Is Common Sense
Non-Sense? by Dr. Brian Lerman
Dr. Brian Lerman, (Dr. Stein & Dr. Lerman, P.A.) is a chiropractor in Owings Mills, MD and a qualified expert in Human Occupant Dynamics. He teaches “The Biomechanical Reality of Low Speed Crashes” to first responders, including police officers and paramedics. He is certified in Whiplash Traumatology, has participated in three full scale research crash test projects involving live human subject volunteers and has consulted for numerous insurance companies on the peer review process. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and maintains a private practice.
If you have ever litigated a low prop-
erty damage crash case, more than likely you have encountered the defense argu- ment that bodily injury must have been minimal or absent. This erroneous posi- tion has no foundation and makes about as much sense as paying the survivor ben- efit to the occupant of a vehicle just because his car was totaled. Lay people, without knowledge of hu- man crash dynamics, attempt to equate vehicle property damage with the likeli- hood or even severity of personal injury as though bumper damage was some sort of bodily injury index. Common sense is based on common experience. People know that if a chair is tipped backwards far enough, it will fall over. On the other hand, judging the speed, force and injury potential of a collision based on photo- graphs of vehicle damage is not part of common experience. Experts in Human Occupant Dynamics, which instructs in both physics and medicine; however, are trained to evaluate many of the fac- tors that must be considered in assessing personal injury. They know that consid- eration must be made for an infinite number of human variables, and that people cannot be rigidly categorized or systemized into charts, graphs or algo- rithms for the purpose of establishing prognosis and treatment. The job of an expert in Human Occupant Dynamics is to assess each person individually and to consider the following factors in their evaluation process:
Gender Females are twice as likely to be in-
jured as males. In general, females have weaker muscles, slower reflexes, a thin- ner column of bones and a relatively longer neck supporting the 10-12 pound head. Height There is a greater risk for the taller occupant as his head is further from the center of gravity. Age
With advancing age, connective tis- sues become more inelastic and are more easily torn.
Fall 2003 Trial Reporter 15
Pain Threshold People experience different levels of pain based on their genetically encoded quantum of opiate receptors. History of a Previous Crash If a person has been in a previous crash, they may be more vulnerable to trauma as a result of the first crash. Abnormal Physiological Movement of the Vertebrae Normally, when the head moves
forward and backwards, all of the ver- tebrae participate equally and safely in
the movement. With cervical accel- eration/deceleration trauma, the injury occurs due to shear, an abnormal physiological movement where one bone slides over another. The injury producing mechanism occurs even be- fore the head touches the head restraint. Spinal Degeneration
The degenerated spine is biome- chanically stiffer, causes the deforming
(Continued on page 16) ECONOMIC STUDIES THE CENTER FOR FORENSIC
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