Archives for April 2013

Youth Football Leagues Implement New Rules to Prevent Brain Injuries

For the past 2 years, due to the death and other permanent head and brain injurieshead injury image occurring to various high-profile athletes, many of which are parties to the  pending class action lawsuit filed against the NFL, have officials at the youth  football level taking firm action, which will hopefully lessen and safen the game for our kids.  Officials of The Pop Warner League, the largest youth football organization have changed its rules.

Research over the past few years has sounded alarms about how repeated hits to the head can affect the brains of football players, from young people all the way up through NFL athletes. A condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is already a well-publicized concern for ex-football players, particularly in light of NFL players’ Junior Seau and former Chicago Bear safety Dave Duerson’s suicide. Duerson requested his brain be donated for study before he shot himself in the chest; scientists later discovered he was suffering from CTE.

Recent research has found that Owen Thomas, the 21-year-old captain of the University of Pennsylvania football team who committed suicide in April 2010, was in the early stages of CTE. He had never been diagnosed with a concussion.

This spring, Stone Phillips produced a video report for Newshour on a study by a team at Virginia Tech that measured hits in 7- and 8-year-old football players. They found that impacts that measured 40g or greater — when hits start to get dangerous — occurred much more often than expected. And they occurred most often during practice. The New York Times reports that Pop Warner officials decided to change their guidelines for tackling during practice because of a study showing that football players as young as 7 can suffer from collisions as severe as college-level players.

New findings and studies in the area of concussion and brain injury, show that young children, who are still physically developing, are particularly vulnerable to suffering traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and head trauma associated with high-impact or contact sports such as football. About 3,000 children die from brain injuries every year and another 400,000 are brought to the hospital due to brain and head injuries annually.

Pop Warner Little Scholars enrolls approximately 280,000 children ranging in age from 5 to 15 in its nationwide football leagues. More than 285,000 children ages 5 to 15 play in Pop Warner leagues, and they’ve produced two-thirds of the players now in the NFL, according to The New York Times. Pop Warner is the first youth football league to implement across-the-board regulations when it comes to head-injury prevention.

In a press release about the revamp, Pop Warner also reiterated that certain blocking and tackling techniques, including face tacking and spearing, remain prohibited. Pop Warner has banned drills that involve tackling that begins with players more than 3 yards apart, head-to-head contact, or full-speed, head-on blocking and helmet-to-helmet hitting, and only one-third of practice time per week can be devoted to drills that use contact, which breaks down to about 40 minutes per practice. The league is also in the process of updating its website to include easily accessible information about concussions and safety.

Questions to Ask Your Car Accident Lawyer

When you meet with car accident lawyer Stuart L. Plotnick, he’ll have a lot of questions for you about your accident, but don’t be afraid to ask questions too. You want to make sure that you feel comfortable with the process of pursuing your legal case and confident in the representation you’ll receive.

You should feel free to ask any questions you need your car accident lawyer to answer. No question is silly. Consider asking questions like these:

  • What is your experience as a car accident lawyer?
  • How much do you think my case is worth?
  • How long do you think my case will take?
  • How much do you charge?
  • What can I do to help my case?

A personal injury and damage claim can take a while to settle and may need to go to trial. You want to be sure that your car accident lawyer is committed to seeing your claim through and has the experience necessary to get you the compensation you deserve.

Mr. Plotnick has spent years representing clients like you, and he has worked for insurance companies on the other side. He knows the ins and outs of preparing car accident cases, and will work to recover the compensation you are entitled to.

If have been injured in a car accident, please contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick to speak with an experienced Maryland car accident lawyer. Your initial consultation is free.

Whiplash Injuries

Whiplash injuries occur most often in car accidents. They require medical treatment and can require extended rehabilitative care. Maryland car accident lawyer, Stuart L. Plotnick can help you pursue the compensation you need for recovery.

Whiplash is a likely injury from rear-end motor vehicle accidents. When struck from behind, the head and neck of the driver or passengers is jerked forward or backward causing a neck sprain. Symptoms may take more than 24 hours to develop. You may experience:

  • Headaches
  • Neck pain and stiffness
  • Should pain or pain between shoulder blades
  • Dizziness
  • Ringing in the ears
  • Blurred vision

In most cases a CT scan or an MRI is needed to diagnose a whiplash injury because the damage is centralized in your soft tissues, which can’t be seen on standard x-rays. Treatment will vary for each individual, but you may need physical therapy, pain medications, and a cervical collar.

A common myth about whiplash injuries is that whiplash doesn’t happen in low speed impacts where vehicles don’t sustain much damage. The opposite is actually true. Low impact collisions can cause higher incidences of whiplash because your body is absorbing greater injury from the crash than the car is.

If you’ve suffered whiplash in a car accident, please contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick for your free consultation with an experienced Maryland car accident lawyer.

Wrongful Death as a Result of Medical Malpractice

As the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, medical malpractice is to blame for more than a quarter million deaths each year. These deaths could have been prevented with competent treatment from a medical professional. Maryland medical malpractice lawyer Stuart L. Plotnick believes in holding negligent doctors responsible for their mistakes.

Wrong Diagnosis

Misdiagnosis or late diagnosis can be a huge factor in medical emergencies or cancer cases. When time is of the essence and the doctor completely misses the mark with diagnosis, it can cost your loved one their life. Survival rates, especially for cancer patients, significantly decrease the longer the illness goes untreated.

Surgical Errors

In the operating room, the patient’s life is in the doctor’s hands. Although all surgeries have risks, negligence by the surgeon shouldn’t be one of them. Surgical errors range from leaving surgical instruments in the body to perforating healthy organs.

Hospital Errors

Hospital errors lead to 180,000 deaths annually. Errors by hospital staff and doctors can be as simple as failing to wash hands between patients. But that’s an easy way to spread infections and disease. When hospital staff aren’t provided enough training, resources, and supervision, you and your loved ones suffer the consequences.

If you’ve lost a loved one because of medical malpractice, please contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick for your free consultation with an experienced Maryland medical malpractice lawyer.

Cell Phone Use and Car Accidents

Cell phone use is a major contributing factor in car accidents today. As a Maryland car accident lawyer, Stuart L. Plotnick has seen too many lives devastated by drivers who chose cell phone distractions over safety.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

  • You are 23 times more likely to get into a motor vehicle accident if you text while driving
  • Over 800,000 vehicles are being driven every moment during the day by someone using a handheld device
  • 16 percent of all distracted driving accidents involve drivers under 20 years old

The text or the call can wait. It’s just not worth your life or someone else’s. The states are starting to come to terms with these dangers and mandate that we put the phone down while we’re driving.

  • Maryland and Washington DC ban all handheld cell phone use including texting while driving.
  • Virginia bans texting while driving and handheld cell phone use for novice drivers (under 18).

If you’ve been the victim of a car accident because someone else decided to use their cell phone while driving, please contact the Law Offices of Stuart L. Plotnick for your free consultation with an experienced Maryland car accident lawyer.