The Consumer Attorneys of California (formerly called The Trial Lawyers of California), named my partner Trial Attorney of the Year Finalist for 2009 in honor of our work for a brain injured client in the case of Burdett v. Teledyne Continental Motors. The Trial Lawyers Association presented a video about the case at its annual convention awards dinner in San Francisco.
One would assume that if a TBI victim cannot remember the injury producing event, he cannot suffer flashbacks or nightmares re-experiencing the event. Right? Wrong.
Indeed, a diagnosis of a TBI generally requires a loss of consciousness. But the victim's loss of consciousnesss does not shield him from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Apparently PTSD can occur after a TBI, but the TBI may alter the symptoms' development. A TBI victim's symptoms may relate to events that just preceded his loss of consciousness, or to events that occurred immediately after. The symptoms may even relate to details about the trauma-producing event itself that the victim learned about later in his recovery.
Even after the physical injuries have healed, an accident victim may still suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). She may continue to experience flashbacks, nightmares, or daydreams in which the traumatic event is replayed again and again. The person may also suffer an abnormally intense “startle response” – like a rush of anxiety that bursts from her brain and shoots to her fingertips accompanied by a rapid heart rate. Other symptoms of PTSD may include impaired memory and difficulty concentrating and insomnia (or even a fear of sleeping due to the nightmares). The trauma of the accident disrupts various intellectual and emotional processes. It is sometimes referred to as "a normal reaction to abnormal event."
PTSD symptoms are among those that may be included in an award for pain and suffering as discussed here.
We're excited to report that The Danko Law Firm has teamed up with the Yaz lawyers at Girard Gibbs LLP in San Francisco to jointly represent the victims of Yaz and Yasmin in lawsuits against Bayer. Girard Gibbs is a nationally known class action firm with a long history of representing those harmed due to the wrongdoing of large corporations.
Together we've launched a new blog to help spread the word about the dangers of these drugs and to provide information about the pending lawsuit.
Follow our Yaz blogging at the new site, Yaz On Trial.
The legal talk show Lawyer2Lawyer invited Mike Danko and an FDA exp
ert, Professor James T. O'Reilly from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, to discuss Yaz and the Yaz lawsuits. Mike talked about the lawsuits while Professor O'Reilly provided his insights on what the FDA does and, more importantly, does not do when approving a drug for the market.
Bayer was invited to come on the show but didn't accept.
It is an interesting discussion that can be heard on line.
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