Riding a motorcycle exposes a person’s body in a lot more ways than inside a vehicle. Without car frames, seat belts, or airbags providing protection, the head of a person is more vulnerable to injury in a motorcycle accident. One of the main concerns in a motorcycle accident is a brain injury. A brain injury could dramatically change the way a person functions on a daily basis.
Learn about various brain injuries that come from motorcycle accidents and how those injuries could impact a person’s quality of life.
1. Traumatic Brain Injury
One general brain injury that can occur in a motorcycle accident is a traumatic brain injury. A key marker of the brain injury is a loss of consciousness. If a rider has passed out for any length of time, then a brain injury likely occurred.
Some of the mild forms include a concussion, but the amount of time a person is passed out for will likely relate to the severity of the brain injury. Along with the unconscious state, doctors will look for signs of post-traumatic amnesia. A rider may not remember the accident or recent events in their life.
Brain injury problems may appear in the days that follow an accident. More severe injuries could see problems extend for weeks or months. Someone who suffers brain damage could have trouble with everyday functions. Beyond memory, problems could include physical issues like walking or dizziness. A person may have trouble with focus and completing basic tasks.
A doctor may order a CAT scan or MRI to see the direct impact on the brain. Scans will highlight specific areas and showcase where problems have occurred.
2. Hydrocephalus
While a traumatic brain injury is a more general physical impact on the brain, a motorcycle accident victim could suffer from more specific injuries like a hydrocephalus. An accident could cause pressure on the skull and spine, which leads to fluid buildup in the brain. As fluid builds up and creates pressure, acute hydrocephalus occurs.
Hopefully, doctors are able to diagnose and treat the fluid buildup quickly after an accident. The longer the fluid applies pressure, the more brain damage can occur. Some of the more obvious signs of acute hydrocephalus include double vision, confusion, memory loss, and slower reactions to questions.
Physically, people with acute hydrocephalus may suffer from blurred vision, a lack of proper coordination, nausea, and chronic headaches. If acute hydrocephalus is discovered, then a person may need to undergo surgery to properly drain the fluid and reduce the extra pressure on the brain.
Even after the fluid drains, the brain damage could become permanent or take a lot of extra time to heal properly and recover.
3. Brain Hemorrhage
The fluid from hydrocephalus is different than if a blood vessel bursts in the brain and causes a hemorrhage. Also known as a brain bleed, a hemorrhage is an emergency situation where doctors must do everything they can to stop and contain the bleeding.
The severity of a brain hemorrhage all depends on where the injury occurs. Signs of a hemorrhage are similar to other brain injuries, so a complete exam and scans are necessary to discover the cause of the issue. At first, a person may not show any signs of a brain bleed, especially if the hemorrhage is small and slow.
A sign could take weeks to show up. This is why motorcycle crash victims should follow through with emergency room visits, doctor check-ups, and any scans that have been ordered. Stopping a brain bleed is essential to preventing long-term brain damage.
If you’ve suffered any form of brain injury due to a motorcycle accident, contact us at Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney to see what your legal options are when moving forward with a case.
Helpful Safety Tips During Motorcycle Rallies
Motorcycle rallies are enjoyable, but they can also be dangerous. Keep that in mind if you plan to participate in such rallies. Use the following tips to reduce your risk of a crash.
Plan
Don’t just show up at the rally if you plan to ride. Meet with your riding friends and plan your day. During the meeting, you can:
- Go over the route
- Specify meeting points
- Agree on hand signals
- Select lead and sweep riders
The idea is to avoid surprises that increase the risk of accidents.
Ride in Small Groups
Riding in big groups increases the risk of crashes. Say you have a tight group of twenty riders and one of them crashes into a ditch. If the other riders were too close to the fallen rider, you risk having multiple crashes. If you have a big group, divide it into smaller and manageable ones.
Stay in Formation
Riding in formation is safer than letting everyone chose their riding position. A staggered formation, for example, allows riders to react to emergencies without putting other riders in danger.
Although a staggered formation is a norm, some situations are better suited to single file formations. For example, a single-line formation is ideal on a winding road or with poor visibility. In such conditions, a single-line formation allows you to leave room for other road users who might not see you in time.
Ride Safe Bikes
Ensure your bike is mechanically sound, whether it is a conventional or classic ride. Some parts of concern include the:
- Brake system
- Lights
- Tires
Check your bike at least a day before the rally to avoid surprises.
Don’t Drink and Ride
Rally organizers mean them to be fun, which means food and alcohol are usually in plenty. Unfortunately, alcohol and riding don’t mix well. Alcohol intoxication:
- Impairs judgment
- Reduces reaction time
- Impairs vision
- Impairs sense of balance
Make a conscious and intentional decision not to drink and ride.
Take Extra Care With Unfamiliar Routes
Unfamiliar routes tend to be more dangerous than familiar routes. For example, when riding in an unfamiliar route, you might not:
- Have a good idea of the expected traffic
- Know the dangerous sections of the road
- Know the status of the road, such as if it has potholes
Be extra careful on unfamiliar roads. Scan the road ahead to identify potential dangers. Keep to a reasonable speed to stop in case of an emergency.
Know Your Limits
A typical group of riders has individual riders with different skills and experiences. Understand your limits and stick to them. Don’t attempt things, such as stunts, just because other riders do them. Don’t take corners at high speeds beyond your skillsets. In short, maintain your individualism within the group.
Wear Protective Gear
The above tips reduce your risk of crashing, but you cannot eliminate the risk. Factors outside your control, such as other road users or the weather, can still cause an accident. Thus, you must wear relevant protective gear to reduce the extent of injuries in case of an accident. Relevant protective gear includes:
- A helmet
- Riding boots
- Gloves
- A riding jacket
- Long pants
Some of the protective gear also reduce your risk of an accident. For example, a good helmet will keep the wind and flying debris out of your eyes so that you can focus on the road.
Hopefully, the above tips will help you stay safe and enjoy rallies to the safest. However, don’t forget that you may be entitled to compensation if you fall victim to an accident. Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney will evaluate your injuries and help you pursue your damages. Contact us for a free initial consultation on your motorcycle accident.
Proving Internal Bleeding After an Auto Accident
Internal bleeding is a serious injury that can lead to severe complications or even fatalities. Internal bleeding can also leave you with long-term or even permanent health complications. Thus, you shouldn’t be surprised if an auto insurance adjuster questions your claim of internal bleeding after an accident.
Here are some things to help you prove internal bleeding in such a situation.
Type of Trauma
Two types of trauma can cause internal bleeding. Proving that you suffered either or both types of trauma shows a high risk of internal bleeding.
1. Blunt Trauma
Blunt trauma occurs if something hits you or you hit something at high speed. For example, a blow to the abdomen can damage blood vessels and internal organs, leading to internal bleeding. The impact doesn’t have to break the skin to cause internal bleeding. You can use videos or pictures of the accident and your injuries to show the blunt trauma in such a case.
2. Penetrating Trauma
Penetrating trauma occurs if something pierces your body. An example is if a metal piece pierces your abdomen and damages your internal tissues. In this case, the wound’s site and size can help prove internal bleeding.
Signs and Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of your injuries can also prove internal bleeding. Typical signs of the injury include:
- Lightheadedness
- Chest pain
- Headache
- Pain
- Vomiting
- Nausea
- Weakness on one side of the body
The symptoms vary by different factors, including the location of the trauma and affected blood vessels or internal organs. For example, bleeding in the brain is likely to cause vomiting, seizures, and loss of consciousness, among other symptoms.
Diagnosis
Every auto accident victim should seek medical care as soon as possible after the crash. The medical care will help you get the correct diagnosis of your injury. You can use the diagnosis to prove your internal bleeding.
Doctors have different diagnostic techniques for internal bleeding. Below are some of them:
- Physical examination. The doctor will examine the injury site for signs of blood vessel damage.
- Medical history review. The doctor may review our medical history to determine if things other than your accident may be causing your symptoms.
- Imaging tests. Doctors use imaging tests to view internal structures that hide under the skin. Things like X-rays and CT scans can show internal injury and bleeding. Blood tests. Blood tests can determine the level of blood loss, which may indicate internal bleeding.
Your medical records will contain details of your diagnosis. Get a copy of the records and use it to prove your internal bleeding claim.
Complications
Internal bleeding might lead to several medical complications. The complications depend on the severity of the injury, your overall health, and treatment, among other issues. For example, you might suffer organ damage if your internal bleeding continues for a long time. An expert witness can connect your complications to your accident and help you prove internal bleeding.
Treatment
Lastly, you can also use your treatment records to prove internal bleeding. Internal bleeding treatment can include:
- Rest
- Control of symptoms
- Repair of the damaged tissues
- Surgery (in extreme situations)
The necessary treatment depends on:
- Your overall health
- The affected tissues
- The trauma’s severity
Use your treatment to prove both your injury and damages. For example, you might lose some income if your doctor prescribes several days of rest.
Hopefully, you won’t suffer severe injuries anytime soon. However, you deserve full compensation if you do suffer an accident. You can only get full compensation if you can prove your injuries and damages. Contact Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney to evaluate your case and help you pursue your settlement. You can rely on our skills and several decades of experience.
Some 294,000 Americans suffer from spinal cord injuries, with an additional 17,810 cases occurring every year. These debilitating injuries can cause a host of problems, from chronic pain to partial or total paralysis. These impairments can lead to loss of income even as medical bills and other related expenses mount.
If you have sustained a spinal cord injury at the hands of someone else, you may wish to file a personal injury lawsuit against that party to obtain much-needed financial compensation. Take a look at some frequently asked questions about this type of injury and the legal issues surrounding spinal cord injury lawsuits.
What Forms Do Spinal Cord Injuries Take?
The spinal cord relays all the sensory data and motor commands between the brain and the rest of the body. This thick cable of nerve tissue runs from the base of the brain through the neck and back, surrounded and protected by vertebrae. Even with this protection, however, the spinal cord can sustain serious injuries.
The majority of spinal cord injuries count as incomplete injuries that may respond to treatment. These injuries may affect the front of the spinal cord, the cord’s central tissue, or one side of the spinal cord (a condition called a Brown-Sequard injury). A complete spinal cord injury involves the severing of the spinal cord.
How Do Spinal Cord Injuries Occur?
Some spinal cord injuries occur due to medical malpractice, infections, violent acts such as shootings, or undetermined causes. However, most cases involve traumatic accidents. According to SpinalCord.com, auto accidents account for 39.3 percent of all spinal cord injuries, with falls accounting for an additional 31.8 percent.
What Effects Can a Spinal Cord Injury Have on Your Life?
A complete spinal cord injury cuts off all communication between your brain and the body parts served by the nerve tissue below the injury site. Depending on the level of the injury on the spine, you might lose control of your arms, legs, bladder, or bowels. These forms of paralysis can make an ordinary lifestyle difficult or impossible.
Even an incomplete spinal cord injury can impact your ability to earn a living or pursue everyday activities. You may experience partial paralysis, muscle weakness in a limb, and loss of sensation or manual dexterity. Chronic pain, numbness, tingling, or other uncomfortable symptoms can hurt your quality of life.
How Do You Pursue a Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit?
You must file your spinal cord injury lawsuit within the time limits established by Nevada’s statutes of limitations. In most accidental personal injury cases, you need to file your lawsuit within two years of the accident date. Beyond this point, you may find it difficult or impossible to get your case heard in court.
According to Chapter 41A of the state legislature, if your case involves professional neglect or malpractice, you must file your lawsuit either within three years of the injury or within one year of discovering the damage done by the injury.
In a typical spinal cord injury lawsuit, you must prove that the party named in the lawsuit caused the injury (or worsened an existing injury) either through negligence or in a deliberate attempt to injure you. Your attorney may need to summon medical experts to testify on your behalf, especially in a medical malpractice case.
What Challenges Could Your Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit Encounter?
If your spinal cord injury occurred while you were engaged in a potentially hazardous activity, the defense may argue that you shouldn’t receive compensation. This defense, known as assumption of risk, may drastically reduce your award or cause you to lose your case.
Nevada follows the modified comparative fault rule in assigning liability for personal injury cases. If the defense shows that you share liability for the circumstances of your spinal cord injury, the court may reduce your damage award by what it considers your percentage of fault.
When you need genuine legal expertise in the area of spinal cord injury lawsuits, turn to our team at Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney. We can evaluate the circumstances and evidence surrounding your injury and present your case as compellingly as possible. Contact our law office today.
Has someone caused your recent injury? If so, you are now affected by what is known as tort law in the American legal system. What is a tort? How are you impacted by torts? And what recourse do you have to get what you need to recover? Here are answers to some of your questions.
1. What Is a Tort?
In legal terms, a tort is an act or omission by one party that causes some form of injury to another. It is a civil legal issue, addressed through the civil courts where the injured party seeks compensation from the party that committed the tort. Generally, torts come in three main varieties: intentional torts, negligence, and strict (product) liability.
Tort law comes primarily in the form of personal injury law, but this category is much broader than most people realize. Why? The injury caused by a tort can take many forms, some of which are not easily recognizable.
2. What Sort of Injuries Are Included?
If torts and personal injuries take many forms, what might these look like? It is most often bodily injury such as might occur as a result of a car accident, a pedestrian being hit, a fight between individuals, or a fall on badly maintained stairs. This bodily injury might be intentional, perhaps from an assault, or it might be accidental and come from negligence.
Injury can also include non-bodily harm or loss. If your business rival prints a libelous statement that you are participating in fraud, you may have a personal injury case. Why? The injury is to your reputation and your ability to earn an income. The losses are financial rather than bodily, but they remain caused by the actions or omissions of another party and are injurious to you.
Other non-bodily injuries include invasion of privacy, defamation, infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment.
3. How Can You Get Compensation?
Because tort law is a civil matter, you have three primary means of getting compensation for your injury. The first is through submitting a claim to an insurance company. Most bodily injury cases involve some type of insurance coverage. This insurance may be your own or it may be someone else’s liability coverage.
The second means of being compensated is through negotiation and settlement. Settlements happen outside the courtroom and allow you to avoid the extra expense and time involved in getting a legal judgment. You do not need to prove your claim beyond a shadow of a doubt, but you must build a strong enough case that the other side feels its best interests are to avoid an actual court battle.
The third method to receive compensation is to bring a case before the court. This route is usually pursued only when the first two options have been exhausted. Because you must now win your case to receive anything, most tort cases that reach this point require the help of an experienced attorney.
4. How Is Compensation Granted?
What restitution might you get for a tort violation? Generally, you may seek what is called general and special damages.
General damages put into dollar amounts the consequences in terms of pain and suffering, impairment, quality of life, reputation damage, or other non-financial issues both present and future. Special damages add up determinable financial losses such as expenses incurred, lost earnings, and loss of irreplaceable assets. These calculations can be applied to insurance claims, settlements, and court judgments.
Where Should You Start?
Tort law is complex. It is also vital to your recovery from any personal injury, either bodily or non-bodily. Therefore, you do well to start by learning how it may be applied in your particular case. Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney has assisted Nevada residents with all their personal injury needs for more than 50 years. Call today for a free consultation.
5 Benefits of Hiring a Personal Injury Lawyer
Suppose you are seriously hurt in an accident. In that case, the immediate effects are not only painful, but some personal injuries can permanently change your life due to the negligence of another party.
If you or a loved one has survived a personal injury caused by another party, you can seek compensation for your medical bills, lost income, and other related expenses. But the process to do so can be confusing. A personal injury lawyer can help you handle all the formalities required to make a claim or build a case against the responsible party.
Here are five benefits of working with a personal injury lawyer.
1. Offer Objective Opinions
Pain and emotional distress often accompany many personal injury cases and directly impact your recovery. As such, building a personal injury claim following a traumatic event is not without emotional repercussions that can affect your ability to make objective decisions as far as your injury is concerned.
A personal injury lawyer eliminates overwhelming negative emotions that affect your decision-making process and can give you expert advice on how to pursue compensation based on both the physical and psychological impacts.
2. Provide Professional Knowledge of Personal Injury Law
Current knowledge of personal injury laws and possible outcomes is critical. Better yet, you need someone who can demonstrate how the specific injury impacts your life, interest, and relationships and can provide evidence. When it comes to winning personal injury cases, it’s not the claim that matters. It’s what you can prove.
A personal injury lawyer can look at all facets of the case, honing in on key laws at play, and review all relevant information for the best possible outcome.
3. Help With Insurance Settlement Negotiations
When pursuing maximum compensation, you want an expert engaging in negotiations on your behalf. This is because insurance adjusters may try to tempt you into a quick settlement to keep you from pursuing a lawsuit that may be worth much more money.
The insurance company’s best interest is to settle as quickly as possible to avoid costly legal battles. However, a personal injury lawyer is your best bet in dealing with insurance companies or adjusters to make sure the offer you receive is not less than your settlement is worth.
4. Minimize Financial Risks
Having a personal injury lawyer is not only key to getting the most money out of your settlement and faster compensation, but they can also save you time and money.
Personal injury lawyers eliminate mistakes when filing a claim, manage strict deadlines, and handle everything at a contingent fee. In addition, they alleviate the financial burden for you if you need to raise a court action by handling court proceedings on your behalf. This way, you will have no legal expenses to contend with in case your claim fails.
5. Let You Focus on Your Health
Once you hire a personal injury lawyer, you can relax and focus on your physical and mental health, knowing that you no longer have to deal with lengthy insurance calls or other attorneys.
The results will be reduced stress and less intense emotional trauma and physical pain as you try to deal with the claim. In addition, an experienced lawyer will handle all parameters of your case, giving you peace of mind so that you can focus on your recovery.
At Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney, we have experience dealing with personal injury cases to maximize clients’ results. We have a proven track record of success in handling the legal work of personal injury claims so that you can focus on healing from your injuries. Contact us today to obtain the compensation you deserve.
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6900 South McCarran Boulevard., Suite 2000Reno, NV 89509
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