Brain Injury Lawyer Keynote Speaker at North Shore LIJ Health System Brain Injury Rehabilitation Conference

I am pleased to report that I have been invited to deliver the key note address at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Conference to be held at North Shore University Hospital on Saturday March 19, 2005.

My address as President of the Brain Injury Association of New York State and a lawyer who focuses his practice on representing victims of traumatic brain injury from concussion to coma will be on the public perception of brain injury.  This is an important topic due to public misconceptions concerning the serious and long term consequences of brain and head injuries.

Unfortunately, many persons including lawyers and medical providers erroneously believe that hitting your head is no big deal and that in order to sustain a concussion, a loss of consciousness is required, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  Harris poll studies commissioned by the Brain Injury Association show that the public believes that they can look at a person and tell whether they have a brain injury!  The same study reports that most individuals believe that a person who has sustained a brain injury will recover. 

Where do these false perceptions come from?  If you think about your childhood and your exposure to television programs such as the three stooges, movies such as Rocky or Regarding Henry and reports in newspapers of athletes who say they are "fine" following a concussion, you begin to understand the enormity of the problem faced by brain injury lawyers in court and brain injury specialists dealing with public perceptions.

Other topics at the conference include:

• Neurosurgical Treatment of Late Complications in Head Injury
• Neuroplasticity-Mechanisms Underlying Recovery of Function
• Psychopharmacology and Acquired Brain Injury
• Complementary Treatment Appoaches to Brain Injury
• Approaches to Dealing with the Locked In Syndrome
• Management of Ischemic Stroke
• The Role of Neuropsychology and Neuropsychologists in Rehabilitation
• Family Needs Following Brain Injury

The co directors of the conference are Deborah Benson, PhD., Clinical Neuropsychologist and Clincial Director of Transitions of Long Island and Robert Duarte, M.D., Co-Director of the Pain and Headache Treatment Center and Staff Neurologist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.  Further information on the program can be obtained by calling the Department of Professional and Public Health Education of North Shore Hospital at 516 465 2500.  For a copy of the program click:  Download 9064_neurorehab.pdf .