Personal Injury

March 21, 2019

E-Scooters Cause Brain Injuries and Broken Bones in and Around San Diego

Whether you live in San Marcos or elsewhere in the San Diego County area, it is important to know about electric scooters and the personal injury risks they pose. According to a recent news release from the University of California, new research suggests that e-scooters are tied to high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI), broken bones, and dislocated joints. Those who sustain these types of injuries on e-scooters require medical attention, and some seemingly less serious injuries also require riders to seek treatment in an emergency department.

Why are e-scooters dangerous, and how should residents around San Diego County respond?

New Study Ties Electric Scooters to Serious Personal Injuries

March 8, 2019

More Concussions in Poway Soccer Players

by Walton Law Firm

More research funds are going toward sports-related concussion studies and concussion risks for youth athletes. We often think about football and other contact sports when we consider traumatic brain injury (TBI) risks, yet many different sports and recreational activities can put young athletes at serious risk of sustaining a concussion.

A recent study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University found that concussions are more common than we previously thought among female soccer players. Nearly 30% of all soccer injuries are concussions. To put that number in perspective, about 24% of all football injuries are concussions. To put that another way, more girls suffer sports-related concussions playing soccer in high school than do boys who play football.

Girls Soccer Players Suffer Head Injuries More Often Than Boys Soccer Players

January 9, 2019

Brain Injury Research Gets a Boost

by Walton Law Firm

Vista residents and others throughout Southern California who have suffered significant traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) should know that additional new research is being documented in this area all the time. More precisely, researchers continue to investigate the link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). According to a recent press release from University of California, Davis, funding from the Pew Foundation will support new initiatives that will involve research into the biochemistry behind brain trauma. The research is part of a broader initiative to investigate and combat TBIs—including concussions—in both youth and professional sports leagues.

Biochemistry, Hits to the Head, and Traumatic Brain Injury

As the press release discusses, we know that behavioral changes take place in the brain after concussions. What we do not know, however, is precisely how the biochemistry of the brain changes, ultimately leading to those mood shifts. Kassandra Ori-McKenney, an assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology at UC Davis, is researching TBIs and biochemistry. Ori-McKenney won fellowship and is the 2018 Pew biomedical scholar. The funding provides $300,000 over the course of four years, during which time Ori-McKenney “will investigate the role of the protein tau in the development of neurodegeneration resulting from traumatic brain injury.” Thus far, we know that there is a “strong correlation with the expression and spread of tau throughout the brain’s circularity.”

October 19, 2018

Hearing Loss May Increase Your Injury Risk in Escondido

by Walton Law Firm

We often consider a variety of risk factors for determining whether a particular person in Escondido is more likely to suffer a personal injury in an accident than another person. For example, we might think about whether a person’s job involves dangerous activities, such as working with heavy machinery or working on scaffolding. Or, we might consider whether a person has to drive on the highway in order to commute to work. Differently, we might consider a person’s age and sex in helping to think through whether that person is at risk of a particularly severe injury in a slip and fall accident, for instance, or in a drowning incident.

What about a person’s ability to hear? According to a recent article in Reuters Health, hearing loss has been linked to a higher risk of unintentional injury. As the article explains, “people who have a lot of trouble hearing may be almost twice as likely to experience an accidental injury as individuals with excellent or good hearing.” This information comes out of a recent study that assessed injury risk for a wide variety of adults between the years 2007-2015.

Hearing Loss Increases a Person’s Risk of Suffering an Injury

October 5, 2018

Concussions May Lead to Parkinson’s Disease

by Walton Law Firm

If you or someone you love suffers a concussion in San Marcos, it is important to know how that traumatic brain injury (TBI) could have effects years later. Much of the current news about head trauma and long-term effects concerns chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease of the brain that researchers believe results from multiple bumps or blows to the head. CTE is not the only possible long-term effect of sustaining a single—or multiple—concussions when you are younger. According to a recent article in Popular Science, a new study published in Neurology suggests that a single concussion “can significantly increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.”

Even a Single, Mild Brain Injury can Have Effects Decades Later

The new study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. Their research indicates that the amount of a person’s increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease after sustaining a mild TBI is “contingent on how severe the brain injury was, but even a mild brain injury raised the likelihood of Parkinson’s by as much as 56%.” Some of the most common mild traumatic brain injuries are concussions. To clarify, if you sustain a single concussion in your lifetime, your risk of developing Parkinson’s disease could increase by up to 56% in comparison with a person who has never sustained a concussion or another TBI.

August 23, 2018

Brain Injuries and ADHD Risks in Carlsbad Children

by Walton Law Firm

When we discuss concussions and other traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in kids in Carlsbad and throughout California, we often think about teen athletes who sustain head trauma in contact sports. However, as the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) explains, there are many ways in which children sustain mild TBIs and more serious head wounds. For example, the majority of brain injuries in children occur in motor vehicle crashes (more than 60,000 every year), followed by fall-related injuries. More than 500,000 kids require treatment in emergency departments every year as a result of TBIs.

All of this is to say that parents should be considering the long-term risks of TBIs even when their kids do not play sports but sustain a concussion or another serious head injury after falling from a bike or being involved in a traffic collision. According to a recent report in CBS News, kids who recover from TBIs may be at risk of developing ADHD at a later point. Indeed, as the report indicates, “young children who sustain a severe head injury may struggle with attention problems as they grow older.” What else do parents in Carlsbad need to know about TBIs in children and ADHD risks?

New Study Addresses Long-Term Implications of Severe TBI in Children

July 10, 2018

New Study Shows Link Between TBI and Alzheimer’s Disease

by Walton Law Firm

Athletes and other individuals in Valley Center who sustain concussions and other traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) may be more likely to develop early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study reported in Science Daily. Although the researchers behind the study emphasize that their results should not prevent parents from allowing their children to play sports and to engage in other extracurricular activities, it is nonetheless important to recognize that, for the first time, there is a clear link between TBI and Alzheimer’s disease.

If you want to read the study in detail, you can find the results published in the peer-reviewed journal Neuropsychology. In the meantime, what else should Southern California residents know about the new study?

Details of the TBI and Alzheimer’s Study

June 28, 2018

Recalled Instant Pots Could Cause Burn Injuries in Rancho Bernardo

by Walton Law Firm

Instant Pot multicookers have become extremely popular over the last year, but do they pose a risk of burn injury? Articles have emphasized that the pressure cookers can make almost anything, from stews to wines. However, according to a recent report from WebMD, certain Instant Pot models may have a safety defect that could result in the unit overheating and, ultimately, starting a fire. If you own an Instant Pot and regularly use it to make dinner in Rancho Bernardo, do you need to stop using the pressure cooker altogether? We will discuss the recall associated with defective pressure cookers and how the defect could cause burn injuries.

Getting the Facts About the Recalled Gem 65 8-in-1 Multicooker

According to the report, the problem exists in some models of the Gem 65 8-in-1 Multicooker. Many were sold at Walmart and by other popular retail outlets, and they are now being recalled. Double Insight, the company that currently imports these Instant Pot models from China, has received to date more than 100 separate reports of the Instant Pot “overheating and melting on the bottom.” In at least five cases, consumers have sustained property damage. An overheating kitchen device can pose a serious risk of burn injuries and fire damage to your home.

May 3, 2018

Bill Aims to Prevent Secret Settlements for Product Defects

by Walton Law Firm

Whether you live in Encinitas or another part of San Diego County, you should know about a bill that has been introduced in California to “prohibit settlement agreements that keep secret information about dangerous products and environmental hazards,” according to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee. The bill is not the first of its kind. To be sure, a number of other states have enacted similar laws to help ensure that consumers can have important information about hazardous products that could cause personal injuries. We want to provide some more information about the bill, and to give you an idea of how it could impact personal injury lawsuits in Southern California concerning product defects.

Confidential Settlements and Defective Products in California

Assemblyman Mark Stone introduced Assembly Bill 889, which is designed to prevent lawsuit settlements that are conditioned on information about defective products that could pose “a danger to public health and safety” being kept confidential. Currently, when consumers file lawsuits against manufacturers after being injured by a product with a safety defect, for example, the manufacturer can settle the lawsuit and require the consumer to agree to confidentiality. Often, such confidentiality is to ensure that a protective order issued by the court that “prevent[s] plaintiffs from disclosing information that they have learned and insist, as a condition of settling a lawsuit, that the parties remain silent about the matter.”

April 17, 2018

More Than Concussions Cause CTE, New Study Says

by Walton Law Firm

If your child plays football or another contact sport in Vista, it is important to learn more about a recent study suggesting that other hits to the head—and not just concussions—can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). According to a recent report in the Washington Post, a new study has examined the brains of teenage athletes and has determined that signs of CTE appear even when those teen athletes did not sustain concussions but simply received hits to the head.

Since information about CTE and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) entered into our lexicon, we have been taught that concussions are the cause of this degenerative disease. Now, however, it looks as if blows to the head that are not severe enough to cause a concussion may also result in this debilitating and ultimately deadly disease.

Concussions May be Irrelevant in Triggering CTE