Opinion ID: 1708200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: injuries from accident

Text: Kudlacek sustained several injuries, the most serious of which was a brain injury which left him permanently and totally disabled. Plaintiffs offered the testimony of several medical, as well as automotive, experts to support their claims. Plaintiffs introduced testimony of two doctors who treated Kudlacek on the night of the accident: Dr. Leslie Hellbusch, a neurosurgeon, and Dr. James R. Adwers, who performed abdominal surgery. On the night of the accident, Dr. Hellbusch diagnosed Kudlacek as suffering from several conditions, including a possible cerebral hypoxic injury, an injury to the brain caused by lack of oxygen or lack of blood to carry oxygen to the brain; cervical spine fractures of the middle portion of the back of his neck; pneumomediastinum, air in the chest; right pneumothorax, wherein air leaks outside the lung because of a punctured lung; a possible left-arm fracture and a right-leg fracture; cuts and scrapes; and an intra-abdominal injury. A basilar skull fracture, which is a crack or fracture in the bone surrounding the brain; a possible cerebral contusion; and a fractured jaw were discovered the following day by Dr. Hellbusch. On the night of the accident, Dr. Adwers performed emergency abdominal surgery on Kudlacek to determine the source of Kudlacek's bleeding and to control it. During this surgery, Dr. Adwers found approximately 1,500 cubic centimeters of blood in Kudlacek's abdomen, which is approximately three times the amount of blood normally given when a person is donating blood. According to Dr. Adwers, several sources for the bleeding were identified, but the two major sources of the bleeding were a laceration in the dome of the liver and a torn spleen. Dr. Adwers removed the spleen, and the liver injury resolved itself by forming a major blood clot. Dr. F. Cleveland Trimble testified that the approximately 18-inch intrusion of the automobile's passenger door into Kudlacek's side of the vehicle was a substantial contributing cause of Kudlacek's brain injury because it resulted in a deficient blood flow and a lack of oxygen that went to Kudlacek's brain.