Carolina Accident Attorney Blog

Workers Suffer Severe Head Trauma in Craven County, North Carolina Construction Accident

Rick Shapiro recently blogged about a terrible construction accident on an overpass in Craven County, North Carolina. Three workers were seriously hurt with major injuries, one suffered a traumatic brain injury when an RV caught a hanging cable along highway 70. If you want a no-cost confidential consult with an experienced injury trial attorney handling industrial accidents involving falls and traumatic brain injury, please contact our law firm toll free at 800-752-0042 to allow us to evaluate whether the claim meets our criteria.

Restaurant Ornament Falls on Customer, Causes Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

A customer at a restaurant suffered a mild traumatic brain injury after an ornament fell from the ceiling and hit their head. They suffered memory loss, dizziness, and confusion as a result. A personal injury claim was filed against the restaurant. Did the victim win this case? Find out in this article.

Karr Completes Skateboarding Trip To Raise Brain Injury Awareness

A head injury victim completed a skateboarding trip across North Carolina in order to raise money for others suffering from the effects of a traumatic brain injury. The man raised an estimated $10,000 during his journey that also strove to create greater awareness for head injury victims.

Expert: Neck Strengthening Should Be Mandatory In Sports To Reduce Head Injury

As we learn more about what causes traumatic brain injuries in high school and college athletes, many believe that school sports programs should focus on neck strengthening exercises in order to minimize head injuries and brain damage.

North Carolina Study: Brace Yourself To Reduce Brain Injury

A new study out of North Carolina that focused on youth hockey players has determined that bracing for collisions can help reduce the severity of head injuries and brain injuries.

Nashville, North Carolina School Bus Crash Causes Head Injury

NC Highway Patrol investigated a school bus wreck in Nashville, North Carolina where one of the accident victims incurred a head/brain injury and was taken to the Nash General Hospital. Although some car crash fender benders seem minor, they can leave grave after-effects such as brain damage/injury. If you have been injured in a car wreck, then you should consult with us. We promise to treat you like family, not like a number. Call us to see what we mean at 1-800-752-0042 and take a moment to review our website filled with free consumer guides, articles, and videos.

The Subtle Threat of a Traumatic Brain Injury

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not easy to spot right away. It's not like a broken leg or shattered pelvis where the pain is immediate and noticeable. The effects of a TBI are rather subtle and may take days or even weeks to recognize. This is because it's exclusively an internal disturbance and reveals itself in common pains such as a headache, backache, or feeling fatigued, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

As an injury lawyer who works for a firm that represents people who've suffered a TBI, I recommend a simple policy: if you've suffered an injury where you were knocked in the head, visit your doctor ASAP.  A traumatic brain injury can have life-long ramifications including memory loss and decrease in cognitive function. In order to prevent such long-term side effects, treatment is necessary.

Here's a video illustrating the effects of TBI...

Even if the injury is minor, you may have suffered an MTBI (mild traumatic brain injury). Between 75 to 90 percent of the over 1.4 million traumatic brain injury deaths, hospitalizations, and ER visits originate from concussions and MTBI, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Think about that - a majority of brain injury deaths start off as a mild brain injury or concussion.  This is why an early diagnosis is essential in treating your TBI or MTBI properly. If you neglect the problem, you may be forced to deal with persistent headaches, vision or hearing problems, memory loss, sleep disturbances, or mood changes for the rest of your life.

Also, even if the hospital emergency room says your cat-scan is negative, do not interpret that to mean you do not have a brain injury. The cat-scane is a blunt instrument and may not show tearing of the brain tissues that occur at a microscopic level. If you've suffered a head trauma and symptoms persist like headaches, memory/thinking difficulties, or personality changes, see a neurologist or brain injury specialist.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a law firm which focuses on injury and accident law and we have experience handling traumatic brain injury and general head injuries. Check out our case results to see for yourself. Our primary office in based in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA). Our attorneys have handled numerous head injury and brain trauma cases, and achieved the largest verdict in Virginia's history for a brain damaged client in 2000. Our lawyers hold licenses in NC, SC, WV, KY and DC. And we are ready to talk to you by phone right now-we provide free initial confidential injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube . Furthermore, our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard and Norfolk Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service.

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Lucas Lear Still Suffering From Injuries After Being Shaken by Daycare Worker Cheryl Alston

An at home daycare operator in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (NC) is under investigation today for the charge of harm to a child in her care. Cheryl Alston was arrested last week and has been ordered by a judge in Orange County, North Carolina (NC) not to operate her in-home daycare center and has had her license revoked by the North Carolina (NC) Division of Child Development.

The tragic incident all started two months ago when Chris Lear came to the home in Chapel Hill to find his seven month old son Lucas Lear limp in Cheryl Alston’s arms. By the time Chris Lear had arrived Alston was already on the phone with 9-1-1 claiming she had discovered Lucas Lear unresponsive in his car seat. According to Alston, she had changed the baby’s diaper, returned him to his car seat, gone to wash her hands, and was returning when she noticed the baby was unresponsive. She then removed the baby from the car seat and was attempting to revive Lucas while dialing 9-1-1.

Fortunately, paramedics were able to revive Chris Lear’s child, however it is has been a constant struggle for the baby since the incident at the daycare. Lucas Lear has spent the past two months hooked to machines in the neonatal unit of UNC Hospitals located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (NC).

Lucas has managed to survive this horrible incident and the Lear family is working with a local personal injury attorney to sue Alston and her daycare center. The Lear family and their attorney have spent the last two months compiling a case that shows the massive head injury that lead to loss of vision and lengthy hospital stays for Lucas Lear was the result of intentional physical harm.

It is always a sad and sobering moment when any child receives harm at the hands of an adult, especially a trusted daycare worker. While these tragic incidents are not common, they do happen. If your children are already in daycare, or you have a new baby set to start daycare soon there are a few measures you can take to reduce the likelihood of injury. When selecting a daycare or at home nanny service ensure the company is licensed in North Carolina. While this is not required by law, it does provide an extra level of security. Also, be sure to get as many references for the daycare workers as possible and check them thoroughly.

Unfortunately, not every accident involving a child can be avoided. If your child has been involved in an accident, you have options. Seek the help of a personal injury attorney today. The attorneys at Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton, P.C are trained in dealing with these sensitive and tragic accidents and can help you get what you need for your child.

Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), with an office also in Elizabeth City, in Northeast North Carolina (NC), practicing primarily in the southeastern U.S. and handles only injury law, including car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our Carolina injur law website is: http://carolina.hsinjurylaw.com, the firm edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard and also hosts a YouTube injury law video library covering many FAQ’s on personal injury subjects. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

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Debilitating and Lasting Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury Caused by Car Accidents

My law partner John Cooper wrote an article on the Northeast North Carolina InjuryBoard blog about the debilitating effects of traumatic brain injury and how common they are in auto accident survivors.  To read the full article about major causes of car accidents and the long-term effects of surviving traumatic brain injuries, please click here.

 

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm (VA-NC law offices ) edits the injury law blogs Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, as well as the Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono service to consumers. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY, who handle car, truck, railroad, and medical negligence cases and more.

Unnecessary Concussions and Brain Injury Can Occur in Children’s Athletics

The medical issues surrounding traumatic brain injury (TBI) have become much more discussed in the news with the veterans coming home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and new attention paid by military doctors to this type of injury.  Sometimes a blow to the head can result in a skull wound which is cracked open, bleeding and with obvious outward signs of the trauma.  Even more common is closed head injury, where the swelling of brain tissue and the ripping of the structures of the brain occur at a microscopic or cellular level which is not something that you can see just by looking at a person.  The type of mild/moderate traumatic brain injury can still be permanent.

 

The risks of blows to the face and head resulting in permanent cognitive impairment, headaches, and memory loss as well as mood problems like irritability and depression can happen to children from injuries in sports.  Some of these concussions are an unfortunate but normal part of the games that high school students and college athletes play.  However, some are preventable because they were the result of the carelessness or lack of attention of the adults who are supposed to be in charge of the game.  Please click here to read a recent library article about this topic.

 

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.