To mark the month-long campaign, here are some more facts about brain injury, as provided by the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA):
· Of the 3.5 million brain injuries each year, at least 2.5 million are TBIs, meaning they were caused by a blow to the head and not another cause such as oxygen deprivation. In the U.S., a TBI occurs every 13 seconds on average.
· Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI), followed being struck in the head, auto accidents and assaults.
· About 137 Americans die every day of a TBI injury.
· Many more survive, but are frequently disabled; around one in 60 people in the U.S. is living a disability caused by TBI.
Brain injuries affect the victim's lives most dramatically, but as BIAA notes, a TBI also impacts family members and friends. Often, these people become the caretakers, helping the victim with everyday tasks as he or she attempts to recover.
]]>A new study suggests a potential link between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and criminal behavior. The study, released in a journal published by the Canadian Medical Association, finds that people with a TBI in their past were more than twice as likely to wind up in prison as the population at large, according to Fox News.
The study is based on a long-term study of more than 1.4 million Ontario residents who were between ages 18 and 28 as of 1997. Naturally, some of the subjects had either sustained a TBI before they turned 18, or did so during the course of the research.
According to the journal article, men with a past TBI were about 2.5 times more likely to go to federal prison than men who had never injured their brain. Brain injury seems to affect women even more dramatically; females with a TBI were 2.76 times more likely to be sentenced to federal prison.
]]>A total of 35,092 people were killed in auto wrecks in 2015, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports. The Monitor notes that the biggest increase in cause of wreck came in the distraction category. Those type of deadly crashes jumped 8.8 percent.
Some people might think that they are not driving while distracted if they are talking to friends or checking their email using a hands-free app, but they are missing the point, experts say.
"It's the cognitive workload on your brain that's the problem," said the president of the nonprofit National Safety Council. In other words, even when you are not using your hands and eyes to use your phone, you are still taking part of your focus away from driving, raising your chances of causing serious injury on the road.
Unfortunately, it appears that many distracted drivers here in Connecticut have yet to learn that this is a dangerous habit. In some cases, they may not get the message until they severely injure someone else in a horrific wreck. If you have been the victim of a distracted driver, you have the right to seek compensation for your damages, with the help of a skilled attorney.
]]>The study explains that death certificates don't have a place for hospitals to acknowledge medical error, relying on what's known as "International Classification of Disease Code," so human and system errors cannot be recorded.
Makary asserts that, while doctors and others may not acknowledge mistakes for fear of malpractice suits, reporting still needs to be improved, and medical and legal protections are needed.
Another study shows that one percent of all doctors account for a third of all paid malpractice claims, and the more often a doctor is sued, the more likely he or she will be sued again.
]]>In February, 2015, the FDA issued a warning that ERCP endoscopes may allow for the transmission of certain drug-resistant superbugs. According to the FDA, the design of the scope may make effective cleaning difficult, as the device features crevices that can harbor pathogens, such as CRE and E-coli. The ERCP procedure is used to diagnose and treat problems in the pancreas, gall bladder, and bile ducts.
]]>