Boston Child Brain Injury Blog

A coup-contrecoup injury can have devastating effects on a child. This is because a child’s brain is still developing its vital functions such as reasoning skills and cognitive ability. 

A frightening reality for parents in Boston whose children have sustained a severe coup-contrecoup injury is that the true loss of brain function cannot always be determined. This is because, unlike an injured adult, injured children often don’t have the records and documents to gauge prior brain function. 

Some of these records include: 

• IQ tests and standardized test scores;
• academic records and transcripts; and
• job reviews. 

Effects of a coup-contrecoup injury may not be realized until months or even years later. Brain damage may become evident as early as elementary school, when reading and writing abilities within the brain are called into play. Later on, in middle and high school, the extent of damage to interpersonal and social skills may become obvious. 

If your child has sustained a coup-contrecoup injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, you do have the right to file a Massachusetts personal injury claim to account for your child’s medical expenses, loss of quality of life and pain and suffering. A Massachusetts child brain injury attorney can work with you to include future medical costs and even long-term emotional obstacles in your claim. 

When to Call a Child Brain Injury Attorney in Massachusetts 

If you’re considering filing a child injury claim for your child’s severe head injury, order this complimentary book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury. The Massachusetts child brain injury attorneys at Kiley Law Group serve clients in the greater Boston area and can fight for compensation on behalf of your child. Contact us today at 800-930-8145 for a no-cost case evaluation.

A coup-contrecoup injury is double-thronged. When your head sustains a hard blow, your brain can actually smash against the opposite side of your skull, as well. This results in not just 1, but 2 injuries. 

The role of G-force (acceleration) in a coup-contrecoup injury can definitely play a role in the severity of your child’s injuries. The higher the g-force, the higher your child’s risk of sustaining a coup-contrecoup injury may become. In most cases, a g-force between 10 and 50 may result in a coup-contrecoup injury with permanent brain damage. 

Some examples of activities that commonly result in coup-contrecoup injury include: 

• tackle football – 200 gs;
• race car driving  – 80 gs; and
• boxing – 52 gs. 

Plopping into a bed or onto a chair can generate 10 gs, by comparison. This means that if permanent damage can be caused when your child sustains a blow of 10 to 50 gs, it is very possible your child could sustain a coup-contrecoup injury from falling off a bicycle or taking a nasty blow or tackle in a contact sport – car accidents carry an especially high risk. 

Sometimes a coup-contrecoup injury is caused by a rapid acceleration and then a sudden stop, such as with a car accident. Other times, an object could hit your child’s head, such as a baseball bat or ball during a little league game.  

In the case that your child has sustained a coup-contrecoup injury as a result of someone else’s negligent or reckless behavior, you’ll want to speak with a Massachusetts child brain injury attorney as soon as possible. 

A lot is at stake in your child’s future after a coup-contrecoup injury, including academic performance and social skills. A Massachusetts child brain injury attorney can help you file a child injury claim and seek compensation to cover current and future losses as a result of the injury. 

If your child has been seriously injured because of another’s negligence, order a FREE copy of attorney Thomas M. Kiley’s Massachusetts child injury book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury. Our experienced Massachusetts child brain injury lawyers serve clients in the greater Boston area and will work with you through every stage of your child injury claim.

For a FREE case evaluation, contact us today at 1- 800-930-8145

The main guidelines for selecting a proper child safety seat deal with the age and weight of your child. It is crucial to follow age and weight guidelines when buying a child safety seat for your child. This is because child safety seats are made only for certain weight limits, and when you incorrectly use a child seat, it can prove ineffective in preventing injury—including a head injury—to your child in the event of a Massachusetts car accident. 

Child safety seat weight guidelines include: 

• Infants under age 1, or children who weigh less than 20 pounds – must ride in rear-facing infant or convertible seat in the back seat.
• Children 20 to 40 pounds – must ride in forward-facing seats (either a convertible seat or forward-facing seat with a harness) in the back seat.
• Children 40 to 80 pounds – must ride in a booster seat in the back seat. 

Secondly, when you select your seat, make sure your child safety seat meets the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 213. If a seat is missing parts, is cracked, looks used or isn’t properly labeled with its manufacturing date, don’t buy it. You’ll want to make sure you know the seat’s manufacturer and model number, so you’ll be aware of recalls. 

Child safety seat guidelines are set in place for the protection of your child. If you don’t follow weight guidelines, you risk your child sustaining further injury in the case of an accident. If you don’t follow safety guidelines by buying a FMVSS certified child safety seat, the product may prove defective when you need it most. 

If you fail to follow proper height, weight and safety standard guidelines for your child safety seat, and your child is injured in a Boston area car accident, you may be limited in the compensation you could receive in a child injury claim. 

If your child has recently been injured in a Boston area car accident, and you have concerns about your child injury claim, contact a Massachusetts child injury attorney, who can help you determine the strength of your case. 

When to Contact a Child Injury Lawyer
When your child has suffered serious head injury in a Boston area car accident, the Massachusetts child injury lawyers at Kiley Law Group can work to represent your child while you focus on your loved one’s recovery. 

BEFORE you sign any insurance forms, order a FREE copy of attorney Thomas M. Kiley’s child injury book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury. Then, call Tom Kiley at 1-800-930-8145 or send Tom a confidential message to schedule a FREE case evaluation.

Traumatic brain injuries in the United States can often result in permanent disability and even death. Unfortunately, brain injury is quite common, with more than 1.7 million new cases every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Children are unfortunately a part of that statistic. Their young age does not make them immune to child head injury, but can actually make them more vulnerable because their brains are still developing. One type of child head injury is known as coup-contrecoup, and it has the potential to cause twice as much damage as other forms of child head injury. 

Causes of a Coup-Contrecoup Injury 

A coup-contrecoup injury is sustained much like other forms of child head injury, with a hard blow to the head. 

The most common causes of a coup-contrecoup injury include: 

• car accidents;
• bicycle accidents;
• child abuse
• sports injuries; and
• falls. 

What sets a coup-contrecoup injury apart from other forms of child head injury is that its damage is two-fold. First, an object hits the head. Brain injury not only occurs at the site of the impact, but the force of the blow is so strong that the brain actually slams into the other side of the skull. 

This is known as a primary impact (coup) and secondary impact (contrecoup), and means that the child has the potential to sustain severe damage in not just 1, but 2 areas of the brain.   

A coup-contrecoup injury is a tell-tale sign that blunt head trauma has occurred. One of the most common causes of blunt head trauma and a resulting coup-contrecoup injury is car accidents. For example, if a child is in a car at the time of a Massachusetts accident and the car suddenly stops, the front of the child’s head could smash against a window, windshield or other object. When this occurs, the child’s brain could smack against the back of the head, resulting in an injury to the front and back of the head. 

A coup-contrecoup injury carries serious risk for traumatic brain injury and brain damage. This is because when the head sustains the primary impact or when the brain smashes against the skull (secondary impact), the brain has the potential to hemorrhage. When the blood seeps into the layers of brain tissue, the brain can swell, and intense pressure may be placed on fragile membranes. A coup-contrecoup injury could eventually lead to a reduction in the brain’s blood flow, which results in brain damage.  

Symptoms of a Coup-Contrecoup Injury  

The signs of a coup-contrecoup injury are similar to the symptoms of child head injuries in general. If your child has recently been in a car or sports accident, and you start to notice some of the symptoms listed below, you’ll want to seek immediate medical attention. This holds true even if the accident occurred a few days or even weeks before the emergence of symptoms. 

Some of the symptoms of a coup-contrecoup injury include: 

• memory loss;
• dizziness;
• balance problems;
• blurred vision;
• constant lethargy; and
• mood swings. 

Compensation for Your Child’s Coup-Contrecoup Injury  

If your child did sustain a coup-contrecoup injury as a result of someone else’s actions, you can seek compensation on behalf of your child in the form of a child injury claim. Talk with a Massachusetts child brain injury attorney about the circumstances surrounding your child’s coup-contrecoup injury to determine whether you do indeed have a strong claim. 

A Massachusetts child brain injury attorney’s legal knowledge will prove paramount in cases of coup-contrecoup injury, since the true extent of damage from your child’s injury may not be realized until months or years later. A Massachusetts child brain injury attorney can work with you to make sure you file your child injury claim within the state’s 3-year statute of limitations, to seek the compensation that your child and family deserve. 

When to Hire a Massachusetts Child Brain Injury Attorney 
If your child has suffered serious injury because of the negligence of another, order a FREE copy of Tom Kiley’s child injury book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury. The Massachusetts child brain injury lawyers at Kiley Law Group serves clients in the greater Boston area and will work with you through every step of your injury claim. For a FREE  Evaluation of your child injury case, contact us today: 1-800-930-8145.

Halloween is a holiday filled with fun, mischief and, of course, candy. Trick or treating is a trademark of the spooky holiday. But whenever children, costumes and traffic are combined, the safety risks are obvious. One of the best ways to prevent a child injury during trick or treating is to provide constant adult supervision. 

Some other Halloween safety tips you’ll want to give to your children when they will be trick or treating include: 

• stay in a group and make sure everyone knows where you are going;
• cross the street in crosswalks only (and look both ways before crossing);
• cross the street with your entire group;
• walk on the side of the street facing traffic (when a sidewalk or driveway isn’t available);
• stay only in well-lit neighborhoods;
• only go to houses that have porch lights lit;
• never go into homes for candy; and
• if you have teenagers who will not have adult supervision, review their route and curfew before they leave. 

In most cases, following some of the above Halloween safety tips will allow you to have a fun, safe holiday. In some unfortunate circumstances, severe child injury can occur, whether from a pedestrian accident, slip and fall injury or dog bite attack.

If your child has been injured, contact a Boston child injury lawyer to review the circumstances surrounding your case. An attorney can help you determine whether you have a solid child injury claim, can help collect evidence to substantiate your claim, and can represent you throughout all legal proceedings. 

Hiring a Boston Child Injury Lawyer 
After a severe child injury, your priority should be your child’s recovery and well being, not dealing with insurance adjusters and tedious legal proceedings. If your child has suffered serious injury because of the negligence of another, order this FREE BOOK, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury.

The Boston child injury lawyers at Kiley Law Group serve clients in the greater Boston area and can help you with your child injury case. For a FREE Evaluation of your child injury case, contact us today at 800-930-8145.

In a report out last week, the U.S. Army has developed a blood test that could potentially identify mild traumatic brain injury.  The research is on-going, but officials are confident that this will mean a new era in early detection and treatment for individuals who experience such injuries.  This test will not only help in treating soldiers who sustain these types of traumas in combat, but it also can be used for athletes on the playing field and for detection of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) among infants.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can result in losing consciousness, experiencing headaches, dizziness, not being able to remember things, being off-balance, having an inability to concentrate, among other serious reactions. 

While the test is still in its introductory phase, results have demonstrated that the testing involves searching for specific proteins in the blood stream that come from the region of the brain that has been damaged or in some way affected as a result of the injury.  In a study of nearly 40 patients, the test accurately diagnosed the presence of mild traumatic brain injury, which can all too often go undetected in most tests and brain scans.

Clinical trials will continue into 2013 on more than 1,000 patients to ensure the reliability of the blood test.  30 separate trauma facilities in the U.S. will take part in the trials and the outcome of these trials will impact whether or not the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will approve the use among the public for the proposed test.

HALLOWEEN COSTUME SAFETY
Face paint can lend that crowning touch to children’s Halloween costumes. After all, what’s a ghost without that layer of pale, white sheen, or a Count Dracula without that smidge of red paint around the mouth? 

While face paint has been touted in recent years as a much safer alternative to masks on Halloween, it doesn’t come without its risks, either. Non-toxic face paint has been encouraged by child safety groups such as Safe Kids USA, but can also cause adverse reactions in some circumstances. 

According to an October 2009 USA Today article, an entire troop of 43 Girl Scouts reported red, bumpy rashes from using Shanghai Art Stationary brand face paint in February 2009. And since the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) can’t recall defective face paint, it can only request manufacturers to pull products off the market. 

According to the article, some FDA Halloween safety tips for use of face paint as part of children’s Halloween costumes include: 

• If the paint has a bad smell, throw it away; it could be contaminated.
• Try a small amount of face paint on one area of the face a few days before you plan to use it (this should reveal any allergic reactions).
• Don’t allow your kids to sleep with their face paint on.  

While face masks may not cause facial irritation or allergic reactions, they do pose a serious risk for a severe child head injury in the event of a pedestrian accident. If a child is wearing a mask that restricts their line of vision, they may not be able to see an approaching car.  

You can do your part to help cut down on your child’s risk for a pedestrian accident this Halloween, starting with your child’s Halloween costume.  

If your child has been involved in a Halloween pedestrian accident, you’ll want to seek immediate medical attention. As soon as possible, talk with a Massachusetts child injury lawyer to find out if you have grounds for a child injury claim. 

Contacting a Child Injury Lawyer 
If your child has suffered serious injury, your first concern is their well-being. When someone else’s negligent behavior causes your child’s injury, seeking compensation through a child injury claim is your first step toward giving your child every opportunity in their future. 

 If you’re considering filing a child injury claim, order this complimentary book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury. Then contact the Massachusetts child injury lawyers at Kiley Law Group for a no-cost evaluation of your child injury case – 800-930-8145.

On Halloween the ghosts, ghouls and goblins abound. It’s a time when kids can be scared silly, all in good fun. But while kids may be on the lookout for candy, in all the excitement they may not pay as much attention to the road. 

In fact, Halloween poses real dangers for kids. Children are more than twice as likely to be involved in a fatal pedestrian accident on Halloween than any other night of the year, according to Safe Kids USA. 

You can do your part to help cut down on your child’s risk for a pedestrian accident this Halloween, starting with your child’s Halloween costume.  

When selecting or making children’s Halloween costumes, consider the following to ensure street safety for your child: 

• Use reflective tape – put reflective tape on the front, back and trim of your child’s costume. Also, use it on their shoes and trick-or-treat bags, to increase visibility in car headlights.
• Use flashlights – this will help cars spot your children, and help your children spot cars.
• Avoid masks – if your child can’t see out of small eye holes, they may not see an approaching car. 

A number of elements combine to pose a risk for a Halloween pedestrian accident. Poorly lit streets and neighborhoods lacking in sidewalks contribute to the risk for severe child injury on Halloween. Dark children’s Halloween costumes combined with oblivious motorists can create an added threat. 

If your child has sustained a severe injury, such as a head injury, from a pedestrian accident, you’ll want to contact a Massachusetts child injury lawyer about your options to file a child injury claim. 

Contacting a Massachusetts Child Injury Lawyer 
If your child has sustained a severe injury, whether from a pedestrian accident on Halloween, or another serious mishap on any other day of the year, someone may be liable. 

If you’re considering filing a child injury claim, first order our complimentary book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury. Then talk with a Massachusetts child injury lawyer at the Kiley Law Group to determine the strength of your child injury claim. Contact us today at 800-930-8145 for a no-cost consultation.

Halloween is most commonly associated with trick or treating. And while it’s fun to dress up and tour the neighborhood and see all matter of creatures, from creepy ghosts to superheroes, not everyone opts for the candy-seeking tradition.

Some people have their Halloween festivities at home. This doesn’t mean that your child is completely risk-free from injury, though. 

Whether you’re just carving pumpkins with the kids at home, or hosting a Hallow’s Eve hoorah for trick-or-treaters, follow some of these Halloween safety tips for a fun holiday: 

• Do not let children carve jack-o-lanterns – instead, have them draw a face on the pumpkin in marker, while you do the cutting.
• Keep lit pumpkins and votives on sturdy tables – never leave a lit jack-o-lantern unattended.
• Clear all objects from your yard – whether you are having a spooky soiree or passing out candy, clear all items that could pose a risk to children (garden hoses, bikes, toys, etc.).
• Restrain pets – dogs can bark at, jump on or even bite trick-or-treaters, which can scare a child or even cause injury, in severe cases. 

While following some basic Halloween safety tips can cut down on many cases of child injury, some accidents may still occur.

Halloween injuries can take the form of child head injury, such as with a pedestrian accident or slip and fall, or even result in open cuts from dog bite injuries. If your child has sustained a severe injury from someone else’s negligence, you have the right to seek compensation for your child’s medical expenses, pain and suffering and more.

Contact a Boston child injury lawyer today to find out the strength of your child injury claim and which damages you may be able to receive on behalf of your child. 

How a Boston Child Injury Lawyer Can Help 
Child pedestrian accidents and slip and fall injuries are not exclusive to Halloween. When your child has sustained a severe injury as a resuIt of negligence, regardless of the time of year, a Boston child injury lawyer from the Kiley Law Group can advocate for fair compensation on behalf of your child.  Order a FREE copy of Tom Kiley’s book, Dealing with a Nightmare: The Essential Steps to Take if Your Child Suffers a Serious Injury, and contact us for a FREE evaluation of your child injury case, at 800-930-8145.

In a distressing case alleging child abuse, 30-year-old Heather Dragotta of Weare, New Hampshire and 31-year-old Steve Amos of North Andover, Massachusetts were arraigned yesterday in Salem Superior Court in Massachusetts.  They face charges of assault and battery on Dragotta’s infant daughter and also of permitting injury to a child.  Dragotta and Amos entered not guilty pleas and were released on personal recognizance.   The pair are due back on November 10 for a pretrial conference.

Prosecutors have alleged that Dragotta and boyfriend Amos, who is not the father, abused Dragotta’s infant girl Autumn in May and into June of this year.  The baby girl was just about one month old at the time of the alleged abuse. 

On June 3, Autumn was taken to Children’s Hospital in Boston after being seen at Lawrence General Hospital and doctors stated that her injuries were linked to her being violently shaken.  They also discovered injuries that were already healing and some of these injuries were fractured ribs and fractures in her legs, arms, and in one wrist.  The infant also was found to have hemorrhaging in her brain. Autumn’s mother has stated that her daughter has notable deficiencies of copper and Vitamin D.  This condition is also known as infantile rickets. 

Autumn is now in the custody of her biological father in New Hampshire, with Dragotta allowed to have supervised visitations with her daughter.

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