Month: March 2010

John P. Young is your Indiana Brain Injury Attorney.  Mr. Young is a member of the National Brain Injury Association and the Brain Injury Association of Indiana, and has been for more than 15 years.  Mr. Young is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Indiana Brain Injury Association of Indiana, a past Chair of the Board of Directors and now sits on the Emeritus Board of Directors. As part of the mission of the Brain Injury Association, Mr. Young has been discussing the best way to deal with brain injury – PREVENTION.  Prevention is the key to stopping brain injury.  One very effective means of preventing brain injury is through the use of a helmet.  This includes not only while riding a motorcycle, but when riding a bicycle or when snow skiing.

A brain injury can happen in a number of different ways.  Did you know that a stroke is an injury to the brain?  The most common cause of brain injury, however, is trauma or a direct blow to the head.  While a helmet cannot completely prevent brain injury, a helmet is highly effective at either eliminating or reducing the damage caused by a blow to the head. Many of the brain injuries that occur annually in this country can be prevented. Each year 140,000 persons die from brain injuries and 70,000 persons sustain severe brain injuries. The Bike Helmet Safety Institute provides quick answers on how to buy a helmet and other frequently asked questions.

At Young and Young, we encourage every motorcyclist, bicyclist, and skier to wear their helmet.  We also encourage parents to teach their children about helmet safety.  If you or a loved one suffers a brain injury as the result of another person’s negligence, please call John P. Young today for a private, confidential and free consultation.  Call (888) 639-5161 or email Mr. Young at john@youngandyoungin.com today.  We only charge if there is a recovery for your injuries. Put 22 years of experience helping Hoosier families on your side

Most dog bite incidents generally occur on the street or in someone’s home. But on March 16, a six-year-old Indiana boy was attacked by a pit bull mix, of all things, inside an animal shelter. The injured dog was apparently in an unlocked isolation room right off the lobby in the Hamilton County Humane Society. “Do not enter signs” were posted outside of the room, but the boy went in out of curiosity as children tend to do. The pit bull then attacked the child, biting him on the check, arm, and leg. The boy was rushed to the hospital for treatment. The dog allegedly had no history of violent behavior but was put under quarantine for ten days as a result of the attack, and may wind up being put down. The shelter has subsequently installed deadbolts on the rooms where animals are kept. The boy’s family is, however, considering legal action against the shelter.

Pit bulls have developed a reputation for violent, aggressive behavior. But any dog attack, regardless of breed involved, can obviously inflict serious injuries on the victim, including physical and emotional trauma, especially if the victim is a young child. If you or a loved one have been victimized by a dog attack, contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Young and Young in Indianapolis for a free consultation.

John P. Young is your personal injury lawyer.  At Young and Young all we do is represent injured Hoosiers.  I would like to share with you one of the most common things I hear from Hoosiers who come to my office, or whom I speak with in their homes or hospital rooms. They are sitting in bed, they may have been in a semi tractor-trailer crash, or a highway crash.  They may have even been in a traffic accident with a drunk driver.  They are in pain with broken bones, maybe an amputation or paralysis, very serious injuries.  They all tell me, “I am not one of those money hungry people trying to get something for nothing” or “I am not ‘sue’ happy”.  They say these things despite the obvious necessity for themselves and their families to seek fair compensation from the negligent person who caused their injuries.

My experience is that most people are honest.  They will not lie to get something they do not deserve.  Of course, there are those out there who will lie, and ruin it for the rest of the honest Hoosiers who need help, but that percentage is very small.  In fact the dishonest persons I encounter, maybe one a year, are so easy to detect that they pose no problem.  We just tell them the evidence does not support their claim and show them the door.  So, why are hard working Hoosiers so likely to apologize for asking for what’s fair?  Let’s start with what your mother taught you, and what you teach your children.  If you make a mess be responsible and make up for the harm you cause.  Is your neighbor being unreasonable for asking you to fix the window you put your baseball through?  No, in fact, we all think the person who does not take responsibility for their actions is a bad person.

People feel they need to apologize because in our society personal responsibility has come to mean don’t ask the person who negligently hurt you to make up for the harm they caused, it has come to mean, shut up and take what you get with a stiff upper lip.  Why would this silliness ever be acceptable?  It is because the insurance companies desire us to think this way.  Why would they want us to think this way?  Because if jury’s consistently were fair with their peers, the insurance companies would have to pay more in fair compensation and that would hurt their executive bonuses.  Don’t feel sorry for them, look around your city, who names are on the biggest buildings?  In Indianapolis, it is the insurance companies.  Last year there were record profits all around the insurance industry, despite Hoosier families struggling to meet the mortgage and feed their children.

Your mother was and is right.  It is everyone’s personal responsibility to fairly make up for the harm they cause.  Hoosiers are not, on the whole, greedy.  They are hard working honest people.  Anyone who says differently either does not live here or is so jaded that their opinions are always angry and destructive.  If you have been injured by another’s negligence, John P. Young is your personal injury lawyer.  He believes your mother is right, and will fight anyone who says differently.

Toyota has problems.  Those problems kill people.  Do you really trust the government to fix the problem.  Remember the Ford Pinto? It was not the government that forced Ford to fix the problem.  It was the private sector which forced Ford to fix the problem.  It was trial lawyers.  It was trial lawyers representing people who had been injured by the Pinto who developed the evidence to convince the world that the Pinto was a dangerous product and was killing people. Only after this evidence was made public, through a trial, did Ford do something about its dangerous Pinto.

John P. Young, of Young and Young, is your Indiana injury Attorney.  Young and Young has been representing injured Hoosiers, as private lawyers, for more than 56 years.  Mr. Young is proud to be associated with the firm form more than 22 years.  Young and Young represents Hoosiers injured in all different types of accidents.  These include construction accidents, drunk driving crashes, semi tractor-trailer accidents, highway accidents, traffic accidents, large truck accidents, and industrial accidents.  Mr. Young has experience with the medicine involved in most types of injuries, including burns, scarring, broken bones, spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis including paraplegia and quadriplegia, brain injury and wrongful death.

Americans know that the private sector is much more efficient than government agencies.  Americans do not want bigger government interfering with their lives.  The answer is continued strength of the civil justice system.  This system is the envy of the world, giving the little guy the ability to take on the largest corporations and the government when they have been injured or wronged.  Ask the people of Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar (formerly Burma) if they wish they could legally and effectively take on their government.  Their answer would be a resounding “H—Yes”.  They would be astounded that Americans would want to limit such an effective system.

Only the moneyed interests want to see this system changed.  They want to limit the ability of lawyers to represent injured Americans.  Why?  For the same reason no one trusts congress – money!!  The less ability American Citizens have the right to press their rights to fair compensation, the richer the moneyed interests become.  When you hear the civil justice system is hurting our competitive edge, ask yourself who is preaching this message?  If it is the moneyed interests, what they are really saying is we want to be richer and compensating people we injure makes being richer harder, and we don’t like it.  Be critical in your thinking on this issue and resist the moneyed interests attempt to take away your rights.

As John Young explained in the blog posting below, alcohol slows reaction times, impairs judgment, and leads to car wrecks with severe injuries. Alcohol abuse is a particularly serious problem among teenage and young adult motorists. But a study from Indiana University suggests that so-called responsible drinking ads produced by public health agencies and marketing firms that target college students can actually have the reverse effect.

According to study co-author Adam Duhachek, an IU marketing professor, “The conventional wisdom from people who design these ads is, ‘If we scare people enough it’s always going to be a good thing.’ We demonstrate circumstances where they [not only] aren’t effective, but they cause a backlash where people actually drink more than if they hadn’t been exposed to the ads.”  Apparently the study findings suggest that the commercials create a defensive mindset that enables viewers to distance themselves from the serious consequences of binge drinking–that it only happens to other people. According to Prof. Duhachek, “If you’re going to communicate a frightening scenario, temper it with the idea that it’s avoidable. It’s best to use the carrot along with the stick.”  The Journal of Marketing Research plans to publish the full study.

A provocative academic study is an interesting conversation starter. It may even lead to important improvements in how media messages about risky behaviors are crafted. However, in the real world right now, drunk drivers of all ages cause all kinds of havoc on Indiana’s roads, including fatal accidents. At Young and Young in Indianapolis, we are a family firm with a legal presence in Indiana for more than 100 consecutive years, and focused solely on injury accidents for the last 55. If you have been injured in a highway accident caused by a drunk driver, we stand ready to help.

We are what we eat.  Unfortunately if we get food that is harmful due to bacteria, toxins, parasites, viruses or chemical contaminants then we feel the effects.  Often the effects can be quite serious as has been seen recently in the outbreaks of E.coli from undercooked ground beef and contaminated leafy green vegetable scare.

Consumers can reduce their risks by taking the following steps:

1. Place raw poultry in plastic bags so meat juices cannot cross contaminate other foods;

2. Do not buy foods past “sell-by” or expiration dates;

3. Cook ground beef and other meats completely and request restaurants to do the same;

4. Wash produce thoroughly;

5. Shop at farmers markets whenever possible; and

6. Drive directly home with groceries or place perishables  in a cooler with ice.

Remember – a little caution can prevent a lot of harm down the road.