13-year-old boy dies in ATV crash in Western Massachusetts
AP,
1:58 PM
BUCKLAND, Mass. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy has died in an all-terrain vehicle crash in Western Massachusetts.
The Northwestern district attorney’s office says the boy was the only person on the ATV when it crashed Wednesday afternoon in Buckland.
He was taken by ambulance to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield with significant head trauma and was pronounced dead at about 5:30 p.m.
The boy was not wearing a helmet.
The boy’s name has not been made public but authorities say he was from Buckland.
An autopsy is scheduled to determine the cause of death, which remains under investigation. The significant head trauma suggests that he hit his head after the ATV crashed.
ATV And Dirt Bike Accidents Can Lead To Head Injuries
This month we brought you the News-Times story of five different all-terrain vehicle accident injuries in the state of Maryland - that all happened in just one day. In the three separate accidents, all involving teens, ATVs, and dirt bikes, summer fun was suddenly replaced with tragedy as five young people were rushed to Cumberland Memorial hospital with serious head injuries.
Why do ATVs and dirt bikes often lead to closed head injuries and traumatic brain injuries? Often times, those riding off-road do not wear protective gear such as helmets. Helmets can significantly reduce the severity of a head injury, even if they cannot prevent head injuries altogether.
Secondly, riding vehicles off-road also often means riding vehicles over bumps, rocks, and ditches - these varied terrains can make for a fun day of adventure and fun, but all too often these difficult paths can lead to vehicle rollovers and passenger ejection.
Thirdly, riding an ATV or dirt bike off road mean that there are no official "rules of the road." In many cases, drivers have to decide for themselves what the speed limit is and what is considered reckless driving. Those on dirt bike courses may collide with each other. Those on ATVs may drive faster than is considered safe, resulting in serious injury.
Finally, off-road vehicle drivers may try "stunts" with their ATVs or dirt bikes, sometimes involving jumps or other obstacles. All too often, these dare devil moments can lead to serious, debilitating, and even deadly head injuries and brain damage.
Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
Accidents happen every day, and not just to other people. Accidents probably happen to you every day. That isn’t an outlandish statement if you really think about it. You bump an elbow on the stairwell. You stub your toe in the middle of the night. You get distracted and burn your dinner.
These are the sort of accidents that happen regularly, to all of us, and there are no real lasting repercussions. You say “ouch” or some variation thereof, or you phone out for pizza or Chinese, and life goes on.
More serious accidents happen with less frequency, but the consequences aren’t really all that different. Safety advances in seat restraints, airbags, global positioning satellites with instant emergency contact and improvements in body design have drastically improved the odds of walking away from an accident unscathed. Trips to the hospital, if needed at all, are usually for treatment of minor injuries. And the insurance will usually recoup the property damage, so, minor inconvenience aside, life goes on.
But what happens if an accident is more serious? What happens if it’s the sort of accident where, despite the seat restraints, despite the airbags, despite everything, your life is irrevocably changed? What happens if you lose the ability to walk, or move at all, or breathe without a respirator? What happens if you sustain severe brain damage? What happens to your family if you are unable to work?
The rules change when the injury gets severe. The insurers, faced with the prospect of living up to real financial obligations, start dragging their feet or looking for loopholes. If the accident wasn’t your fault, and the other driver’s insurance company faces the liability, you can expect them to do everything possible to get out of paying you what you deserve. This includes outright denial of a claim, lowball settlement offers, and delays in payment.
In order for this to make sense, you should consider that the insurance company of the person that caused your accident doesn’t represent you. There is no sense of “doing the right thing” among insurance companies. Millions of people on the Gulf Coast are being told by their own insurers that there is nothing that they can do. If that’s how they treat their own clients, what sort of treatment do you think you’ll receive? Getting what is necessary out of an insurance company in serious situations takes absolute command of the facts and a thorough understanding of insurance company tactics and liability law.
Most accidents don’t require the services of an attorney. After all, the word “accident” has many different meanings. Dropping something on the kitchen floor is an accident. So is cutting yourself shaving. Tripping on the curb and skinning your knees isn’t a life changing event. Hitting your head on a low hanging beam might cause a bruise or a bump, but it won’t adversely affect your life in the long run, or even really the short term.
But there are some accidents that are not events that you can simply shrug off. Some accidents bring with them consequences that can alter the lives of the victims. Accidents that result in spinal injuries, brain damage or other lifelong conditions are not only serious, but very expensive.
It goes without saying that serious brain or spinal injuries bring with them a huge amount of medical bills, but that is only part of the cost. If the damage is serious enough it could prevent the victim from working or earning a living, or the injury could require constant care from specialists. There is also a severe emotional cost, as the victim might no longer be able to engage in activities that he or she enjoys. There is no shortage of ways in which this could cost the victim and their families physically, financially and emotionally.
Brain Injuries: Since the brain is the most complex organ in the body, there is no shortage of ways in which damage to the brain can adversely affect the rest of the body. Among some of the more common problems associated with a traumatic brain injury are balance problems, behavior problems, cognitive disabilities, nerve damage, personality disorders, frequent seizures or sensory problems.
Even slight brain injuries can be expensive. The cost of treating head injuries can run anywhere from $85,000 to $3,000,000, depending on the level of severity.
Spinal Cord Injuries: Along with the brain, the spinal cord has the distinction of being one of the only structures in the human body that does not heal. Damage to the spine can be permanent, life altering and very costly. Movement is an important part of how the human body functions, and immobility can cause any number of complications. Changes in circulation and respiration, atrophy of muscles, joints and bones, muscle spasms, blood clots, pressure sores, bacterial infections, disruption of organ function, or any number of serious problems that require constant care and maintenance.
The costs of a spinal injury are staggering. In order to maintain the health and living standards of the victim of a spinal cord injury, it costs around $25,000 per person per year. And that’s only after there has been a decent amount of recovery time. The initial cost of the injury, including hospitalization, home modifications, medical equipment such as wheelchairs and respirators and the hiring of nursing staff if they are needed costs an average amount of $240,000.
You can also factor in the economic costs of what the victim won’t be earning anymore. A victim can suddenly go from earning $60,000 per year to earning nothing. And while it is difficult to put a price tag on emotional happiness, it should be considered that the great majority of activities that the victim used to enjoy will be closed off to him or her.
Most of you are thinking that while these bills are tragic, this is what insurance is for, right? If insurance companies lived up to their financial responsibilities, then you would be correct. But the problem is that they rarely do. Insurance companies stall, deny claims and offer low ball settlements on accidents that aren’t comparatively serious, and when the accident results in serious spinal or brain injuries, they kick their tactics into overdrive.
Traumatic Brain Injury Frequently Asked Questions (Part One)
Traumatic brain injuries can change the life of you or a loved one for life - and unlike a broken arm, they can be hard to diagnose and difficult to prove. Below are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI).What is considered a traumatic brain injury?
Traumatic brain injuries encompass a vast range of damage and can look vastly different in different brain injury victims. In general, TBI occurs when some outside trauma takes place to the head, damaging the brain. Some suffers may not even lose consciousness during their traumatic brain injury, while other could die immediately from their injuries.What are the symptoms of traumatic brain injury?
Again, traumatic brain injuries can display a huge range of symptoms, ranging from mild memory problems to severe, permanent paralysis or coma. Many people who suffer a traumatic brain injury may report headaches that get worse or do not go away, blurred vision, tired eyes, ringing in the ears, behavioral problems, mood swings, memory problems, cognitive problems, fatigue, sleep problems, bad taste in the mouth, attention issues, concentration issues, dizziness, lightheadedness, and confusion. More severe cases may have symptoms that include seizures, slurred speech, weakness in the limbs, unconsciousness, and severe agitation.How are traumatic brain injuries treated?
Depending on the age of the individual, much of the initial brain damage will be permanent, although many younger patients are often able to re-route and re-learn throughout their rehabilitation and recovery. When TBIs are initially treated, doctors concentrate on controlling brain swelling against the skull, which can cause further damage than the initial accident. After the patient is stabilized, the brain injury victim usually have many months of rehabilitation ahead of them - and it is almost impossible to predict how far individual recoveries will progress. While some might never regain speech or consciousness, others could return almost to normal.