Simple Head Bump Can Cause Permanent Disability

According to a Chicago neurologist, a simple bump on the head can cause permanent disability to a person even months after the injury occurred.

The neurologist at Loyola University Medical Center, Jose Biller, claimed that a person who slipped on ice and accidentally bumped her head began experiencing weakness in her right leg and right arm a couple of months after the incident. Right after the accident, the patient wasn’t even concerned about her head bump.

Biller immediately ordered a magnetic resonance imaging scan for the patient. The scan result revealed a large subdural hematoma – a form of traumatic brain injury. It is a mass of blood scattered within the outermost layer of brain.

A person with a subdural hematoma compressing the brain is close to danger of suffering from permanent disability or cognitive deficiency, similar to disabilities caused by stroke and other disabling conditions, explained Biller. He added that a subdural hematoma is generated by head injuries that cause blood vessels between the surface of the brain, called arachnoid mater and the dura mater that envelopes the brain, to stretch and tear.

Subsequently, Biller referred the patient to another neurosurgeon in Loyola, Dr. Douglas Anderson, who specializes in performing emergency surgery. Dr. Anderson drained the hematoma by drilling two holes in the patient’s skull. The patient’s hematoma was about a couple of inches long and approximately one and a half inch thick. After the procedure, the patient made a full recovery.

Subdural hematomas are commonly caused by severe head injuries that cause internal bleeding, which quickly fill the brain area. Whereas, less severe head injuries can also cause subdural hematoma, but they might not show symptoms for several days or even weeks due to slow bleeding, Biller added.

If the condition of a patient becomes worse and ends up as permanent disability, a patient can be entitled for permanent disability benefits. However, under the Social Security Administration (SSA) guidelines, permanent disability is strictly defined in the context of total disability.

In simpler terms, a claimant or an applicant must be considered totally and undeniably disabled to receive benefits. In such case, it would be best to consult a Los Angeles permanent disability lawyer first before filing a claim, going further, and exerting too much effort for something uncertain.

Social Security No Longer Seeks Information from the Internet in Deciding for Disability Benefits

Last month, the Social Security Administration announced that its disability benefit claim judges will no longer be looking out for information from any website when deciding disability cases.

Some of those judges claimed that taking such significant tool would help in exposing fraud. Meanwhile, several of the agency’s officials said that reviewers cannot rely on information posted online and that the simple act of typing in queries could put the protected private information at risk. Therefore, judges shouldn’t even try accessing SSA claim applicants’ personal information online.

The agency’s ban covers all websites, including social media particularly Facebook and Twitter.

On the other hand, Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and a major taxpayer watchdog, said that avoiding online provided information could possibly meant giving up a very important weapon in detecting fraudulent claims. Sen. Coburn added that even federal courts are relying on the Internet in handling some disability cases.

In his letter to the Social Security Administration’s commissioner, Michael J. Astrue, Sen. Coburn explained that when a person claiming to be disabled publicly posts his or her own picture participating in any sport or strenuous activity, such information can be used by adjudicators to know whether the claimant is indeed disabled, or just feigning it.

The debate mounted modern-age questions regarding the personal information that people make publicly available on the Internet, and how careful government agencies should be in gathering information when it comes to granting disability benefits.

Social security officials said that they don’t oppose using the Internet in gathering important information, but simply want judges to go out and conduct an actual inspection. The agency further affirmed that determining frauds is a job for fraud investigators that would be given proper attention later in the process.

Several Los Angeles social security claim lawyers agreed with the agency’s spokesperson, Kia S. Green, in her message suggesting that adjudicators should stick with their time-tested ways of investigating disability benefit claims.

Years ago, adjudicators were used to decide on cases effectively even before the advent of social media sites and other websites that are providing personal profile. Therefore, the agency officials believed that adjudicators can still perform their jobs quite efficiently even without relying on the internet while investigators can effectively perform fraud tracking.

Calcium Supplements: Can Increase the Risk of Heart Attack, or Not?

In a report released by the Medicine Plus, the study suggests that calcium supplements may increase the risk of a heart attack.

Calcium supplements are commonly taken to aid in bone loss prevention. According to previous researchers, calcium supplements may help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke that normally lead to permanent disability.

However, a recent study suggests that calcium supplements may actually lead to a dramatic increase in the risk of heart attack and stroke. Meanwhile, it appears that a calcium-rich diet could deliver a reduced heart attack risk.

Recent studies concluded that the higher the calcium intake, the greater the damage it brings to blood vessel walls, hence the risk of a stroke. However, not all researchers believed the said findings. In fact, those who criticize the findings claim that osteoporosis leads to more bone fractures than heart attacks. They confirmed that calcium supplements can help prevent such fractures.

This was opposed with the belief that calcium supplements seem to increase the risk of a heart attack by a quarter and to reduce the risk of fractures by just 10 percent. Due to conflicting details, it is advisable that anyone who intends to take calcium supplement should first seek medical advice and prescription of the drug.

Heart attack and stroke may lead to either long term disability or permanent disability depending on the gravity of the condition. When it comes to long term disability benefits, it can be paid personally by the wage earner from a private insurer or from an employer.

However, recipients should expect that insurers will make it hard for the disabled to get access to the benefits they lawfully deserve. Therefore, it is highly recommended to seek help from a Los Angeles social security disability firm for them to provide guidance and legal representation in seeking disability benefits.