Brain Injury Lawyer Blog

I have been publishing a Santa’s Wish List on Christmas Eve since 1996.

My wish list has always gone something pretty much like this:

While I still believe in Santa Claus but I no longer believe in magic:

I wish:

1. That each time we see a child on a bicycle without a helmet, that we become righteously uninhibited and tell them and their parents off. OK, so I don’t do righteously indignant safely anymore, but this year I need to find someone to more helmets on children.

2. That we get the BIA to sponsor a physician brain injury conference in our home state and personally invite, pressure and lay a guilt trip on every M.D. we know, especially emergency room doctors, to attend; This is really getting to be a reminder of all those great ideas I have that never get done. This year I will promise to make some advocacy effort to help this generation of new doctors apply the lessons that are coming home from Iraq to Civilian brain injury.

3. That we eradicate the use of the term “mild” to describe concussion and permanent brain injury; I am still doing a good job of using the word “subtle” instead of “mild”.

4. That we are never too busy for our cyber friends in need; Sadly, the once vibrant TBI chat lists don’t seem to have the same community as they did a decade ago. I keep trying and keep finding ways to broaden our brain injury web of communication.

5. That we never quit our advocacy against insurance companies, neurologists and those who use the term “malingerer”; Had a good year on this front this year. The only doctor who flat out claimed a client of mine was a malingerer was made totally irrelevant by my deposition of him and the case settled for $1.9 million.

6. That we each personally tell a doctor, lawyer or health care professional about how much information there is on the web, how to find it and that it is their sworn duty to go get it; The web has changed so much in 12 years that even old doctors have figured that out. I still remember the defense doctor who when he looked up the answer to a question he couldn’t ask in deposition, wrote a supplemental report answering the question, and ended up quoting one of my web pages as a source.

7. That you all find a good neurologist and pass on the word when you do; This has still got to be the most frustrating part of representing brain injured people. Neurology is a very broad practice area. Few members of this specialty do any significant amount of brain injury. Please if you know of good ones, anywhere, let us know.

8. That we all make a caregiver feel how special and critical they are; Each year I try. And to the very special caretaker in my life, who “cares” for the daily needs of the clients of the Brain Injury Law Group, Jayne Zabrowski, you are the best. And to Angela, my proof reader (God knows I need her) and to Becca, the true pioneer of brain injury advocacy on the Web, thank you so much.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a safer, less overwhelming year.