Long-Term Disability Benefits – The Shortfalls of Group Plans
Beyond the issue of premiums, insurance rarely gets the attention it deserves until a traumatic event occurs. In personal injury cases, the type of policy may have a profound impact on the life of an injured or impaired person, especially when long-term disability is involved. [...]
New Guidelines for Diagnosing Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Until only recently, Ontario’s healthcare professionals were without a widely accepted, comprehensive guideline for treating anyone who struggled to recover from mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). All too frequently, concussion sufferers experience troubling symptoms long after they should have begun moving on with their life. [...]
The Differences Between Acute and Chronic Pain
Despite recent advancements in the acceptance of chronic pain as a legitimate, serious impairment, some misunderstanding persists. In the medical-legal context, pain must be studied carefully to ensure sufferers are treated fairly. If you have been stricken by debilitating chronic pain, or know someone who [...]
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
In the same vein as chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome has long been a subject of controversy in legal matters. But the more claims that arise and the more research being done into cases of persistent, debilitating fatigue, the more credibility it gains as a [...]
Focal and Diffuse Brain Damage
A brain injury threatens the very essence of an individual’s personality. And like the broad spectrum of personality types, brain injuries themselves come in different forms, whether diffuse or focal damage, or penetrating or closed wounds – and the range within each category. Understanding the [...]
Home Modifications Following Spinal Cord Injury
Following a traumatic spinal cord injury, a person’s world can seem cold and alien – a long stay in the hospital and time spent in a rehabilitation facility, not to mention the physical and emotional challenges of coping with new limitations. Returning home should be [...]
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury – Lingering Issues
While most mild traumatic brain injuries (MTBI) don’t produce long-lasting difficulties, in some cases they can be followed by debilitating, painful symptoms for a significant period after the initial incident. Unfortunately, these seemingly minor brain injuries come with a host of special challenges, which can [...]
The Family Doctor as a Valuable Witness in Personal Injury Claims
Over the course of a complex and potentially drawn out personal injury case, insurance companies work hard to uncover any inconsistencies in a plaintiff’s claim. One particularly sharp area of focus is the relationship between the patient and family doctor, where the latter’s unique insights [...]
Insurance Companies and Bad-Faith Bargaining
For years disability benefits exist quietly in the background; you pay the premiums for peace of mind rather than any expectation of ever using them. But when the unthinkable happens, a serious personal injury or impairment, those benefits quickly come to the foreground. Unfortunately, in [...]
Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury
For the sake of comparison and classification, spinal cord injuries fit into two main categories: complete and incomplete. But because no two cases are exactly the same, these categories don’t tell the full story of suffering and difficulty experienced by the injured person. Unfortunately, the [...]
