The last time the American Academy of Neurology issued guidelines for dementia patients and driving privileges, it recommended that patients with Alzheimer’s disease and their families be told that such patients are at a high risk of accidents and driving errors. In fact, the earlier guidelines went so far as to prohibit driving even for patients with mild dementia.

The new guidelines however, would allow patients with a low dementia scale score, those whose parents and caregivers had a high opinion of their driving abilities, and those who have few accidents and citations on their record, to be able to drive. The report cites several studies to support these guidelines. For instance, according to the report, more than 76 percent of elderly drivers with dementia are able to pass driving tests.

It’s much harder to quantify the degree of dementia in a person than it is to quantify, say, BAC levels.  There is no minimum level of dementia, and even dementia scores may not tell you the entire picture. This is why the Academy is revising its guidelines. However, not everybody is in concurrence with the American Academy of Neurology. The American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry recommends that driving privileges be immediately stopped once a patient is diagnosed with dementia, even in a mild form.

Ultimately however, Houston car accident lawyers and doctors agree on one thing – families and caregivers are the best judge of a dementia patient’s driving abilities. This is also why the Academy gives so much importance to the opinion of the family or caregiver about the patient’s driving abilities. If you’re concerned about your loved one continuing to drive even with a diagnosis of dementia, ask yourself this – do you feel safe as a passenger when he or she is driving? If you hesitate to answer, your choice is clear. The time has come to take away the car keys.

The accident occurred when two Houston mothers were driving with their families.  According to news reports, the driver, Tiffany Bowman, failed to yield to oncoming traffic leading to her Dodge Caravan being struck by a pickup truck. Bowman’s passengers included Priscilla Gonzalez and her four children, as well as Bowman’s one-year-old daughter. Three of Gonzalez’s children aged 5, 8 and 9 years were killed instantly. Her  six-year-old daughter and Bowman’s daughter sustained injuries, and were rushed to the hospital where they still remain in a critical condition.

According to police officers responding to the scene, Bowman’s daughter and Gonzalez were the only two occupants of the vehicle wearing seatbelts.

This is one of those times when we don’t react as Houston car accident lawyers, but as parents ourselves. This is such a horrific tragedy on so many levels. Our hearts go out to the family of Priscilla Gonzalez who has lost three of her children, and is anxiously awaiting the recovery of  her other child. With three innocent lives lost here, we wonder why the children were not restrained in the car.

However, this tragedy serves as a reminder about the importance of restraining children properly in vehicles. It’s impossible to know right now if these children could have been saved if they were wearing seatbelts, or had been properly restrained in child booster seats. However, it’s a fact that restraining your child either in a child safety seat, booster seat or seatbelts depending on his age, greatly lowers the risk of being ejected during a rollover, or being flung about inside the interior of the car.

As a reminder, the Texas legislature changed the child restraint laws as of September 1, 2009 requiring that children under the age of 8 or up to 4′9 must be in a carseat or booster seat.  However, everyone in the vehicle should be in a seatbelt.

If you or a loved one has been involved in an auto accident, contact the Husband and Wife Legal Team at The Kahn Law Firm today for a free case evaluation at 713-226-9900.

Nicole King was traveling with her mother, her 12-year-old brother, and her 11-year-old sister  in a Toyota Camry which was struck by a drunk driver.  According to police officers at the scene, Jeffrey Thomas, the 23-year-old driver and Lubbock-resident, drove his pickup into the outside lane, striking the Camry, and sending it  spinning into a ditch.  Nicole King died at the scene, while her siblings had to be airlifted to Angleton Danbury Medical Center.

The two children have been hospitalized, but are still in a critical condition.  The boy is expected to undergo a plastic surgery procedure soon, while the girl has already undergone jaw surgery.

Our hearts go out to the King family. They have already suffered such a terrible loss, and still have to deal with two severely injured kids. It’s just one more example of how reckless drivers can destroy a family in a matter of seconds.

Drunk driving is an epidemic in Texas, no doubt about it. This month, Reader’s Digest magazine published the results of a survey of some of the deadliest roads in the country. Those results were further drilled down on the basis of deadliest roads for driving under the influence and speeding. Texas ranks at number eight on the list of deadliest roads for DUI. We are behind states like North Dakota that have some of the most lenient DUI laws in the country. Even Mississippi with its notoriously bad roads is considered safer in terms of DUI risks than Texas highways. Those are sobering facts for any Houston injury lawyer.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a car, truck or motorcycle accident, contact the Husband & Wife Legal Team today at 713-226-9900 or toll free 1-877-226-9940.

The Origins of a Saint

To go back to the very beginning of his life however, St. Patrick was born in Britain to a wealthy family. His family wasn’t particularly religious, although his father was a church deacon. It’s highly likely that the deaconship came because of tax incentives offered, rather than from any spiritual bent of mind.

When Patrick was 16 years old, a group of Irish raiders attacked his family’s estate, and took Patrick captive. He spent six years as a prisoner, most likely in County Mayo. After six years, Patrick received his first revelation, in which God spoke to him telling him to leave Ireland. He went to Britain, and soon after, received his second revelation, this time telling him to go back to Ireland and become a missionary. Once Patrick became a priest, he went back to Ireland to convert the local people to Christianity.

There were a few Christians living in Ireland at the time, although their practice of Christianity included plenty of traditional native beliefs and symbols. Rather than introducing a “pure” form of Christianity to them, St. Patrick used their native Celtic symbols and elements to bring them into the fold. In St. Patrick’s Christian tradition, Easter was celebrated around bonfires, and crosses had a sun superimposed on them to allow the natives to feel more comfortable about venerating the cross.

The Irish in Texas

The Irish were the first settlers in Texas during the Spanish occupation. Their roots in the state go deep. At least 4 Irishman are believed to have signed the Texas Declaration Of Independence, and 25 of them are believed to have signed the Goliad Declaration Of Independence. In 1850, there were just 1,400 Irishman in Texas. Today the number is more than 2 million.

Irish Symbols & Traditions

There are several well-known symbols and traditions associated with St. Patrick’s Day including the shamrock, leprechauns and a “traditional” meal of corned beef.

The shamrock was a sacred plant in old Ireland because it symbolized “rebirth” of springtime. By the 17th century, the Irish began seeing the shamrock as a sign of nationalism and Irish pride and began displaying it to show displeasure when the English began taking over their land and making rules against their language and Catholic religion.

The belief in leprechauns likely began due to the Celtic belief in fairies. In Celtic stories, and folklore, they were small, cranky people who were responsible for mending the shoes of the fairies. Although leprechauns did not originally have anything to do with St. Patrick’s Day, it has evolved in an American symbol of St. Patrick’s Day partially due to a 1959 Disney film, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, which portrayed the leprechaun as a cheerful, friendly and magical person.

Corned beef is now known as a “traditional” meal of the Irish; however, it only became associated with St. Patrick’s Day around the turn of the century. New York City’s Irish immigrants began to substitute corned beef for the more traditional Irish bacon to cut down on costs and learned this new alternative from their Jewish neighbors.

To these Texans of Irish descent who are celebrating this beloved holiday today, and the millions more non-Irishmen and women that love this day too, the personal injury lawyers at the Kahn Law Firm would like to wish a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

The accident occurred on early Sunday morning.  A mother and her four children had just spent the night at church at an all-night prayer session and were returning home. The children in the car were aged between 9 and 14. The car was traveling on Aldine Mail Route when the mother noticed a driver headed the wrong way and right towards them. She swerved hard to avoid hitting the pickup truck, but failed to avoid impact. The nine-year-old girl, who was sitting in the backseat, was killed. All the other occupants of the car had to be taken to the hospital for treatment of their injuries. The driver of the pickup truck, Anthony LeBlanc, 39, was found to be driving while intoxicated. He’s likely to have manslaughter charges filed against him.

Loss of a child is the most unimaginably dreadful thing that could happen to a family, and our hearts go out to the mother and siblings of the child here. They will remain in our prayers and thoughts.

As injury lawyers in Houston, it does not surprise us that the pickup truck driver was driving under the influence.  Wrong way driving is an underestimated cause of accidents in the country. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that every year more than 300 people are killed in wrong way driving crashes. Most of these accidents involve a driver who is impaired. Driving drunk can affect your powers of judgment and increase the possibility of making errors while driving.

This accident reminds us of last year’s deadly wrong way driving crash in New York that killed eight people. That crash involved a female motorist driving under the influence of alcohol and crashing her car head on into another vehicle. The devastating head-on crash that resulted, killed eight people including the female driver, her daughter and three other children in her car.

If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident or injury, contact the Husband & Wife Legal Team at The Kahn Law Firm today.

Call 713-226-9900 or toll free 1-877-226-9940 or fill out our “Get Help Now” form to schedule a meeting with a caring and experienced personal injury lawyer at our offices in downtown Houston. The case evaluation is free and we will not charge you attorneys fees on injury cases unless we secure a verdict or settlement for you.

Pamela Bryan was driving a Ford F-150 with her granddaughter Cloey Bryan as a passenger when a dark colored vehicle brushed up against the side of the Bryan’s truck causing it to careen off the road and roll several times, according to a witness.  Both were unconscious at the scene.  Cloey was pronounced dead at the scene and Pamela was taken to Ben Taub Hospital where she was later died.  Both were reportedly wearing their seatbelts.

Cloey, a 7th grader at Needville Junior High, had been visiting her aunt and uncle in Seabrook and wanted to go spend the night with her “Nanny,” so Pamela went to pick her up.  The two were heading towards Fairmont Parkway on Red Bluff when the dark car struck their vehicle causing the wreck.  Casey Bush, a witness to the accident and also a Bacliff firefighter, stopped when he saw the accident and immediately called 911.  He said the driver who caused the accident drove a little ways past the accident (near the Pasadena Fair Grounds) and got out of his or her car to view the wrecked truck.  He or she then got back in the vehicle and drove off.

The family wants answers and they believe that only the driver who caused this accident can provide those answers.  it is unknown why the dark car caused this accident or whether alcohol was involved.  Police continue to investigate this fatal accident but need the public’s assistance.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest in this accident.  If you have any information about the accident, please call 713-222-TIPS (8477).   Also, keep an eye out for a dark vehicle with front left fender or side damage.

Our deepest condolences go out to this family in their time of grief and sorrow and they will be in our prayers.  If you have been involved in a serious accident, contact the Christian lawyers at The Kahn Law Firm today.