Landau Injury Law

The Creager Law firm of Richmond has agreed to help Abrams Landau, Ltd. with the appeal of a devastating motor vehicle crash case. While there is a multi-million dollar judgment against the Defendant driver, the Plaintiff seeks to hold a Corporate Defendant responsible for her traumatic brain injuries and lifetime disability. Roger Creager is well known throughout Virginia for his keen insight and brief writing skills. Herndon Reeston area brain injury lawyer Doug Landau argued the case in the Federal trial court and is excited to have this “ally” helping this family after the tragedy of the intersection crash. Creager and Landau are shown here at the recent Virginia Trial Lawyers Brain Injury seminar, where the science of closed head injury, traumatic brain injury and neuropsychological testing were discussed, and the latest cases, statutes and trial strategies for helping disabled clients and their families were shared. Also in attendance for part of the meeting was the Director of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia. The non-profit Brain Injury Association seeks to create a better future through brain injury education, awareness, advocacy and support.

The top Virginia plaintiffs’ brain injury attorneys were invited to compare notes, learn the latest medical testing and treatment techniques and participate in this sold out continuing legal education program. Herndon Reston area brain injury lawyer Doug Landau of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. attended this conference with his friends, co-counsel and physicians in Richmond. Doug Landau is shown here with Fairfax trial lawyer Peter Everett of Blankenship & Keith during a break between medical lectures.

In addition to the brain injury retreat, Doug Landau was also invited to the Advanced Motor Vehicle crash retreat in Charlottesville, and the Advanced Workers Compensation retreat in November. Attendding all 3 advenaced “retreats” will enable Doug Landau to better “attack” the unsupportable defenses and “junk science” used by the insurance companies on behalf of ABRAMS LANDAU clients with head trauma, brain injury and permanent disabilities and their families.

Seeking a “side-by-side” comparison of several of our local legislators, I attended the Legislative Forum hosted by the Virginia Medical Society, Prince William, Alexandria and Fairfax Bar Associations.    The Candidates spoke on several important topics including Immigration, Transportation, Healthcare Funding and Working Across Party Lines.  Examiner Staff Writer Bill Myers was Moderator. The candidates who spoke were, from the Virginia House of Delegates Delegate David B. Albo (R) and Delegate Stephen C. Shannon (D).  From the Senate of Virginia, Senator Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II (R), Senator Patricia S. Ticer (D) and from the U.S. House of Representatives (11th District) Keith S. Fimian (R).  The event was well-attended and I was pleased to see many friends and colleagues there.  Here I am with my friend and talented medical negligence defense lawyer Joyce Naumann Massey of the Manassas firm of McCarthy, Massey & Mitchell, P.C.

The Workers’ Compensation Act (§ 65.2-603) provides that, if medically necessary, the employer may be required to furnish durable medical equipment and modification of the employee’s home for handicap accessibility up to $25,000.

A former employee of DRS-DDS (the Department of Rehabilitation Services and the Department of Disability Services) sustained an injury to her lumbar spine. This injury to her back caused her to lose the use of her legs. Doug Landau won her case in Court and she has been receiving disability checks. She was finally provided pull bars for the bathrooms in her home, a lift chair, a power wheelchair, portable ramps for handicap accessibility to her home and vehicle and there is a pending Order from the Commission for a hydraulic wheelchair lift for her SUV after a decade of litigation in her comp claim. The letter to the Virginia Workers Compensation Commission indicating the benefits Mr. Landau won for this client most recently is attached.

In another case being handled by the Herndon Reston area injury firm of ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., the Workers Compensaion Insurance Company paid for home modifications for a young man residing with his mother in Orange County, VA. This client had sustained a traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones as the result of a fall from a bridge construction project in Fauquier County. As the result of Doug Landau and Dianna Meredith’s unremitting efforts over the last 14 years, the insurance company paid a contractor to widen the doorways, install an entrance ramp, shower chair, handrails for the shower and commode, handicap commode, and a handicap accessible shower stall.

Although the plaintiff walked away from a fender-bender automobile accident with relatively minor injuries and no apparent head trauma, his family knew in the months following the crash that something was wrong. When the family’s attorneys took what they thought was a relatively simple case and started talking to doctors, they discovered the matter was more complicated: They would have to show that David suffered brain trauma even though it was a minor collision with no loss of consciousness or direct head injuries. Relying on the family’s truthfulness, the attorneys were able to (more…)

The Virginia Workers Compensation Statute says the rehab personnel (as well as insurance adjusters) are entitled to “copies” of medical reports.  “Copies” does not include verbal reports.  It is Doug Landau’s position that they have no right to speak to the doctor, the nurses or the doctors’ staff.  Yet the insurance company people try to do it ALL THE TIME !  And, if you let them do it, they will use this “off the record” contact against you, your case and your family.

That having been said, most doctors have been brain washed into believing that they have to talk to insurance representatives, including rehabilitation personnel.  Talk to your doctors.  Your treating specialists, your family doctor and all health care personnel you see in conjunction with you case.  Tell them you DO NOT WANT THEM TALKING with anyone from the insurance company.  They can get copies of reports of your treatment for the workers comp injury, and the bills related to your care.  BUT, conversations outside your presence are NOT OK !

I hope not. And they certainly do not in my case. After all, I have represented a number of doctors, therapists and nurses in my career and they still call on me for assistance and legal advice. They also refer their own patients and family members to our office for help.

I have served as counsel for Virginia Physicians Managed Care, Inc., which was comprised of many of the top OB/GYNs in Northern Virginia, and have taught “Orthopedics for Lawyers” with top spine surgeon Tom Schuler of the Virginia Spine Institute. My record representing physicians speaks for itself, and my medical training has helped me to understand and work with those in the health professions. Here is my wife with my long time friend Dr. Susan Rheingold at a recent trial lawyers gathering. She is a doctor and she seems to put up with us just fine. Yes, there are doctors who do not respect lawyers, just as there are lawyers who do not respect doctors. I am not one of those people. I try to abide by the following when working with Health Care Providers:

1. Respond to questions promptly,

2. Keep the patient (and client) “in the loop,

3. Try to ensure that the doctor has all of the relevant medical recrods,

4. Provide the treating specialist with prior medical records from the family doctor,

5. Demand complete candor from the client and their family with regard to health and medical histories,

6. Make it easy for busy physicians to respond to important questions by the use of SHORT letters, straightforward inquiries and forms, where appropriate,

7. Accomodate busy surgeons’ schedules and give as much advance notice as to the need for testimony at trial as possible,

8. Invest in professionally done medical illustrations, enlargements of pictures and positives of x-rays so that the doctor’s testimony is more easily understood by the jury, judge, mediator and/or arbitrator.

First, just like Herndon Reston injury lawyer Doug Landau, Life Care Planners have to read the medical records.  This is not easy.  Not only do some doctors have handwriting that would be impossible for an FBI expert to decipher, but in a traumatic brain injury case, spinal cord injury or paralysis claim, these records are often many hundreds of pages long !  And you cannot just “skim” or “speed read” them, because important information for the life care planner is often found in the details, the nurses’ notes and the abbreviations and test results.

The Life Care Planner uses a standard process to identify the recommendations, including those made by the treating physicians, regarding the medical equipment, services, and treatment required by the patient to promote good health, prevent deterioration and encourage independence. This is not simply a chart to provide minimal assistance, but a flow chart to prevent atrophy from disuse, deterioration and the patient from becoming decrepit.  Through this process the Life Care Planner also identifies the cost, frequency and purpose of the treatments, examinations, therapy modalities and equipment upkeep and replacement. Vendors assist to determine the yearly cost of the item, and a projected life expectancy is utilized to provide costs in today’s dollar amount. The Virginia Code has a Life Expectancy chart (found at Va. Code 8.01-419), and major insurance carriers likewise have charts showing expected duration of life at different given ages.  At ABRAMS LANDAU we will then bring in an economist to evaluate and give us a range of figures for the plan with cost of living variables.

Doug Landau does not believe in “cookie cutter” life care plans.  The Herndon Reston area injury lawyer has hired nurse case consultants and certified life care planners for long-term disability cases for customized review, assistance and testimony.  It is a significant expense, but without this important evidence, it is often impossible to present testimony as to future needs and costs of care.

Each life care plan is individualized to the client’s medical situation and may include; home care/facility care, projected therapeutic modalities, diagnostic testing, durable medical equipment (DME) wheelchair needs, wheelchair accessories and maintenance, orthopedic equipment needs, orthotics/prosthetics, aids for independent function, home furnishings and accessories, improvements to the home, safety equipment, drug and supply needs, future medical care, transportation, architectural complications, therapy, leisure or recreational equipment, and vocational/educational plan.  At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. we know that clients with multiple orthopedic injuries, neurological losses, mental deficits and paralysis need more than just money for doctors’ visits, they need a wide range of services and products to ensure adequate protection of their health.

Life care plans can be developed by a variety of health care professionals.  At ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd., we will engage the services of experts with medical backgrounds, especially in the long term care of patients with permanent disability, brain injury, mental handicap, spinal cord injury and paralysis.

Registered nurses, legal nurse consultants and certified vocational counselors are the most common professionals who seek certification as life care planners.  Herndon Reston area injury lawyer Doug Landau has had teams work up a Life Care Plan, and often, after the medical experts reach a consensus, he will hire an economics expert to calculate present value and income stream needs.  In other words, the treating health care providers records and input will be carefully studied.  Then, the certified life care planner will put together the information from the treating sources together with predicted needs, costs and frequencies.  The economics expert will then take these figures and extrapolate lifetime costs, present value and the income necessary to provide for these lifetime medical expenditures.  One of the reasons that trials in traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and permanent disability cases takes so long is that each of these experts must be qualified to the satisfaction of the court, then given an opportunity to explain the foundations for their work, and then and only then, can they give their opinions “to within a reasonable degree of certainty.”