After years of litigation and two days before trial was set to begin, the Zwerdling Law Firm, LLP reached a seven-figure settlement in a case involving a mild traumatic brain injury. The nature and extent of our client’s injuries were disputed by the defendants.
The incident arose out of a motor vehicle collision. We believed that our client suffered a brain injury and concussion. The effects of these injuries had a dramatic impact on this person’ life. On the other hand, experts retained by the defense were of the opinion that there was no organic injury to our client’s brain and any ongoing medical problems were unrelated to the vehicle collision. It was not until our client underwent a 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) study that we were we able to prove that there had been brain damage resulting from the collision.
It is very common in personal injury cases for attorneys to utilize MRI studies to evaluate the nature and extent of injuries. MRIs are also very useful in determining whether a specific incident caused an injury. MRI technology has been around for 40 years or so and has helped revolutionize the practice of medicine. It has also been extremely helpful in personal injury litigation to help prove injury and damages caused by an incident.
MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body.
Neurologists and orthopedists depend a great deal on MRI imaging for accurate diagnosis of the central nervous system and skeletal or spinal injury. MRI’s are useful in diagnosis of “pinched nerves” in the spinal column, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and other diseases of the central nervous system.
MRIs are particularly useful in the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury.
One of the limitations with older MRI imaging is the devices inability to spot subtle damage to soft tissue such as the brain. However, there is some very good news to report. A whole new generation of MRI machines called 3 Tesla MRI are being used in medicine based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging. With sophisticated new software 3Tesla MRIs are able to visualize injury and damage to soft tissues that would have been missed by standard MRIs.
The first MRI of our client’s brain was read as essentially normal. We were baffled by the fact that our client also had very significant symptoms consistent with a traumatic brain injury. This created a significant problem in attempting to resolve the case because we were not able to prove brain injury with the original MRI.
We did a good deal of research on the matter and found a facility in the Bay Area that offers the 3 Tesla MRIs. After years of treatment and differing diagnoses, a 3 Tesla MRI revealed “posttraumatic encephalomalacia” in our client’s left frontal lobe cortex. Encephalomalacia is the softening or loss of brain tissue after cerebral infarction, cerebral ischemia, infection, craniocerebral trauma, or other injury. Armed with this evidence, we were able to negotiate a very good settlement for our client.
The Zwerdling Law Firm strongly recommends that anyone suffering a traumatic brain injury or injury to the spine consider asking your doctor for a 3 Tesla MRI imaging study. It could make a big difference in treatment for your injury.