By
Pace Law

Tragedy As A Catalyst For Change In Brain Injury Treatment

January 28, 2014

Toronto lawyer Albert Conforzi: As a personal injury lawyer in Toronto, I am routinely asked to represent people who have been involved in serious accidents. These victims quickly learn that they must not only deal with the strengths and weaknesses of our healthcare system, but also an insurance regime which routinely denies the very existence of their injuries, or at least the severity of those injuries.

I have pointed out before that insurance regimes, and the doctors they select to perform medical evaluations, will deny the existence of injuries that anyone outside of the insurance world would take at face value.

 Still, it isn’t just the insurance regimes that behave this way. The broader culture is also to blame, and it often takes big names and bigger headlines to change the way we look at things. In this, personal injury and head trauma have been no different. What was once called “getting your bell rung” or “getting a dinger” has recently taken on a whole new significance.
Richardson and Schumacher
A couple of years ago, the actress Natasha Richardson had an accident while skiing. She suffered a blow to the head. Initially, she was examined by doctors and returned back to her room. Within a couple of hours she had lapsed into a coma and died. Following this tragedy, there was much public attention directed towards the very real problem of head injuries, and the risks that go with it. Since then, we’ve also seen the NFL and NHL class-actions which deal with repeated head injury and concussion. They’re front page news, and they’re also big bucks.
I recently came across an article discussing yet another tragedy involving a high-profile sports figure, in this case Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher. He injured himself last month while skiing. His doctors have performed extensive surgery to his skull in order to try to avert the effects of the brain trauma:

After retired race car star Michael Schumacher severely injured his head in a fall while skiing last month, doctors in France removed part of his skull to relieve dangerous swelling in his brain. How much their treatment will help in the long run is an open question.

Aggressive care for head injury can keep some patients alive and maximize the odds of recovery by preventing further damage. Even so, treatment often remains elusive — an invasive, hit-or-miss process that requires months or years of rehabilitation with uncertain results.

Each year 50,000 Americans die from brain trauma and another 275,000 are hospitalized, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Attempts to make drugs to protect injured brain cells have so far failed, so doctors’ main recourse to prevent the damage from spreading is relieving pressure inside the skull as well as removing blood clots.

“We desperately need a breakthrough,” said Peter Andrews, a critical care specialist at the University of Edinburgh.

In the insurance arena, we continue to need a desperate breakthrough as well. We need to reach a point where insurers and other doctors stop denying what is plain and obvious in the medical world outside of personal injury litigation. High profile cases such as those of the NFL lawsuit, and Michael Schumacher’s accident, while tragic, will continue to help break down these barriers.

Albert Conforzi is a personal injury lawyer with Pace Law Firm in Toronto.Pace’s personal injury lawyers have been helping accident victims since 1980.

Share This Post
Email
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter
Trending Posts
Read More Insights
Wills And Estates
By
Angela Barrientos
A will is a legal document that clearly states how a person’s property and belongings will be divided after their passing.
Immigration
By
Angela Barrientos
Since its introduction in 2013, the program has been a huge success in assisting Canada in luring and keeping outstanding entrepreneurs who can contribute to the expansion and prosperity of the country’s economy.
Corporate and Personal Law
By
Angela Barrientos
In 2022 the Government of Canada passed new amendments that expanded the Scope of the Competition Act. In this article, we look back on some of the changes that took place.
Corporate and Personal Law
By
Angela Barrientos
The term “mergers and acquisitions,” also known as M&A, refers to the merging of businesses or their essential business assets via business-to-business monetary operations.
Wills And Estates
By
Angela Barrientos
A will is a written statement that represents you after death. It specifies how you intend on allocating your assets and property.
Events
By
Pace Law
Pace Law Firm is always looking to expand our business and elevate it to the next level. On Thursday November 24th, Pace Law Firm attended the Canadian Mortgage Summit (CMS) to hear from the industry’s top mortgage brokers, lenders and solution providers.

Get in Touch

Call us now or fill out the form to discuss your case with an experienced legal professional.

Our Locations

Office Location

191 The West Mall, Suite 1100
Toronto, ON M9C 5K8
Phone: 1-877-236-3060
Fax: 416-236-1809

Office Location

191 The West Mall, Suite 1100
Toronto, ON M9C 5K8
Phone: 1-877-236-3060
Fax: 416-236-1809

Scroll to Top
Scroll to Top