Student accidents in high school can sometimes cause devastating injuries that result in permanent disability of loss of function. An attorney at Shelton Law Group can represent young men and women and their families when a slip and fall, car accident or other incident causes lasting harm. 

One of the most common types of serious injury suffered by young people is a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Traumatic brain injuries can have a lengthy recovery period in which the victim often must relearn basic life skills. TBIs can also cause mood changes, cognitive impairments, seizures, vision and hearing problems, and a host of other symptoms. In many situations, the impact of a brain injury never completely goes away.

When the brain injury occurs in high school, this can lead to questions about whether it is possible for the teen to go on and have a normal college experience and start a career. In many cases, it is possible to do so as long as the teen is sufficiently recovered. However, the Brain Injury Association of America advises that teens with traumatic brain injuries will face special challenges when attending college.

Kentucky Colleges and Brain Injury Victims

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 are the age group most likely to sustain a traumatic brain injury. This is prime college age, and students who suffer brain trauma will need to carefully choose the academic institution that can best accommodate their needs.

The Brain Injury Association of America warns that injured students may experience both attitudinal barriers as well as physical barriers of attending college. Lasting physical symptoms, including difficulty concentrating, can affect grades in the remainder of high school after the injury has occurred and can make it more difficult to gain admission to colleges. Once in a higher education setting, teens with brain injuries may also face problems keeping up with classmates depending upon the symptoms.

Attitudinal problems include admissions committees with preconceived idea about the abilities of brain injury survivors. Consciously or unintentionally, members on the admissions committee may not view a brain injury sufferer as someone who is as capable of other students.

These problems can be overcome, especially if students select an academic institution that is focused on accommodating students with disabilities. Fortunately, there are many such institutions in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Community, private and state colleges throughout Kentucky have policies specifying accommodations for disabled students and welcoming young people with a history of injury and medical problems to apply for admission. For example, Kentucky Wesleyan College explains on its website the types of disability verifications for students with traumatic brain injury that will be necessary for professors to provide special accommodations.

While brain injury sufferers can excel in college and in future careers, the fact remains that a brain injury can necessitate ongoing medical treatment and can make achieving life goals more challenging. As a result, victims injured by the negligence of another should speak with an attorney about getting compensation for their TBI.

If you or a loved one was injured, our car accident lawyers in Louisville can help. Call Shelton Law Group today at 888-761-7204 or visit http://www.robsheltonlaw.com for a free case consultation.

Young people often think they are invincible, but the reality is that accidents can and do happen even to students in high school or in college. In fact, according to Disability Can Happen, just over one out of every four people who is 20-years-old today will become disabled before he retires.

If you are in high school or in college and you become disabled, you may be unable to work for a living and may face significant financial challenges as a result. Student accidents can lead to devastating injuries, and some young people will also become sick with illnesses that have a lasting impact on their future. Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP can help young people who are disabled to understand their options.

Options for Disabled High School and College Students

When you are in high school or college and you become disabled, it is very unlikely that you will have private disability insurance available to you. According to Bank Rate, even few adults have private disability policies, and the premiums for coverage can total around $2,200 per year.

Without private disability insurance, there are a few other possible sources you can turn to provide income if your disabling condition or illness makes it impossible for you to graduate, get a job and become self-supporting.

If your disabling injury happened while you were working a summer job, you may be eligible for workers’ compensation disability benefits. As the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports, around 250,000 young workers get hurt on-the-job each year. Some of these injuries can be serious and can last a lifetime. Unfortunately, disability payments you receive through workers’ compensation are based on your average income at the time of injury. These benefits will not sustain you or provide you with the income you need over the course of your life if you become disabled in high school or college.

If you were hurt in a motor vehicle collision or as a result of someone’s negligence, then you may make a claim for compensation and hopefully recover money that you can use to support yourself despite your injuries. However, if you were a student at the time of the accident, it can be difficult to calculate an appropriate amount of compensation for lost wages.

For those who became sick or who suffered an injury but do not have a negligence claim, these options do not exist. The only choice may be to make a claim with the Social Security Administration (SSA) in order to receive disability benefits.

Some young people who are injured before age 22 may be eligible to receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits based on their parent’s work record. Adult child benefits provide a larger amount of compensation than Supplemental Security Income (SSI). For those who do not qualify for SSDI, however, then SSI benefits may be your only option for receiving the money you need if a disability in your youth makes you unable to work over the course of your life.

Qualifying for benefits can be difficult, since the majority of applications for benefits are denied by the Social Security Administration. An experienced attorney can help.

If you have suffered a disability in New York, contact the Law Offices of Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano, LLP today by calling (800) 692-3717 or by visiting http://www.workerslaw.com.

Children between the ages of 1 and 4 face significant risk of drowning in the state of Florida. According to the Florida Department of Health, drowning is not only the leading cause of death for children in this age group, but more children between 1 and 4 drown in Florida than in any other state in the country. 

Protecting children and preventing drowning deaths is the responsibility of parents and caregivers, but also of residential and commercial pool owners. Swimming pools are ubiquitous throughout Florida and pool owners must understand their obligations and act in a responsible way to reduce the chances that a young child will drown.

When a property owner is negligent and a child is harmed, an Orlando personal injury lawyer can help the child and family to pursue a claim for damages. Call the Law Offices of Richard B. Troutman, P.C. for assistance pursuing a premises liability claim after a swimming pool accident.

Preventing Drowning Accidents in Orlando

Chapter 515 of the Florida Code contains the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act. The Act imposes certain requirements for safeguarding residential swimming pools and spas built after October 1, 2000.

According to the Act, all swimming pools constructed after that date must have certain safety features including:

• A fence and a wall that is either attached to or separate from the dwelling that completely surrounds the pool and prevents access to the area.
• An approved safety cover.
• Exit alarms on all doors and windows that provide direct access to the swimming pool area from the home.
• Self-closing and self-latching devices on all doors that provide access to the pool from the home. The devices must be at least 54 inches above the floor.

Failure to ensure that a swimming pool constructed after October 2000 has the required safety features is a criminal offense. Failure to prevent access to a swimming pool is classified as a second-degree misdemeanor, with the potential penalties including jail time and fines.

The laws are strict in an effort to prevent children from accessing the pool and losing their lives. It takes only one minute for a child to get into a yard with a pool and fall in, potentially suffering brain damage or death. Drowning can occur silently, and it can have a tremendous cost even when a child survives. Young children admitted to the hospital for near-drowning-related injuries stay an average of two days, and the median charge for care exceeds $10,000. For more serious and permanent injuries caused by near drowning, medical expenditures can total in the millions.

Unfortunately, since the laws apply only to new pools, more than 90 percent of homes with pools in Florida are not required to comply with these standards. Even in older pools, however, pool owners can still be held legally liable if they are negligent in preventing young children from getting into the pool and either drowning or suffering severe injuries.

Central Florida accident victims and families who lost loved ones can contact Winter Park, FL personal injury attorney Richard B. Troutman by calling 866-434-5770 or visit http://www.richardtroutman.com.

A 20-year-old Columbus, OH woman has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for a hit-and-run accident that killed a 21-year-old father. Police suspected she was under the influence at the time of the crash but could not prove it because she had fled the scene. Although she denies drinking, 10 TV reports that she admitted that she was smoking marijuana that night. Unfortunately, like many people, this young woman likely viewed driving while stoned as a less dangerous action than driving while drunk.

The reality is, driving under the influence of marijuana is extremely dangerous, with the National Institute on Drug Abuse reporting that between four and fourteen percent of drivers injured or killed in traffic accidents test positive for THC. THC stands for delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, and is the active ingredient in marijuana.

Unfortunately, many college students underestimate just how dangerous it can be to get behind the wheel after they have consumed drugs. An experienced attorney at the Law Offices of Scott Elliot Smith, LPA can represent victims of student accidents and help them to take legal action against those responsible.

Stoned Driving is Dangerous Driving

THC is the second most common substance found in the blood of impaired drivers, behind alcohol. A study of more than 3,000 fatally injured drivers in Australia showed that the higher the concentration of THC in the driver’s blood, the greater the chance that he or she was responsible for causing the collision. Reports on seriously injured drivers admitted to one shock trauma center also showed that marijuana was present in blood tests 26.9 percent of the time.

When a person consumes products containing THC, he or she can experience impaired judgment and delayed reaction time. If the individual combines marijuana use with alcohol use, impairment increases even more significantly.

Despite the dangers, many college students seem to view driving under the influence of marijuana as a behavior that is less risky than drunk driving. A disturbing study from researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst reveals just how differently college students view driving under the influence of alcohol versus driving after using cannabis products.

Of the 338 freshman who responded to the survey, far more drank than used drugs. A total of 67 percent of male student and 64 percent of female students indicated to researchers that they had used alcohol within the 30 days before answering questions. By contrast, only 30 percent of the men and 13 percent of the women had used cannabis in any form. In addition, nine percent of female students and 23 percent of male students said they had consumed both cannabis products and alcohol in the month before taking the survey.

Although many more students drank than used marijuana, the reverse was true when students were asked about driving under the influence. Only seven percent of students admitted to drunk driving or operating a vehicle after consuming alcohol. By contrast, nine percent of women and 44 percent of men said that they had consumed THC and then gotten behind the wheel.

Students, especially men, are also much more likely to get into the car with someone else who is stoned. A total of 51 percent of men and 35 percent of women indicated that they had been in the car with someone who had used marijuana products driving.

A stoned driver puts himself and others in serious danger, and until college students take the risk seriously there are likely to be more student accidents and more young lives lost.

Contact our Columbus, OH accident lawyers today. Call 1-800-930-SCOTT or visit http://www.sestriallaw.com for a free case consultation.

One year ago, a Texas teenager was driving his vehicle when impaired by alcohol. He crashed into a group of people who were on the side of the road making repairs to a broken down car. His actions killed four people, including a youth pastor as well as the woman whose car had broken down. He also injured others, including a young man who was permanently paralyzed.

The incident made national headlines when the teen went to court to face criminal charges for causing the four deaths. His defense was ‘affluenza,” and he claimed he did not know right from wrong because he was from a wealthy family and had not been taught about consequences. To the shock of people throughout the country, this defense was accepted and the teen was sentenced to rehabilitation rather than jail time. He is currently in a Texas facility undergoing a rehab program.

As WFAA reports,  around 100 people gathered at the home of a man who lost both his wife and daughter in the crash to memorialize the victims on the one-year anniversary of the incident. Unfortunately, the survivors of the crash who sustained injury and the family members of those left behind will never be able to regain what was lost. However, the family members and victims have settled lawsuits for undisclosed sums with the family of the rich teen who changed the course of their lives.

After a collision, it is important for victims to protect their rights. An accident attorney in Fort Worth can help. Call Coby L. Wooten, Attorney at Law, P.C. for a confidential consultation.

Parents Need to Set Rules on Drunk Driving

The affluenza defense, while almost universally viewed as ridiculous, does illustrate one very important point: it is up to parents to teach teenagers right and wrong. While the law says that drunk driving is prohibited and there are zero tolerance policies for teenagers, the police cannot be everywhere at all times, and they don’t catch all young drunk drivers. In fact, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), an average drunk driver has already driven his vehicle while impaired 80 times before he is finally caught by police and charged with a crime.

Parents have a far greater ability than police to supervise children and to make sure they fully understand the dangers of drunk driving. Since the rate of drunk driving is highest among 21 to 25 year olds, who account for 23.4 percent of drunk drivers, if parents are able to get the point across to teenagers before they leave home, many lives could be saved.

Parents should always model good behavior for their teens and should never get into a car themselves after having had too much to drink. Establishing a parent-teen driving agreement and prohibiting ever driving after having a drink (or being in the car with someone who is drunk) could also help to deter bad behavior. Finally, parents should not allow their children to consume any alcohol, nor to attend parties or events where parents may not be home and where alcohol may be served.

If you or a loved one has been injured contact Coby L. Wooten, Attorney at Law, P.C. at 800-994-1966 or visit http://www.cobywootenlaw.com.

Texas Tech University and other institutions of higher education throughout the state of Texas do important research work. In many cases, colleges rely on graduate and post-doc students to conduct experiments to enhance scientific exploration while also providing students with educational opportunities to prepare them for future careers. Even high school students are frequently asked to do hands-on lab work to help prepare them for future scientific learning.

Unfortunately, according to a recent article in Scientific America, a safety expert writing for the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety contends “most academic laboratories are unsafe venues for work or study.” Because promotions committees and organizations that provide funding often do not look at the safety background of academic labs, there may be fewer safeguards to ensure safety in high school and college laboratories as compared with lab settings in private industries. A lax approach to safety precautions coming from the top down may be putting students at significant risk.

When student accidents occur in a lab setting, Springfield, MO personal injury attorneys at Tolbert Beadle & Musgrave LLC can help victims or their family members understand their legal rights. The school may be held accountable for student injuries and may be required to compensate victims or their families for losses that student accident cause.

Lab Injuries Endanger Students

One deadly lab accident occurred at the University of California when a 23-year-old technician was working with a highly-flammable liquid called t-butyl lithium. If exposed to air, the liquid could catch fire. Some of the liquid, unfortunately, leaked out as the student was conducting her experiment. She had no lab coat on at the time and the synthetic fibers of her sweatshirt caught fire. Despite efforts by other postdocs in the lab to help her, she was not able to get to the nearby shower. Emergency personnel arrived too late to prevent severe burns, and the student spent 18 days in a burn unit before she died of her injuries.

When OSHA visited the lab after the incident, life-threatening safety violations were identified. Evidence also came to light that similar non-fatal incidents had occurred in the past and were not reported.

Even when lab accidents are reported, there is no separate category that isolates statistics on injuries in high school or college lab settings. Unfortunately, this means it is hard to determine just how many young students are at risk.

Scientific American did report that past incidents have occurred at the University of Chicago, at Dartmouth College and at Texas Tech, all of which have caused serious injuries or fatalities.

Tracking statistics on lab injuries among students would be a good first step to identifying the dangers and beginning to solve the problem. Ultimately, however, academic institutions and professors or teachers must make the commitment to always put student safety first. Student labs should be run with the same focus and attention to reducing injuries as any professional lab and schools need to be held accountable.

Missouri accident victims should contact the offices of Tolbert Beadle & Musgrave LLC at 1-800-887-4030 or visit http://www.tbmlaw.com.

Campaigns against drunk driving have been effective at stigmatizing the behavior and reducing the risks of deaths due to motorists impaired by alcohol. In fact, one recent study of 338 college freshman revealed that only seven percent of surveyed students indicated that they had driven after consuming alcohol in the prior month.

By contrast, however, many young people seem not to recognize how dangerous it is to drive after consuming cannabis products. An experienced attorney at the Mike Slocumb Law Firm can represent young people involved in student accidents.

College Students Not Seeing the True Risk of Drugged Driving

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst asked students a number of different questions about their behaviors regarding alcohol and drug use. The researchers discovered that many more students were using alcohol than were using cannabis products. However, despite this, a far greater number of students were either driving after consuming products with THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) or were getting into the car with someone who had used a cannabis product.

In total, an estimated 67 percent of male students and 64 percent of female students who were surveyed indicated to researchers that they had consumed alcohol in the 30 days prior to answering the questions. Less than half of these students had used cannabis. Just 30 percent of men and 13 percent of women said yes to cannabis use in the prior 30 days. In addition, 23 percent of the male students and nine percent of the young women surveyed indicated to researchers that they had used both alcohol and cannabis products.

Although many fewer students used THC, they were much more likely to drive stoned or to get into a vehicle operated by a stoned driver. In fact, 51 percent of men and 35 percent of women had been a passenger in a car with a driver who was under the influence of marijuana, and 44 percent of men and nine percent of women said that they themselves had driven after using THC products.

The data seems to suggest that college students don’t think drugged driving is as big of a risk as driving drunk. These students are wrong. A person who is impaired by THC use can experience delayed reaction time and impaired judgment that cause him to be unable to drive safely.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse indicates that marijuana is the second-most likely substance to be found in the blood of a driver who is injured or killed in a collision. Alcohol is obviously the substance most likely to be found. As many as four to 14 percent of drivers injured or killed in traffic collisions tested positive for marijuana. The higher the concentrations of THC in someone’s blood stream, the greater the likelihood that the stoned individual will be responsible for a collision.

College students need to understand these very real risks and make the smart choice not to get into the car with someone who has consumed drugs or alcohol.

Accident lawyers in Washington, D.C. can help if you have been injured. Contact the Mike Slocumb Law Firm at 1-800-HURTLINE or visit http://www.slocumblaw.com.

Students need to learn about science in high school and in college, and often the best way to learn is hands-on experiments in a lab setting. Unfortunately, labs can also be dangerous places and can be the site of many student accidents. An experienced attorney at Meade Injury Law Group is experienced in fighting for the rights of students injured at school.

Lab accident cases can sometimes be complicated at the college level because it may be unclear whether the student is to be treated as a lab worker covered by workers’ compensation or as a student who was hurt while doing research as part of his or her academic program. Your attorney can help you to determine the best way to take legal action and obtain compensation for losses.

Dangers in School Labs Can Put Students at Risk

According to Scientific America, a safety expert writing in the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety said: “most academic laboratories are unsafe venues for work or study.”

This assertion was made after several high profile tragic accidents occurred in which students or teachers were interviewed in a lab setting. For example, a 23-year-old lab technician was doing work in a UCLA lab wearing a sweatshirt and no lab coat. She was working with a volatile liquid called t-butyl lithium that is a pyrophoric. The liquid could catch fire when exposed to air.

The equipment that she was working with malfunctioned and the fluid spilled. As a result, the synthetic fibers of her sweatshirt caught on fire and she suffered catastrophic burns. Two postdocs who were working in the lab with her tried to provide assistance but did not know what to do and failed to get her to the nearby shower. Emergency personnel arrived too late to save the lab techs life, and she spent 18 days in the burn unit in a local hospital before she passed away.

While perhaps an extreme case, other fatalities have also occurred at Cleveland State University, Dartmouth College, and the University of Chicago. And a critical injury also occurred in a lab at Texas Tech University. The total number of injuries and deaths that have occurred in high school and college labs is likely much higher, but it is unclear exactly how many have died. This is because injury and fatality incidents in academic labs are not tracked as a separate or distinct category. Further, many incidents go unreported when they do not result in death.

There is reason to believe that there are a high number of potential safety violations in academic labs, as OSHA has identified life-threatening safety violations when conducting investigations. Unfortunately, unlike in private industry, promotions and performance reviews may not necessarily have a line item for safety, so management may not be held accountable.

When a lab is unsafe and those in charge fail to protect students who are doing experiments, the school may potentially be held accountable for losses. An experienced attorney can help after student accidents.

Meade Injury Law Group serves Johnson City and the Tri-Cities. Contact us today at 1-800-669-7125  or visit http://www.injury-lawyer-tn.com.

A Massachusetts teen is in critical condition this June after she was injured while riding in a young friend’s car. The driver of the vehicle was 17-years-old and saw a car that had a friend in it. She tried to pass the friend’s vehicle and lost control. She has now been charged with a felony of driving to endanger, according to the Sun Journal.

Unfortunately, this accident is one of many likely to occur this summer due to a reckless teen driver. From Memorial Day to Labor Day each year, teenage drivers have a significant risk of becoming involved in collisions. Since teens are always the age group most likely to crash and since car accidents are the top cause of death for young people, it is especially concerning that the summer is such a dangerous time. The death toll for teen drivers in the summer is so high that the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day has been dubbed the “100 Deadliest Days.”

Parents need to be aware of the dangers children face and take steps to keep them out of dangerous situations. When a collision does occur, victims who were hurt in student accidents should call the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone for help pursuing a claim for monetary compensation for losses.

Summer is a Deadly Time for Teenage Drivers

According to CNN, almost 1,000 people were killed in motor vehicle collisions involving teenage drivers from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2012. A total of 550 of those killed were teenagers; which means that teens account for more than half of all victims.

Teenagers are much more likely to be involved in wrecks during the summer because they have more free time due to school being out. They may also have later curfews and be able to be out later at night because they do not have to get up the next morning to go to school. A lot of the free time that teens have may be largely unsupervised since they have nothing they have to do during the day while their parents are at work.

The result of this free time means that there are more teenagers on the roads, and they tend to drive to different places and for longer distances. Some will drive recreationally just to joyride, while others will go to unfamiliar locations like lakes and beaches and may be focused on navigating rather than on the road. All of this increases the chances of an accident.

Perhaps the biggest risk, however, is that teenagers tend to drive with their friends more during the summer. Unfortunately, the more teenagers there are in a car at a time, the greater the chances that the driver will crash. In fact, the risk of a teen driver getting into a car accident increases by more than 44 percent when a passenger is in the vehicle.

Parents need to know about the high risks that having teen passengers can cause, and they should set rules to protect their children. The National Safety Council (NSC) recommends parents create a parent/teen driving agreement outlining the rules for driving. This agreement should specify how many passengers are allowed in the car at a time. Parents should also advise their children not to get into a car with another teen driver if there are too many people in the vehicle.

Boston accident victims may contact the Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone at 1-800-WIN-WIN-1 or can visit http://www.marksalomone.com.

Many employers hire teenagers for the summer because young people are often eager to work, ready to learn and have a lot of energy. Teen workers may also not have the same demands for higher pay, full time work or benefits that adult employees have since young people are typically covered by their parent’s health insurance and have plans to return to school in the fall.

The construction industry is one industry that takes advantage of the help provided by teen workers, especially as summer is one of the busiest times in the construction field. Unfortunately, construction worksites can be dangerous places and young people may be at significant risk. This is especially true if they don’t have a lot of background, training or experience in the construction field and if they are just working short-term in a summer job.

When student accidents occur, young construction workers who are hurt on their summer jobs need to understand their right to compensation. The Herrera Law Firm can help teens or their family members to obtain benefits and damages after a construction site accident.

The Rules for Teen Construction Workers

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has devoted a section of its program “Build a Safe Work Foundation” to teen construction workers. According to OSHA, teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17 can work on construction sites and in the construction industry but only in limited capacities.

Federal labor laws impose a number of different restrictions on things that teenagers are not allowed to do when working construction. For example, young people who take summer jobs in construction are not allowed to:

• Work in jobs requiring mixing, handling or transporting any explosive compounds.
• Work as an outside helper.
• Drive a motor vehicle for work, although 17-year-olds can occasionally drive automobiles or trucks on an incidental basis.
• Ride on some construction elevators.
• Operate cranes or assist in the operation of cranes.
• Operate power-driven woodworking machines, including portable machines.
• Operate band saws, chain saws or circular saws.
• Operate guillotine shears.
• Operate abrasive cutting discs.
• Operate wood chippers.
• Work in demolition or wrecking.
• Work in roofing or work on a roof.
• Work in excavating

This is not a complete list of things that young people are forbidden from doing, but it provides a basic introduction for employers to the types of jobs that teens cannot perform. Young workers age 16 and 17, in general, are restricted from doing the most hazardous or dangerous work.

When a young person is hired to work in any capacity in the construction field, employers have a legal obligation to ensure that labor laws are being followed and that the teen is not doing forbidden tasks. Employers also have the obligation to train not just teens, but every employee, on workplace safety in order to reduce the risk that someone will get hurt on the job. If a worker is injured on a construction site, a workers’ compensation claim can provide payment of medical bills as well as other benefits.

Contact a San Antonio accident lawyer at The Herrera Law Firm. Call 800-455-1054 or visit http://www.herreralaw.com for a free case consultation.