There are various subtypes of encephalomalacia, and it can affect any age group, and infants in utero. Leukoencephalomalacia affects the white matter of the brain, which is primarily the coating of the neurons, and polioencephalomalacia affects the neurons themselves, or the grey matter.

Encephalomalacia can be caused by stroke, or by severe brain swelling that interrupts cerebral blood flow. Removal of tumors may leave areas of brain softening, but one preventable cause is serious head trauma.

Head Trauma Causing Encephalomalacia

If one suffers a serious head trauma — such as in a motor vehicle accident or fall from a construction site — that person may sustain a severe traumatic brain injury, including encephalomalacia.   Signs and symptoms include dizziness, vertigo, ataxia, sleepiness or coma. Encephalomalacia can be diagnosed by stroke or MRI.

It is difficult to treat encephalomalacia. It is not possible to cure, as destroyed brain tissue cannot be regenerated. Treatment consists of detecting the underlying cause and treating it. Severely damaged brain tissue may be removed by surgery. This may, however, contribute to a change in consistency of the surrounding brain tissue. It is difficult to determine if the affected parts of the brain can ever be functional after encephalomalcia has been treated.

Encephalomalacia after head trauma is a serious condition with lifelong consequences and residual disability, or even death from a terminal coma. If you or a loved one has suffered encephalomalacia as the result of head trauma, you may have lifelong medical expenses and lost wages, and most importantly, severe lifelong disability.

If you have suffered brain trauma as the result of someone’s negligence, call Passen Law Group at 312-527-4500 for a Free Evaluation.  

In 2001 alone, there were 481,400 non-fatal injuries and 1,225 fatal injuries in the construction industry in the United States.  Although construction only comprises about 6% of American industry, the industry experiences approximately 20% of work-related fatalities.

Although the hazards and risks of construction are generally understood, preventable accidents on construction sites continue to occur.

Fall Injuries on Construction Sites

Causes of injury in the construction industry often include falls from heights, excavation accidents, machine accidents, and being hit by falling objects. There are also motor vehicle collisions and electrocutions. Other health hazards reside in toxic materials encountered in construction, and the full extent of the health hazard may not be realized until years later. These materials include asbestos and solvents.

However, falling from heights is the leading cause of injury. OSHA recommends fall protection in many areas and surrounding many activities, including ramps, runways, excavations, hoist areas, work on unprotected sides and edges, wall openings, residential construction and many other instances.

Fall protection in the form of guardrail systems, safety nets, personal fall arrest systems and positioning devices or warning lines should be provided wherever a fall might result in an injury.

The height limit where fall protection is required is not defined. It is any height that may result in injury from a fall. Protection is also required when the employee is at risk of falling onto dangerous equipment.

Guardrail systems, safety net systems, personal fall arrest systems, positioning device systems, and warning line systems can provide fall protection. It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that workers understand the risks and the role of safety equipment in prevention of injury. All workers should observe proper workplace rules and should understand the use of fall prevention equipment.

OSHA has a fall prevention campaign, recognizing that falls are the leading case of construction site injury. Plan, Provide, and Train are the bywords of the campaign, and the focus is on falls from ladders and scaffolding.

Planning includes recognizing the necessity to provide safety equipment necessary to protect workers, and including that safety equipment in the estimate of the job cost. When construction begins, all necessary safety equipment should be available at the site.

Workers at heights of six feet or more are at risk of injury or death. Different ladders, scaffolds and other safety gear, including personal fall arrest systems, should be utilized for work at heights, including roof work.

Training should be thorough, and each worker should understand both the function and the way to correctly utilize each piece of equipment required for safety. OSHA provides multiple handbooks and learning guides in an effort to improve construction industry safety rates.

Areas where falls may occur unexpectedly should be well marked with warning signs. Employers should take all possible precautions to prevent the many unnecessary accidents and deaths.  If you should have a fall from a height on a construction job, you may have long-term disability and continuing medical bills, in addition to lost wages. You should see a competent legal professional, such as a construction injury attorney, to evaluate your case for the possibility of negligence on the part of your employer.  Call Passen Law Group at 312-527-4500 for a Free Case Evaluation.  

A client recently reported a conversation she had with her father, who reported an incident of abusive billing by his local hospital. He had a pacemaker implant, which took less than half an hour. The pacemaker implant was done with mild sedation, and when my father received the bill from the hospital, he was billed for the services of two anesthesiologists, for 4 hours each. He called the hospital and explained that he sat in the hallway from 8 until 10:30, a period of time for which the hospital had claimed the two anesthesiologists were present. The implant itself was completed in 30 minutes, during which he discussed Coptic Christianity with the cardiologist. One anesthesiologist was required to be present because of the sedation. It is not clear why the second anesthesiologist showed up. They left at 11.

The client’s father looks at his hospital bills, especially when Medicare disallows a charge which the hospital later attempts to collect from him.  He called the billing department and asked them for an explanation of the charge, which was $800 after Medicare and his secondary insurance plan had paid their portion of the bill. The hospital representative explained that he was billed for 4 hours of service by the two anesthesiologists. Medicare had disallowed the bill for one of the anesthesiologists because she had allowed her certification to lapse. Her father told the hospital representative that not only were the two doctors not present for longer than 30 minutes, but two doctors were not necessary and he did not plan to pay the bill unless he was ordered to do so by a court. The hospital quickly removed the charges.

Her mother-in-law was reviewing the many bills and notices she receives from various facilities, doctors, and statements from Medicare, when she noticed that a local equipment company had been billing Medicare on her behalf for a wheelchair, at $140.00 per month, a wheelchair she had never seen or needed. She called the owner of the medical equipment supply company and pointed this out to him, and he became quite agitated with her. No wonder, as he was engaged in Medicare fraud, and probably on a wider scale than this one instance. We have suggested she report this crime to Medicare, but she, like many elderly people, fears getting on the wrong side of  what appears to her to be a monolithic healthcare system.

The United States is one of the only countries in the developing world in which people end up in bankruptcy due to medical bills. Sadly, some of those bills are due to cost transferring, and it is difficult to actually pin down hospitals for the cost of a procedure or hospital stay. This is because hospitals are involved in multiple agreements with different third-party payers, and they shuffle costs around to maintain profitability. Even non-profit hospitals are run this way, and although they are technically non-profit, administrators and high-level employees benefit from incredible perks, including board meetings in Hawaiian resorts (St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi) or satellite offices in Italy and Ireland (University of Pittsburgh Medical Centers). At the same time, patients are subjected to inadequate care due to inadequate staffing by nurses and aides.

If you receive a suspect hospital bill, or believe you have been used in a Medicare fraud scheme, you should see an attorney for an evaluation of your case. You may be able to challenge unfair charges, or charges for services not received. If you don’t challenge these charges, the hospital will turn your bill over to a collection agency and you will find yourself in a defensive posture. With respect to Medicare fraud, the government rewards whistleblowers, and your attorney can explain the law in this respect.