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Sailing to New Heights

Friday, September 18, 2020 By Admin

This November, Natasha Lambert will be embarking on her biggest challenge yet – sailing across the Atlantic Ocean.

Natasha’s love of sailing was immediate. It started on a lake in England when she was nine years old and only grew stronger as she got involved with a local sailing academy back home on the Isle of Wight. However, because Natasha was born with athetoid cerebral palsy and is unable to use her hands, she could not sail the boats herself. Nevertheless, she was determined to find a way to sail independently.

In 2009, Natasha’s parents gave her a life-changing gift – a converted model yacht which allowed her full control using her mouth and a ‘sip and puff’ system – assistive technology that uses air pressure to send signals to a device through the user by inhaling (sipping) or exhaling (puffing) through a straw in the user’s mouth. The sip and puff system works by using one short sip of breath to move starboard (right), quick puffs to turn port (left) and a click of the tongue to control the sails. This system is described as “life-changing” by her mother.

This got Natasha thinking – if she was able to control a model boat, why not a real one?

The following year, Natasha’s family bought a real sailboat and her father Gary spent the next 6 months installing and testing a sip and puff system that he had designed himself in order for Natasha to have full control of the yacht. Their hope is to one day have this same system commercially manufactured to enable others with disabilities to sail.

Since then, Natasha has led many sailing trips which have raised money for charity, including for the charity she helped create, The MissIsle School. This charity provides affordable sailing tuition to young people with physical disabilities who would benefit from the sip and puff method of sailing. She was even awarded the British Empire Medal in 2015 as recognition of her fundraising achievements.

This past July, now 23-year-old Natasha set sail from Cowes, Isle of Wight, to Gibraltar to begin the first leg of her transatlantic voyage on her newly adapted boat, Blown Away, in the hopes of raising £30,000 (approximately $50,000 Canadian) for charity. Although COVID-19 restrictions initially presented as a challenge, the rest of her incredible journey is still scheduled to begin in November.

Natasha’s journey, like those we have celebrated in our previous blogs, highlights the amazing potential of children living with disabilities when provided with sufficient support and adaptive equipment to reach their true potential. At Pacific Medical Law, it is our mission to help children living with cerebral palsy achieve their full potential by providing them with fair compensation for their disability when it was caused or contributed to through medical negligence. We are here to help. Call us for a free consultation – we can provide information about supports and resources in your community as well as legal advice regarding your child’s rights for financial compensation.

A new study finds hope in a blood test – helping babies born with brain injuries

Friday, September 4, 2020 By Admin

A recent study gives new parents hope following the heartbreak that comes with hearing your baby has suffered a brain injury.

Scientists have found that a simple blood test might be a way to identify if your baby is at higher risk for a poor outcome following a birth-related brain injury – also known as neonatal encephalopathy.

Neonatal encephalopathy associated with oxygen deprivation in the weeks before, during, and after birth is the most common cause of death and brain damage in full term babies. Identifying at-risk babies sooner means faster treatment, which could protect them from some of the worst damage triggered by this kind of injury.

There are a number of other causes for neonatal encephalopathy and these include inflammatory processes, infections, metabolic and genetic causes. The outcome of all these sources look very much the same to you – your baby has a brain injury and there might not be a clear answer as to why. Given so many possible reasons for your baby’s injury, it might be difficult to get appropriate treatment. If the findings in this study are confirmed, it means hope of a better future for you and your baby.

Working with whole blood samples taken within six hours of birth from 45 babies with neonatal encephalopathy, the researchers analyzed the babies’ Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) with new generation sequencing. The babies were reassessed at 18 months of age and the RNA sequences of babies with worse outcomes were compared with the RNA sequences of babies with better outcomes.

Looking at the changes in RNA sequences between these two baby groups, researchers discovered that the same genes were working differently. The study revealed when, what kinds, and how much of each protein was being made in the babies’ cells. Some of these proteins were found to be harmful and some of them to be helpful. Babies with the worst outcomes made more of the bad proteins and less of the good ones.

Out of the 855 genes that were discovered to be most different between the two baby groups – two specific genes, RGS1 and SMC4, were identified as showing the most differences as well as being predictors of a worse outcome.

Knowing what genes are involved in poorer outcomes and the ability to identify these genes soon after birth, may mean the hope of faster and improved treatment for your baby with neonatal encephalopathy.

In all the good news, there are some cautions that come with these findings. The scientists were not necessarily looking for what they found and there weren’t many babies in the study. This means that the evidence is not quite as good as it might be and may not be duplicated in a larger more focused study.

However, it is still a hopeful finding and if you are a parent with a brain-injured baby – hope is good.

Click here to read the study

Susanne Raab again recognized by Best Lawyers™ in Canada for 2021

Thursday, August 27, 2020 By Admin

Pacific Medical Law is pleased to announce that Susanne Raab has once again been recognized as a leader in Medical Negligence law, through selection by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in Canada 2021. Susanne is a partner at Pacific Medical Law, and an advocate for people living with disabilities.

Susanne’s practice focuses on representing individuals and families who have suffered injuries as a result of medical malpractice, with a focus on birth injuries and catastrophic brain and spinal cord injuries. Prior to joining Pacific Medical Law, Susanne spent much of her legal career representing physicians in complex medical malpractice actions. This has given her unique insight into the potential risks and legal hurdles involved in medical malpractice actions. It also helps her to be proactive in overcoming or minimizing those risks.

Paul McGivern receives double recognition from Best Lawyers™ in Canada for 2021

Thursday, August 27, 2020 By Admin

Congratulations to Paul McGivern for having once again been recognized by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in Canada 2021 in the fields of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury litigation. Paul was included in the inaugural Canadian issue in 2007, and has been named every year since.

Paul McGivern has also been named the Best Lawyers 2021 Medical Negligence “Lawyer of the Year” for Vancouver. This is the fourth time in six years that Paul’s accomplishments and expertise have earned him recognition as Lawyer of the Year. Best Lawyers is regarded by both the profession and the public as the definitive guide to legal excellence. It is the oldest and most highly-respected peer review guide to the legal profession worldwide

Maysoon Zayid doesn’t believe in “can’t”

Thursday, August 13, 2020 By Admin

*Image by Karsten Moran for The New York Times*

Maysoon Zayid is a comedian, actress, writer, tap dancer, and disability advocate. She also happens to have cerebral palsy.

When Maysoon suffered a brain injury during birth, her parents were told that there were things she would never do, including walk. But they didn’t believe in “can’t”. Maysoon’s father taught her to walk at age five, and she’s not only been walking, but performing, ever since.

Her parents could not afford to send her to physical therapy so instead, she went to performance classes, and after a happy childhood in New Jersey, she went on to Arizona State University on an academic scholarship, majoring in theatre. However, after a discouraging experience in an acting class where she lost the role of a woman with cerebral palsy in favour of a nondisabled classmate, she began to notice the under-representation of people with visible disabilities in Hollywood. And if they were represented, they were largely portrayed by non-visibly disabled actors. People with disabilities make up 20% of the American population, but only 2% of those seen on American television; 95% of which are played by non-disabled actors.

Shifting gears to comedy, an industry she considers more accepting, Maysoon excelled. She is the first comedian to perform in Palestine and Jordan and the co-founder of the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. She now travels all over the world performing stand-up comedy. What Maysoon calls her “big break” came in 2010 when she was asked to appear on the political news television program, Countdown with Keith Olberman. An exciting career milestone turned into a shocking lessen in internet trolls when she was confronted by hateful comments left online underneath the clip of her on the show. Maysoon says she never experienced bullying about her disability until entering the public eye on television. The experience inspired her to advocate for people with disabilities and champion better representation in entertainment.

Not only did she go on to become a regular contributor on Countdown with Keith Olberman, but her many successes since include a TedTalk with almost 11 million views and the founding of a charity called Maysoon’s Kids, which provided resources, programs and scholarships to orphaned and disabled children in Palestine.

To those who come to her for advice, she tells them this: “Don’t let your physical body or the treatment of others define you. Only you get to define you. Create the person you want to be and be that person.”

At Pacific Medical Law, we are committed to helping children living with cerebral palsy reach their full potential. We are here to help. Call us for a free consultation – we can provide information about community resources and supports as well as legal advice regarding your child’s rights for financial compensation.