Blog – Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers
24th Annual Conference on Neurobehavioural Rehabilitation in Acquired Brain Injury
On May 4 and 5, 2017, Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers sponsored the 24thAnnual Conference on Neurobehavioural Rehabilitation in Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), which took place at the Hamilton Convention Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. This year’s theme was “From Evidence to Practice: Concussion – Catastrophic.”
This highly regarded event attracts nationally and internationally recognized presenters each year, and Neinstein is proud to have contributed to its success.
For more images from this terrific event, visit the Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers Facebook page.
Toronto researchers publish pro athlete concussion study
Last month, researchers at Baycrest Health Sciences’ Rotman Research Institute published a comprehensive neuropsychological study of retired professional hockey players in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. The study, which will be of great interest to brain injury lawyers, seeks to understand concussions in professional athletes beyond chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease that can only be diagnosed post-mortem. It enlisted 33 retired athletes, the majority of whom played in the NHL, and 18 age-matched counterparts with clean bills of health and no history of professional contact sports.
The results were surprising, and could complicate a politicized and polarized healthcare debate. According to the researchers, led by Dr. Brain Levine, most NHL alumni were free from significant brain impairment, even as they reported high levels of emotional challenges, like depression and anxiety, and behavioural issues like alcohol dependence, all of which brain injury lawyers are familiar with.
“There has been a lot of attention on repeated concussions and neurodegenerative disease, particularly in post-mortem samples of ex-athletes,” Dr. Levine said in a Baycrest release. “There is a need for more comprehensive assessment of mental and behavioural changes during life. This longitudinal study will allow us to track changes over time to better understand aging and brain health in retired professional athletes.”
Though the former NHLers fared comparably well on attention and memory tests, they tended to lag behind on executive and intellectual function, which researchers linked to the number of concussions the alumni group had suffered.
However some researchers, advocates, and brain injury lawyers may be surprised that the study’s results weren’t more conclusive. After all, more than 100 former NHL players are currently suing the league for putting profits over player safety. Even some of the study’s participants seemed to be surprised by the lack of “red flags” yielded by the testing. Seventeen-year NHL veteran Scott Thornton, for instance, told the Toronto Star that he sometimes struggles to remember words, conversations, and former teammates’ names.
“These can be guys I played seven seasons with and I can’t think of their names,” he said. “I know we all get that at times in life, especially as we age, but I think it’s a little more significant than just that. There are times when you have conversations with your wife and kids that you don’t even recall. You sit that and swear that you’ve never heard that conversation before and the whole family kind of laughs… But it gets to a point that you don’t like joking about it anymore.”
It should be noted that Dr. Levine’s research team remains at the dawn of their quest to better understand concussions in pro athletes; more nuanced and complete information will be assembled over the coming years. If you have suffered a brain injury or concussion, contact Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers’ team of brain injury lawyers today to set up a free, no-obligation consultation and learn how we can help.
Photo credit: Kaz Andrew/Wikimedia Commons
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Distracted driving deaths surge in Ontario
The international campaign against drunk driving has made a difference. True, drunk driving still exists and causes thousands of deaths each and every year, but through a broad and inclusive publicity campaign highlighting its life-changing dangers, drunk driving has become an unforgivable taboo. All Canadians, from school-aged children to legislators and car accident lawyers, are well aware of the risks of drunk driving.
As alcohol-impaired driving has slowly subsided in Canada, other forms of dangerous driving are taking its place. In the run-up to the official legalization of marijuana, voices from diverse corners of the political spectrum are articulating worries about a surge of pot-related accidents. Meanwhile, police departments across the country are struggling to cope with the widespread prevalence of distracted driving.
Distracted driving in Ontario
Ontario car accident lawyers are already well-aware of the dangers of distracted driving, and law enforcement officials are trying to spread that message as far as possible.
“Looking at that smartphone or looking at that text message or answering that email or looking at a video or news diverts your attention from the roadways and what’s important,” Windsor police Const. Andrew Drouillard told the CBC in 2014. “What’s important are all the things on the road.”
Drouillard made these comments after distracted driving charges jumped 35 per cent in Windsor between 2013 and 2014. Three years later, this trend shows no sign of slowing down: distracted driving was the leading cause of fatal collisions in Ontario in 2016, leading to the deaths of 65 people. Fifty-five people died in speed-related crashes and 45 died in crashes caused by drunk driving.
“Road deaths linked to distracted drivers will not let up unless every road users says ‘enough is enough’ and show a complete intolerance for what continues to be the most life-threatening driver behaviour on our roads,” said OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes.
Windsor isn’t the only city in Ontario struggling to curb these sort of accidents: distracted driving contributed to almost half of all fatal collisions in Hamilton over the past five years, and distracted driving tickets jumped 37 per cent in Toronto from the first quarter of 2016 to the first quarter of 2017. It’s a trend car accident lawyers have been noticing for several years.
Law enforcement officials are looking at a number of solutions to the problem, including harsher distracted driving penalties and aggressive awareness and publicity campaigns. At Tecumseh Vista Academy outside of Windsor, police set-up a mock accident to illustrate the deadly risk of distracted driving. However, as with the fight against getting behind the wheel while drunk, it may be years before the public see results.
If you or a member of your family has been injured in a drunk or distracted driving accident, contact the car accident lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers today. Our team has represented injured Ontarians for decades and can help you access the compensation you need for a full and speedy recovery.
Ontario quietly releases critical report on auto insurance system
Last month, the Government of Ontario quietly released a report on the state of the province’s auto insurance system which was assigned Ontario former Workplace Safety Insurance Board head David Marshall in 2015. As expected by auto insurance lawyers, his findings were unflattering.
“Overall, Ontario has one of the lowest levels of auto accidents and fatalities in Canada and the most expensive auto insurance premiums,” Marshall wrote in the report, titled “Fair Benefits Fairly Delivered: A Review of the Auto Insurance System in Ontario.” “Historically, periods of cost reduction have inevitably been followed by cost increases.”
These regular cost increases have coincided with a steady decline of auto accidents in Ontario, including major collisions. In 2015, insurance premiums on Ontario vehicles cost an average of $1,458, twice what Quebec automobile owners pay and 24 per cent higher than in Alberta. Excluding Ontario, the average cost of auto insurance in Canada is nearly 55 per cent lower.
Auto insurance lawyers know that there are numerous reasons for Ontario’s high premiums, including prioritizing members of the insurance industry over accident victims.
“(The system) is filled with disputes and inefficiencies, and a very high percentage of premiums are being used to pay experts and lawyers and not going directly to injured persons,” Marshall wrote.
The report recommends a number of significant changes, including restricting cash settlements; launching programs of care to address common injuries; instituting independent examination centres at hospitals to ensure bias-free medical assessments; and giving more power to regulators and initiating investigations into questionable tactics in the insurance industry.
Marshall’s findings have been met with interest and agreement from auto insurance lawyers and members of both the provincial Progressive Conservative and New Democratic parties.
“We have insurance rates that don’t line up to anybody else in Canada,” said PC finance critic Vic Fedeli. “The problem is that it doesn’t put the victim at the centre. It really tries to fit into a mold that takes care of the people who do the handling of the victim.”
“Every change (to the system) has systematically cut the coverage that Ontarians receive and benefits not the people but insurance companies,” added NDP deputy leader Jagmeet Singh.
Though the report is heavily critical of Ontario’s auto insurance system, it did not recommend a shift away from the “hybrid auto insurance system, which sees mandated insurance for the province’s nearly 10 million drivers provided by the private sector,” the Toronto Star reports. “The report argues that a shift to a government-run system would be too disruptive at a time when the auto industry is undergoing major technological change.”
It’s impossible to say whether Queen’s Park will act on Marshall’s recommendations, but the report’s quiet release doesn’t inspire confidence. Until the auto insurance industry evolves to better meet injury victims’ needs, auto insurance lawyers will continue to play a prominent role in ensuring access to the benefits needed for a full recovery. If you’ve been injured in a car accident, contact Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers today to set up a free, no-obligation consultation.
Image Courtesy: https://www.cheapfullcoverageautoinsurance.com/
The three types of product liability lawsuit
lWhen Canadians purchase products, they expect them to work properly and not pose an undue risk of injury. Unfortunately, this is not always the case: from time to time the organizations that design, manufacture, and market consumer products make errors that result in harm to customers. In some of these cases, an experienced product liability lawyer can help injury victims access compensation by holding the company that put the dangerous product on the market accountable.
Product liability cases fall into three categories: defects in design, defects in manufacturing, and defects in marketing. In each of these situations, the injury victim will have to substantiate their claim. If you’ve been hurt by a defective product, make sure to preserve your proof of purchase, any manuals or packaging that came with the product, and the product itself.
Let’s take a closer look at the three types of product liability claims:
Defects in Design
For this variety of claim, your product liability lawyer will focus on decisions the manufacturer made in designing the product, especially with regards to its safety. If a product is rendered unreasonably dangerous by an inherent flaw, the manufacturer may be liable for injuries it inflicts.
FindLaw.com offers the following example of defective design:
“Assume that a metal fan was covered by a guard, but the openings in the guard were three-quarters of an inch wide. In using the fan, the plaintiff’s hand slips between the gaps in the guard, and the plaintiff is injured by the blades of the fan. The plaintiff may base a product liability suit on the design of the fan, arguing that the guard’s openings were unreasonably large and that it was foreseeable that someone’s hand would touch the blade.”
Defects in Manufacturing
Products that are well-designed but badly assembled may also cause injuries to consumers. For example, if a bottle of prescription medication or a packaged food product becomes contaminated during processing, individuals who become ill would have a valid personal injury claim. The same would be true if an airbag were incorrectly installed and failed to deploy during an accident.
However, manufacturing defects are often difficult for a product liability lawyer to prove, as manufacturers may be able to cast doubt on exactly when the defect occurred.
Defects in Marketing
Marketing defects occur when a safely designed and manufactured product carries inadequate instructions or warnings. Manufacturers have a duty to instruct consumers on how to use their product and warn of any hidden risks it might carry. Warnings should be specific and conspicuous, and instructions should be clear and easy-to-follow; even reasonably safe products can cause harm when used incorrectly.
If you have suffered an injury as a result of a product’s defective design, manufacturing or marketing, you may have grounds to initiate a product liability lawsuit. Contact a product liability lawyer at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers today to find out how we can help and what your next steps should be.
Photo credit: dual lic/Wikimedia Commons
Keeping Toronto’s vulnerable road users safe this summer
After several months of cold weather and long nights, spring has arrived in Toronto, and with it comes an annual surge of cyclists and pedestrians on the city’s streets. Pedestrian and cycling injury lawyers were kept busy last year, as several hundred pedestrians were hit by cars and more than 40 died, the most since 2011. Cycle Toronto and the Toronto Star also reported a 58 per cent rise in cyclist “dooring” incidents since 2014. Will these discouraging trends continue in 2017? How can motorists, pedestrians and cyclists contribute to improved road safety in Toronto this summer? read more…
10 Facts About Brain Injury
Did you know that more than 50,000 Canadians sustain brain injuries each and every year? If you’re shocked by this number, you’re likely not alone: for those of us who have not personally suffered a brain injury and whose family and friends have been similarly lucky, brain injuries may seem like a remote possibility, something that happens to ‘someone else.’
But brain injury lawyers, victims’ advocates, and doctors know differently. Brain injuries can range from concussions to traumatic injuries and can happen to anyone, from elite athletes to senior citizens. In short, they are incredibly common, as the following statistics and facts illustrate.
- 50,000 Canadians sustain brain injuries each year.
- More incidents of traumatic brain injury (TBI) occur each year than of Multiple Sclerosis, spinal cord injury, HIV/AIDS and breast cancer combined. Each of these injuries and illnesses deserves the substantial attention they receive from the medical community and the media; brain injury lawyers and advocates want to see brain injuries receive that same attention.
- TBI is the leading killer and disabler of Canadians under the age of 40, and more than 11,000 Canadians die each year as a result of brain injuries.
- More than 50 per cent of injury deaths and disablements in Canadian youth are caused by TBI. Indeed, around 30 per cent of all traumatic brain injuries occur in children and youth, and sports and recreational participation are the leading cause. While participation in community leagues can do wonders for children’s physical and social well-being, appropriate safety measures are essential.
- Among youth, males are twice as likely as females to sustain brain injuries. This may be the result of higher participation levels in organized sports or young males’ tendency to engage in risky behaviour, including unsafe driving habits. There is no such gender gap among older TBI victims.
- Car accidents cause more than half of all TBIs in Canada. Personal injury lawyers are intimately familiar with the damage car accidents cause each year. Improved road safety measures, including reduced speed limits, could help reduce TBI numbers.
- After one brain injury, you are three times more likely to incur a second, and eight times more likely to suffer other bodily injuries. The dangers of multiple head injuries are best known thanks to increased awareness of concussions.
- Concussions are brain injuries. You don’t have to be knocked unconscious to suffer a brain injury. Though first-time concussions are considered “mild” TBIs that damage your brain at a cellular level, recurring concussions can have severe, long-lasting effects.
- Each severe brain injury costs the medical system more than $400,000, and that’s only at the time the injury takes place. Individuals who suffer lasting symptoms may continue to cost the system roughly that same amount each year. Combined, brain and spinal injuries cost the Province of Ontario between $2- and $3-billion annually.
- According to Brain Injury Canada, about 20 per cent of people in forensic psychiatric settings in Ontario have a history of brain injury. Studies have also determined that about 50 per cent of Toronto’s homeless population and 44 per cent of Ontario’s inmates have TBI. In short, the effects of brain injury are diverse and long-lasting.
The brain injury lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers have a long history of helping injured Canadians access compensation to help with their recovery. If you or a member of your family has suffered an injury, contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Photo credit: James Heilman, MD/Wikimedia Commons
Talk to your insurance provider to increase accident benefits
Despite the drastic reductions to the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) that were implemented by the Liberal government on June 1, 2016, many Ontario drivers have not increased their benefits to ensure their families are properly protected in the case of an accident.
The changes to the SABS include a reduction in Med-Rehab and Attendant Care benefits for non-catastrophic injuries from a combined $86,000.00 prior to June 1, 2016 to $65,000.00 after June 1st, 2016.
The Med-Rehab and Attendant Care benefits for catastrophic injuries, such as a brain injury or a spinal cord injury, are now limited to $1 million combined, whereas pre-June 1, 2016 these were $1 million each for $2 million combined.
All these benefits can be increased to $1 to $2 million. An Optional Benefit to increase Income Replacement Benefits from $400/week to $1000/week is also available.
We strongly encourage you to contact your broker or insurance company and ask a few simple questions:
- How much will it cost in premiums to increase Med-Rehab and Attendant Care benefits in each of the four scenarios:
- Increase auto insurance coverage for non-catastrophic injuries only,
- Increase auto insurance coverage for catastrophic injuries only,
- Increase both catastrophic and non-catastrophic injuries; and
- Whether you qualify for increased coverage for Income Replacement Benefits
Below is a chart to help explain some of the important options available:
When an accident happens you want to be sure that the policy you have will help you on your road to recovery so you are not left scrambling to find ways to access rehabilitation.
Neinstein supports Autism Speaks Canada and Light It Up Blue
On April 2, Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers is participating in Light It Up Blue, the signature campaign of Autism Speaks, Canada’s largest autism advocacy organization.
This inspiring event celebrates the start of World Autism Month. It will involve “thousands of iconic landmarks and buildings” and “hundreds of thousands of homes and communities around the world” lighting themselves blue in support of people living with autism, according to autismspeaks.ca.
Get involved
World-famous landmarks from across the globe have participated in past Light It Up Blue campaigns, including China’s Shanghai Tower, the Empire State Building in New York, Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building – in Dubai, and of course the CN Tower in our hometown of Toronto.
This event isn’t restricted to global landmarks, though: anyone can get involved. Visit autismspeaks.org to purchase merchandise in support of Autism Speaks; raise awareness on April 2nd by wearing blue to work or school; or spread the word on social media by using #LightItUpBlue or adding a customized blue frame to your Twitter or Facebook profile pictures.
About 1 in 68 children is on the autism spectrum
Autism touches a large number of Canadian families. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one out of every 68 American children is on the autism spectrum. Children and families living with autism face a multitude of challenges, including social stigma, financial stresses, and educational deficits. By supporting programs like Light It Up Blue and organizations like Autism Speaks Canada, Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers is seeking to raise awareness of autism and help build a more understanding and educated society.
If you have questions about Autism Speaks Canada or the Light It Up Blue campaign, don’t hesitate to reach out to Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers for more information. We are proud to support this inspiring cause.
The difficult question of accident benefits qualification
Accident benefits lawyers work to secure their clients’ access to the benefits they need for a successful recovery. Individuals who suffer serious injuries may require substantial medical, rehabilitative and therapeutic attention to regain control of their lives. In cases where a full recovery is impossible, the injured person may require significant financial aid over a long period of time.
Despite their clients’ sometimes desperate needs, securing access to accident benefits is not always an easy task for accident benefits lawyers. Insurance companies are known to hire biased medical professionals to produce patient assessments that underestimate the level of care the victim may need. At other times, especially in cases involving acquired mental illness, physicians are simply unprepared to accurately measure individuals’ level of impairment.
The problem with subjective medical assessments
A January study produced by researchers from Switzerland, the Netherlands, and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario found ‘high disagreement among medical experts assessing disability claims,’ the Hamilton Spectator reports. The notion that independent medical assessments may determine the long-term well-being of injury victims is seen by the researchers as “disconcerting.”
“If you have two professionals and they assess the same individual, they very often do not agree on whether that person can return to work or not,” Jason Busse, one of the study’s authors and a insurance medicine research at McMaster, told the Spectator. “You have this problem where you’ve got large numbers of individuals being referred for these assessments and it’s quite influential in their lives and the evidence suggest the results often depends on who does it.”
The study also examined insurance companies’ involvement in medical assessments and found ‘disagreement among evaluators … in nearly two-thirds of studies that took place in an insurance setting.’ This is an issue with which accident benefits lawyers are exceedingly familiar: Can doctors who are paid by insurers be trusted to return results that harm their employers?
Benefits for mental illness
Today, access to accident benefits is tilted towards survivors of physical injury. Diagnosing and quantifying these injuries is a relatively straightforward process. However, mental illness is a common side effect of physical injury, and can have far-reaching, long-lasting effects.
Referring to the Canada Revenue Agency’s Disability Tax Credit, psychiatrist Dr. Ariel Shafro, speaking with the Toronto Star, outlined the difficulties faced by Canadians with mental illness for: “There are many Canadians with serious mental illness who, experts say, are missing out on benefits and tax breaks because of the way doctors interpret CRA requirements, which can seem to favour the physical over the psychological.”
It is challenging to define ‘disability,’ especially in the context of mental health.
“It’s how they’ve constructed the term ‘disability in our minds, both amongst lay people but also clinicians,” said Centre for Addiction and Mental Health physician-in-chief Dr. Vicky Stergiopoulos to the Star. “Many physicians are not comfortable (approving) disability benefits … for people with mental health conditions.”
Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers’ accident benefits lawyers can help
Whether you are suffering from the mental or physical ramifications of a personal injury, Neinstein’s team of accident benefits lawyers is here to fight for your rights. We can help you better understand your legal situation and advise you on your path to accessing the accident benefits to which you are entitled.
Organizations we support
