bureau Insurance company had every right to deliberately mislead the jury (I assume Phil is not a claims adjuster who works for Farm Bureau).

Actually, I really appreciate Phil’s comments and I am sure there are many people feel the same way as he does. That’s why I decided to re-post his comment and my response as today’s blog.

On Tuesday, I blogged about a 60 Minutes news report stating that athletes who have concussions (even minor ones), can go on to have permanent brain injury and dementia. Today I’m writing a continuation of that post, hoping to help traumatic brain injury attorneys entrusted with the immense responsibility of showing what futures may hold for auto accident victims.

The 60 Minutes show was based on a study of the long-term effects of TBI, particularly concussions, in athletes. And Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at Boston University School of Medicine, told the show she’s been working on a new area of brain research that’s provided physiological proof of brain disease in athletes who have suffered concussions.

Several news reports, including most recently the television show 60 Minutes, state that athletes who have concussions, even ones that are considered minor, can go on to have permanent brain injury and dementia later in life. These new studies may provide important help for traumatic brain injury attorneys entrusted with the responsibility of showing what futures may hold for car accident victims.

The Dishonest Defense Argument about Brain Injury

The 60 Minutes show was based on a study of the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury (particularly concussions) in athletes. This story highlights a problem that TBI attorneys and brain injured victims see far too often: Defense lawyers and insurance companies saying these injuries “look too good” to be a problem for a jury to take seriously.