16-year-old Girl in Coma Following Motorcycle Accident

Melanie Thielman, 16-years-old , was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in Lynnwood earlier this week.  She suffered a severe head injury when she was thrown from the bike.  She remains in an induced coma at the Intensive Care Unit of Harborview Medical Center.  Family members state that Melanie likely won't come out of the coma for at least a year.

Melanie was going to be an 11th grader at Lynnwood High School this fall.   — suffered severe head trauma when she was thrown from the back of a motorcycle Tuesday, her father said.

Melanie was riding on the back of a motorcycle that was being operated by a 23-year-old man.  The motorcycle crashed into a utility pole according to the Edmonds Police Department.  Both Melanie and the driver were wearing helmets.

She was "thrown straight up in the air, like a missile, and came straight down," said Calvin Thielman, Melanie's father.  Mr. Thielman said the past few days have been a parent's worst nightmare.  Melanie developed a blood clot in her brain behind her right eye, he said. Doctors decided to put her in a coma "to relax the brain" and stabilize the clot, he said.  Mr. Thielman states that Melanie was very well-loved and that there have been up to a 100 visitors to the hospital each day.  This Saturday will be Melanie's 17th birthday.

This is a very tragic accident.  My heart goes out to Mr. Thielman and his family.  I hope Melanie comes out of the coma very soon. 

Age, Gender and Brain Injury Survival Factors | Brain Injury Lawyer

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March is Brain Injury Awareness Month | Seattle Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer

More Great Resources For Victims of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury l Seattle TBI Attorney

Seattle attorney Chris Davis appears on CNN to discuss Natasha Richardson's death and traumatic brain injury.

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)? l Seattle Brain Injury Attorney

Just what is a traumatic brain injury?  Recently the Washington state legislature has adopted a law to establish that “traumatic brain injury” (or TBI) is defined as

…injury to the brain caused by physical trauma resulting from, but not limited to, incidents involving motor vehicles, sporting events, falls, and physical assaults. Documentation of traumatic brain injury shall be based on adequate medical history, neurological examination, mental status testing, or neuropsychological evaluation. A traumatic brain injury shall be of sufficient severity to result in impairments in one or more of the following areas: cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; or information processing. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.  RCW 74.31.010(4).

This definition also mirrors the one adopted by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (formerly the Education of the Handicapped Act) and codified at 34 C.F.R. § 300.7(b)(12).

The Washington legislature has also recognized that TBI “can cause a wide range of functional changes affecting thinking, sensation, language, or emotions,” and that the condition “can also cause epilepsy and increase the risk for conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other brain disorders that become more prevalent with age.”  The Legislature has further declared that “the impact of a traumatic brain injury on the individual and family can be devastating.”  See RCW 74.31.005.

What is encouraging is that the State of Washington has formally recognized that a traumatic brain injury is a serious problem that can have long-lasting consequences on the individual victim and that person’s entire family.  We have only recently begun to establish programs to help TBI survivors deal with this potentially devastating condition.  In fact, I see this play out in my law practice virtually every day. 

The TBI clients we represent struggle with activities that most of us take for granted.  Many of our TBI clients have just enough awareness to know how they were before the accident that left them with their brain injury. This awareness can be very painful.  The TBI victim often doesn't know what's wrong.  Other people believe they are just faking it, or acting strange to get attention.

Unfortunately, the insurance industry goes to great lengths to take advantage of TBI victims.  They will say untrue things about the coverage that exists to pay their bills and lost wages.  Sometimes adjustors will use pressure tactics to get the TBI victim to sign forms and accept a settlement offer that is unreasonably low.  These cases can be difficult to prove and the insurance carriers often mount a very aggressive defense of these claims.  All TBI victims with legal claims should consult with an experienced personal injury attorney immediately to make sure their rights are protected.

Another insurance company fails to protect its insured – Davis wins $362,500 verdict on $50,000 policy.

Mr. Davis is busy today as he just wrapped up a trial late yesterday.  So I am making this blog post for him today. -Mischelle, Client Relations Manager

In 2004 Ed Pemberton, age 46, was the victim of a 35 mph car crash that was caused when another driver ran a stop sign.  Mr. Pemberton t-boned the other driver's car and then ran into a tree.  Both vehicles were declared a total loss. 

Mr. Pemberton ran and operated his own residential and commercial glass company.  He claimed losses to his business following the accident. He endured neck and back injuries including disc protrusions at C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7, post concussive syndrome and mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).  He had a range of other symptoms and conditions due to the accident.  A neuropsychological evaluation confirmed ongoing cognitive, memory and concentration problems.

The insurance company for the other driver, Encompass Insurance Company, dug deep into Mr. Pemberton’s past medical history which revealed a prior whiplash injury from a car accident in 1999.  A cervical MRI following that accident showed a bulging disc.  The insurance company argued that his neck pain and symptoms were caused in large party by this previous accident.  In 2008, Mr. Pemberton was injured again in another rear-end accident.  The insurance company was also able to argue at trial that this 2008 accident caused his neck injury to worsen. 

Mr. Pemberton’s past medical bills exceeded $25,000.  He also claimed past income loss of $83,000.  Despite these amounts, Encompass refused to pay out the at-fault driver’s policy limits of $50,000 when demanded by Mr. Davis.   Mr. Pemberton was then forced to incur substantial expense to prepare for trial.  About one month before trial Encompass offered its $50,000 policy.  But by  this time Mr. Pemberton had incurred additional litigation expense of several thousands of dollars.  The decision was made to reject the offer and try the case in court.

Trial lasted seven (7) days.  The jury returned a unanimous verdict in the amount of $362,500.  Mr. Davis reports that he will ask Encompass to pay the entire verdict based on its failure to protect its insured’s interests when it had an opportunity to settle for policy limits early on in the litigation.  This is the fifth (5) such excess verdict recovered by Mr. Davis over the last few years.  Insurance companies can, and do, violate their fiduciary obligation to protect their insured’s interests by not settling the case for an amount at or within policy limits when given the opportunity to do so.

CNN's Anderson Cooper Invites Seattle Attorney Chris Davis To Discuss the Death of Natasha Richardson

Could She Have Been Saved?
New Details On The Tragic Death of Natasha Richardson
Anderson Cooper 360 – March 20, 2009

ANDERSON COOPER: Tonight new developments in the tragic death of Natasha Richardson.  A wake was held for Richardson today in Manhattan at the American Irish Historical Society.  Richardson’s husband, Liam Neeson, who attended an emotional vigil on Broadway last night, was joined by Richardson’s mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and sister Jolie Richardson along with other family members and close friends.  A private funeral service will be this weekend. 

Richardson died on Wednesday after blunt trauma to the head after falling on a beginner ski slope in Canada.  Now the resort where the incident happened said that the 45 year old actress was taken to a local hospital about an hour after the accident.  But today the ambulance service that was called to the resort disputes that timeline.  Saying that Richardson did not arrive at the hospital until nearly 4 hours after she fell.  That is a nearly 3 hour difference from what the resort originally said. 

These new developments are raising serious legal and medical questions.  Could her life have been saved?

Joining us tonight chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta who is a neurosurgeon.  And attorney Chris  Davis who specializes in medical malpractice and personal injury.

Sanjay, now that we have this full timeline of events directly after Natasha Richardson’s fall would you say that timing played a role in her death?

SANJAY GUPTA:  Yea, ya know, absolutely Anderson.  When it comes to these types of injuries where there is blood accumulating underneath the skull you have to try to operate on these as quickly as possible.  It is tough to give an exact timeline.  But if you take a look at an image like this…pay attention to that red spot, that red accumulation of blood starting to form and it has nowhere to go Anderson but push down on the brain.  The operation to remove something like this is relatively simple as far a neurosurgical procedures go.  But timing is key if I can just show you really quick Anderson on a model like this…if you are looking at a skull model here…ah you basically just have to try and remove some of the bone and take that pressure off the brain.  And put the bone back after the blood is removed.  That is what you have to do.  It is a pretty short operation but you have got to do it quickly.

ANDERSON COOPER: Chris, could the ski resort be liable in her death?

CHRIS DAVIS: Well, I think that is a possibility.  I think that there are some serious questions that need to be answered.  From my understanding it was initially reported that she received fairly prompt medical attention.  And now we are learning from reports that perhaps the EMT or the emergency crew never even made contact with her.  So that does…

ANDERSON COOPER: The ambulance says that they basically saw her from a distance.  But that she had declined to be treated by them.

CHRIS DAVIS: Yea, and that raises a serious question because certainly in our jurisdiction when an emergency crew arrives on a scene they have a duty to at least make contact with the person who has been injured.  Check that person out, ask the person questions, especially in cases of head injury when often times the person’s judgment is the first thing that may go. 

ANDERSON COOPER: Sanjay, if someone that has fallen though and it takes two or three hours for them to really starts feeling effects would and EMT crew be able to determine something by just casually interacting with somebody?

SANJAY GUPTA:  Well keep in mind the amount of force that caused this amount of bleeding on the brain was probably significant force.  She developed what is called and epidural hematoma which is that blood collection that we showed.  If somebody had watched that fall Anderson they probably would have noticed her take a pretty hard hit to the ground.  Also almost without question she probably had some disturbance of her overall consciousness.  While she may not have lost consciousness she may have been confused she may have been pretty simple tasks like counting backwards from 20.  Being able to know exactly where she was, what day it was.  Just sort of simple things that you check for in the field.  So ah, you know, there were probably clues even early on, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER: Chris, at this point what else, as an attorney, would you look at?

CHRIS DAVIS: Well, I would certainly look at the situation.  I look at a case and I say, “okay, what was done, how could the incident have been prevented?”  Either what was done or not done that contributed to this horrific event.  And I certainly would look at the resort and their policies and procedures.  Did they have those in place, were they followed in this situation when somebody is being taken off the hill after an injury.

ANDERSON COOPER: Does it also raise questions to you that the resort came out very quickly and said…they were the initial source for a lot of the information that was out there days ago.  And they said were the ones who were saying, look it was an hour and she was walking around and laughing.  And now according to this ambulance.  It was actually four hours?

CHRIS DAVIS: Yes, that is very questionable and suspicious.  And like Dr. Gupta said, I find it hard to believe given the there is a death here that she did not exhibit some clear head injury symptoms soon after the initial trauma.  Like feeling dazed and disoriented….the feeling that she is not herself. 

ANDERSON COOPER: Sanjay what you said earlier is important I think so a lot of people don’t freak out every time they fall. It’s got to be a pretty significant fall.  And what should somebody look for in the immediate aftermath of a fall to see if they may be having a problem?

SANJAY GUPTA: Yea, that is a really good point.  What happened here is a very rare occurrence.  And it was touted as this sort of innocuous experience.  But it was probably a pretty severe blow.    If someone looses consciousness that is obviously a sign that something more is going on.  Or if their consciousness has been disturbed in some way they just seem sort of out of it they get a really bad headache if they and weakness or numbness on one side of the body.  Those are all signs.  These can all be vague.  But it is important to know that even with even with something that seemed like it was not that big a deal as far as a fall goes…if it looked bad…if she had some sort of disturbance of consciousness to get checked out and checked out as quickly as possible. 

ANDERSON COOPER:  Chris Davis I want to thank you for coming on.  And Sanjay welcome back….