The individualized functions of each person’s brain, along with the organ’s inherent ability to disguise injury to itself, makes head injuries among the most difficult wounds to diagnose among injured contractors. According to Dr. Heechin Chae, director of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) satellite office at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a broken ankle is a broken ankle. That injury …

If you are considering a job as an overseas contractor, whether as a brief change of pace or as a permanent career path, there are hundreds of positions and dozens of locales to choose from. If you are injured while working as an overseas contractor, there is usually only one way to obtain cash benefits, and that is through the …

Community Involvement The First Quarter of 2016 has been a busy time for the attorneys and staff at Barnett, Lerner, Karsen & Frankel, P.A.!  The firm is very interested in giving back to the community and supporting local charities and events.  In January 2016 the firm participated in the Miami Design Preservation League’s annual Art Deco Weekend in South Beach, …

Researchers now postulate that brain injury victims reap enormous benefits from lengthy rehabilitative therapy, a finding that flies in the face of conventional wisdom on the subject. Doctors at the University of California at San Diego compared different groups of rats with cortical injuries: one group received extensive therapy, while the other one received the traditional amount of therapy, which …

Officials are remaining mum about the capture of a top Islamic State of Iraq and Syria leader during a special operations raid in Iraq; the Pentagon refused to release the leader’s name, the precise location of the raid, and his prior leadership role in the militant group. Top brass fear that the release of information would jeopardize a stepped-up effort …

Some private civilian employees in Afghanistan, Iraq, and certain other MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries will see larger paychecks in the coming months. Overseas workers who are in-country responding to a national emergency or supporting an existing military operation for any 42 consecutive days can earn up to $237,000 per year through the end of 2016, under a …

The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons approved new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, a condition that causes extreme pain for millions of workers. Contractors in Iraq, especially women, are highly at-risk for developing CTS. Previously, many doctors primarily relied on MRI images to diagnose CTS. Others used thenar atrophy, which is reduced muscle mass around …

American contractors who carry guns and operate armored vehicles are now returning to Iraq in large numbers to support Operation Inherent Resolve. Many American contractors who carry s and operate construction vehicles never left this country in the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) region in the first place. Ongoing construction projects in the war-torn country currently total over $358 billion, making …

The law firm of Barnett, Lerner, Karsen & Frankel, P.A. has a time-honored dedication to the local community, and the attorneys take this responsibility seriously. They believe this commitment to civic activities are both a privilege and an obligation, and consequently, the partners avidly serve in various outreach efforts, and they encourage their staff to do so as well. Giving …

Thousands of returning veterans struggle with respiratory problems, especially those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and doctors increasingly believe that burn pits may be the culprit. Just as researchers began to understand the issue, Congress abruptly cut off the funding in this area. For a number of years, burn pits were common not only in Afghanistan and Iraq, but …

Researchers theorize that the “flashbacks” commonly associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder occur at an accelerated rate inside a victim’s brain, thus trapping the person in a near-continual loop that graphically re-presents the traumatic event. Canadian doctors used magnetoencephalography (MEP) to compare the brain activity in four groups – traumatized soldiers, non-traumatized soldiers, brain-injured civilians, and healthy civilians – when …

A Brief Defense Base Act Benefits Summary As we look forward to another year, we wanted to provide our clients a quick summary of the Defense Base Act and the benefits available under the Act if they are injured.  Like many of our other newsletters, we use examples in this summary that are only meant to show how claims and …