Friday, September 27, 2013

Brain Injury Attorney? The Important Difference for Outcome

Brain Injury Attorney? The Important Difference for Outcome

I have no personal knowledge of this attorney, but the comments in this advertisement are worth while reading:

Brain Injury Attorney? The Important Difference for Outcome

What To Look For in Hiring a Brain Injury Attorney 

By Gordon S. Johnson, Jr. , Esq.
Call me at 800-992-9447
Consider a brain injury attorney if you are searching for legal assistance after you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury or coma.  The process of choosing an attorney at such time  can seem very complicated.  It may feel simpler to go with someone the family knows or with someone famous who you see on TV.
Yet, hiring the wrong lawyer in these desperate hours can have devastating impacts now and for you or your loved one’s future.
You realize that an attorney’s education, their experience, their knowledge, and their trustworthiness are characteristics you need to explore. In addition to those characteristics, we suggest that you choose a brain injury attorney because such a lawyer not only understands brain injury, but also has the time and dedication needed to work on your case. Lawyers who specialize to the level of being a brain injury attorney, are only working on big cases and thus have the time to treat your case like it is the big case that it is.
Brain injury cases take a long time to resolve.  You will be in contact with your lawyer’s office many times.  If you hire a brain injury attorney, your lawyers will understand not just the legal issues in your case, but the issues of a brain injury.
Make sure that the attorney’s paralegal or legal assistant is understanding and takes the time to listen to your concerns.  Speak to them.
Do they make you feel comfortable?  Do they speak respectfully and at a comfortable pace for you?  Do they make you feel they will be available for you to ask questions? 
How easy is it to reach them by phone?  Do you need to leave endless messages or do they call you back quickly?  How long will it take for you to speak with your attorney when you call?  Does the attorney have the time to give your case adequate time and resources?
At the Brain Injury Law Group, S.C., we have one brain injury attorney: Me. We take individualized time with each client.  We limit the number of cases we take on so that we are able to serve each client with the time and attention they deserve.

Nothing is more important in your case than the paralegal who is your constant contact person. Jayne Zabrowski knows brain injury and cares.

When you call our office, you will speak directly to Jayne Zabrowski.  Jayne will always treat you with kindness and respect.  She will pay close attention to the details and ask you many questions.  You will understand not only how much she knows about brain injury, but you will first realize how much she cares.  We treat our office staff with respect and provide them with education and knowledge, so they in turn are able to provide you with exceptional service.

This sentiment was expressed by a client in a letter to our office:

“ Jayne genuinely and skillfully expresses kindness, patience, respect, and empathy.  Through her sensitivity and understand, she has provided me with a listening ear, words of encouragement and often times emails of inspirational stories.   On many occasions, it has been Jayne’s caring nature that has given me the strength to continue on during very difficult times.”

Jayne just is different.  It will only take one phone call to know that.  She has dedicated herself to learning about brain injury as much as I have. What’s more, she listens and believes you when you tell her about your life now.
You are not “just a case” in our office.  We treat each case individually and give you our full dedication.

We promise to be accessible and available to you.   If you would like an experienced, caring, honest, knowledgeable, trustworthy brain injury attorney,  call Brain Injury Law Group, S.C. at  1-800-992-9447.

For More on How a Brain Injury Attorney can make a difference in the medical outcome for your severely brain injured loved one, click here.

Help with Brain Injury Compensation Cases


Attorney Gordon Johnson 
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447



Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Lies, Logs, and Audio Recordings

I'm not going to be so petty as to name names, but a local business attempted to inform me of an appointment they had changed. When I called to confirm the original time of the appointment, I was told it would not work. Then they said they had called me and changed the appointment. I don't know if they are attempting to take advantage of my memory difficulties or not, but because of my memory difficulties, I have a recording of the their false claim, AND a complete log of every incoming and outgoing phone call between my number and theirs. I am annoyed when people lie to me. I know it happens often. I know I have been guilty of saying things that were not true, usually either exaggerations or just false memories created by my disability, but I try to be up-front and honest with people as much as I possibly can be. The one area I struggle with is when others have told me something in confidence, and I don't cover well when questioned. So I have plenty of empathy for why a person might say something false, but when I'm already struggling all the time to work around amnesia, depending on tools such as phone logs, journal notes, and other artificial means to keep in sync with "reality," it disturbs me when I know someone has lied. That's all I'm going to say. I hope my message gets heard by the right people, and I hope I have not unduly hurt any feelings in the process.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Awareness

Taken just before my daughter's wedding. I missed the wedding.
I could not stay awake. I was rushed to the hospital shortly after
speaking the words, "...her mother and I do," as I gave my daughter
away. At least I'll be able to see the video of her wedding.
I am convinced that one of the main keys to a better memory is vigilant "awareness" 24/7. That level of awareness is difficult to maintain. I created this post to record my experiences after a phone call from my Neuropsychologist, who had to cut short his testing session the other day because his session is designed to take four hours, but my mental focus "window" is only about two hours between naps. 


At my test, I started out performing better that most healthy people, but quickly crashed until the doctor said it was pointless to continue. 

That happened at about the half-way point of the four-hour test. I was beginning to have difficulty speaking, I had switched from solving equations mathematically, to solving them using visual proportions, which meant my answers were in the ball park, but were no longer precise. I made the switch, because I could feel that part of my brain shutting down. By the time he called off the rest of the testing session, I had to take a nap before Audra and I could head home. 

Now he wants to start the test over, asking me to once again allow four hours for the test. He scheduled the test earlier in the day, which means I have to make arrangements to ensure Jonathan knows he must walk to work that day, or get a ride. Audra will need to cancel any plans she has to come with me, because I cannot drive out of town alone. 

Then I noticed the new appointment was scheduled one day AFTER my Social Security Disability hearing. One of the reasons I needed this testing was to provide evidence for that hearing. So, having been reminded of the disability hearing, I looked at my calendar entry for the hearing, realized it is in Central time, while I live in the Eastern time zone. The Lawyer wants to meet with me an hour before the hearing. I was pretty sure that meant everything would be an hour later by my watch than my appointment with the lawyer and the court time, especially since the Lawyer commented our meeting would be about an hour before the court appointment. (This is an all-day hearing in which many cases will be heard. What are the chances I will even be conscious during my hearing?)

So.... I looked up the time zone information and verified I was correct that I would have an extra hour to get to the hearing. I tried to look up directions to the Court house to make sure my planning was allowing enough time. I have no recollection of the following events. The next thing I knew, I was seeing a message on my screen thanking me for choosing to install the "White Cloud" toolbar. (WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!!!?) I made sure my anti-malware was on-the-job. It prevented the program from writing to the registry, and prevented the program from creating an auto-start, but the toolbar had already appeared in Chrome. I immediately used Chrome's tools to disable the tool bar and delete it. Then I searched and found two programs with the name "White Smoke." Now I'm waiting for another program to search my registry for any references to the white smoke program folder....


...and I still haven't informed Audra that I just ruined at least two of her days next week, or told Jonathan he will need rides to work two days next week...

I sure hope I remember to do that. I'm getting very tired. 


Audra just scolded me for not feeding the cat today. He should be fed shortly after I get up. I answered, but it can't be that late. I'm not awake yet....

Oh yes. I still need to get those directions....