Every year, 1.7 million people suffer a brain injury. Car and boat accidents are the leading cause, a reminder that a person's life can change dramatically in an instant. This is what the 19-year-old sister of California ultimate fighter Urijah Faber discovered recently when she was involved in a car crash that left her in a coma. When she awakened eight days later, surgery had already been performed to treat her brain injuries and she was informed that she had suffered a collapsed lung, a fractured tailbone, and was paralyzed on the right side of her body.
Family of California woman reaches wrongful death settlement
There's a reason that state parks post signs to warn hikers of danger: to warn about rough terrain ahead or of the chances of getting lost. In the case of a 35-year-old Encinitas woman and her 25-year-old cousin, who were hiking in Hawaii's Waialua River State Park in 2006, that danger was a 300-foot cliff.
Lawsuits pursued by survivors of San Diego race accident victims
More than a dozen lawsuits have already been filed in connection with the horrific off-road racing accident that occurred in the Mojave Desert just over a year-and-a-half ago.
New bill seeks increased damages for personal injury plaintiffs
The amount of money a doctor or hospital bills for medical care is not necessarily the same amount an insurance company pays. Usually, in fact, insurers negotiate these amounts down and pay health care providers only a fraction of the original bill. This practice, however, raises an interesting question in personal injury cases: Are recoverable medical costs the amount billed or the amount paid?
Fatal accident kills parents, brother of newborn
Although this accident did not take place in California, our San Diego readers may well be saddened and shocked to hear of a grievous motor vehicle accident that happened in late February. A family of four, returning home from the hospital with a newborn baby boy, was hit head-on by a driver who had crossed lanes into oncoming traffic. Tragically, the fatal accident left three of the four dead with the 2-day-old newborn as the sole survivor of the crash.
New tool may help diagnose and treat brain injuries earlier
Although medical researchers have made many advances in brain injury testing and treatment in recent years, there is still a great deal that is not known about the brain and how it is affected by trauma. For many patients, doctors are unable to determine whether a brain injury will cause lasting harm, leaving few options other than 'wait and see.'
San Diego area mail carrier dies after pit bull attack
The 59-year-old U.S. Postal Service employee who was bitten by a pit bull while making her normal rounds through a North County neighborhood has died from complications of the stroke she suffered immediately after the attack. A coroner's report listed the official cause of death as a hemorrhagic stroke, but included the dog bites the woman suffered on her legs as a contributing factor.
San Diego families accept wrongful death settlement from feds
On December 29, 2009, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent conducting surveillance on a suspected drug trafficker crashed his vehicle into a van carrying five people. The force of that collision killed the three adult women and injured the two children who were in that van -- and it forever changed the lives of the friends and family members who knew them. A few weeks ago, the families of those three women agreed to settle their wrongful death claims against the federal government for a total of $11 million.
San Diego motorcyclists injured in attempt to prevent crash
If you regularly drive a motorcycle, you are likely aware of the many inherent dangers that a bike carries. Motorcyclists must always be aware of the road and other vehicles around them in order to avoid being involved a motorcycle accident that could very easily result in injuries or even death. They must even, at times, take a measure that will almost certainly damage the motorcycle or cause injuries, in an effort to prevent an even more catastrophic incident.
