Posted by Trisha Haszel Kreibich on Thu, Aug 19, 2010 @ 08:48 AM
There may be no better measuring stick for an attorney than the opinions of their peers. The same is true for medical illustrators.
During the Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) Annual Conference, each year a judged illustration competition is held. One of the largest and most competitive categories is the Medical-Legal category. Unlike most art competitions, the illustrations are not judged primarily on aesthetics. Instead, the most important criteria are anatomical accuracy and how effective the visuals are in communicating a stated message to the jury.
At the recent 2010 Conference in Portland, Oregon, the illustrations in the medical-legal category were particularly strong, resulting in the presentation of two Awards of Excellence (the highest honor) and four Awards of Merit. Illustrators with MediVisuals of Richmond, Virginia and Dallas, Texas were honored with both the Awards of Excellence and three of the four Awards of Merit. The various award winning illustrations can be seen by clicking the following link: http://www.medivisuals.com/awards.aspx.
The Award of Excellence in Medical Legal Illustration is particularly significant because this Award has only been bestowed 23 times in the 75 year history of the AMI. With this year’s Awards, MediVisuals has now received 18 of the 23.
MediVisuals was also honored with an Award for a medical-legal animation entitled "Cascade Effect of Axonal Loss". The animation was developed for use in all "mild" TBI cases and helps explain how injury to even one axon can interfere with the ability of several neurons to communicate with each other. The animation can be viewed using the following link or clicking the image below: Cascade Effect of Single Axon Loss Animation
For more information on MediVisuals or to receive a complimentary consultation on an upcoming case, please visit www.medivisuals.com
By: Robert Shepherd, MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, Vice President and Director of Eastern Region Operations, MediVisuals Incorporated
© MediVisuals, Inc. - Permission to use any image (or parts thereof) posted on this blog in depositions, demand packages, settlement hearings, mediation, trial, and/or any other litigation or non-litigation use can be obtained by contacting MediVisuals at www.medivisuals.com – otherwise copyright laws prohibit their use for those or other purposes.
Posted by Trisha Haszel Kreibich on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 @ 08:05 AM
By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, Vice President and Director of Eastern Region Operations, MediVisuals Incorporated
The term “degenerated disc” is generally used to describe a disc in the early degenerative process. It is the beginning of a progressive break down of the disc. This condition can be initiated or accelerated
by a traumatic event.
A disc bulge is a more advanced collapse of the disc to the point that the disc expands beyond its normal contour. It may or may not impinge on the neural structures within the spinal canal or neural foramina. Similarly, a disc bulge can be the immediate or delayed result of a traumatic event, or a traumatic event may exacerbate a preexisting, stable disc bulge.
A subligamentous herniation is one in which nucleus pulposus has extended through the annulus fibrosus, but has not gone through the posterior longitudinal ligament.
The term “herniation” is generally used when the nucleus has completely extruded through the annulus fibrosus and posterior longitudinal ligament.
However, it does not matter what the disc pathology is labeled, if it impinges upon, or irritates the neural components, it is a significant injury that will likely require some type of invasive procedure to correct.
The disc can either be injured by an immediate tear of the annulus fibrosus and extrusion of the nucleus pulposus during a traumatic event, or they can be the result of a much more gradual process. In order to understand the gradual breakdown of the disc, one must first understand a little of the physiology of a disc. The inner disc relies on exchange of fluid, nutrients and oxygen through the end plate of the adjacent vertebral bodies.
During a traumatic event, the endplate may become injured resulting in interference with that exchange.
As a result of the inability of the disc to obtain the fluid, nutrients, and oxygen it needs, the disc gradually begins to break down - becoming a degenerated disc, followed by a bulging disc, and eventually to a herniated disc. The amount of time involved with the process of the disc breakdown is related to the severity of the initial disc injury.
Therefore, if a disc injury is not evident until weeks or months after a traumatic event, it does not mean the injury was not a direct result of the traumatic event.
© MediVisuals, Inc. - Permission to use any image (or parts thereof) posted on this blog in depositions, demand packages, settlement hearings, mediation, trial, and/or any other litigation or non-litigation use can be obtained by contacting MediVisuals at www.medivisuals.com – otherwise copyright laws prohibit their use for those or other purposes.
Posted by Trisha Haszel Kreibich on Tue, Dec 15, 2009 @ 01:53 PM
By: Robert Shepherd MS, Certified Medical Illustrator, Vice President and
Director of Eastern Region Operations, MediVisuals Incorporated
Fractures can result in several long term or permanent complications that can necessitate additional surgical procedures. One of the most common long term debilitating complications is traumatic arthritis. Traumatic arthritis can affect almost any moveable joint in the body. To explain traumatic arthritis more in depth, we will be focusing on the tibiotalar (ankle) joint, as shown in the illustration to the right.
| 
|
As like most moveable joints, the tibiotalar joint consists of smooth articular bone covered by thick, shock-absorbing articular cartilage.
During trauma, the joint surfaces can be driven together resulting in injuries to the cartilage and microfractures of the articular surface (even without obvious intrarticular fracture).
The bone and cartilage then undergo changes that result in the progressive breakdown of the joint. As the process advances, the joint becomes painful. In most cases, the only treatment options are joint replacement or fusion.
The acromioclavicular (AC) joint also frequently falls victim to traumatic arthritis. As the AC joint enlarges (hypertrophy) it impinges on the rotator cuff, which is referred to as subacromial impingement. This can cause irritation or tearing of the rotator cuff and is most often treated by AC joint resection and subacromial decompression.
ZSN7H32E27UR
© MediVisuals, Inc. - Permission to use any image (or parts thereof) posted on this blog in depositions, demand packages, settlement hearings, mediation, trial, and/or any other litigation or non-litigation use can be obtained by contacting MediVisuals at www.medivisuals.com – otherwise copyright laws prohibit their use for those or other purposes.
Posted by Trisha Haszel Kreibich on Fri, Sep 25, 2009 @ 10:03 AM
Just as all treating physicians and/or medical experts are not the
same, all medical illustrators are not the same. Attorneys typically go
to great lengths to ensure that testifying experts for their cases are
adequately credentialed, but many give little thought to applying the
same due diligence when selecting a medical illustrator. This can be a
big mistake because unlike many “professionals”, there is no basic
training, licensing, or certification process that is required for an
individual to call themselves a “medical illustrator”. Many less
skilled and/or less qualified “medical illustrators” market to
attorneys – perhaps because attorneys are less able to detect errors in
their work. For these reasons, it is the responsibility of the attorney
and/or medical expert to their clients to ensure they enlist the
services of a medical illustrator who is qualified to provide those
services.
Working with a qualified medical illustrator who has experience in
the medical-legal area can be a pleasant, enjoyable experience for the
testifying expert as these medical illustrators are able to read and
comprehend medical records, review imaging studies, and discuss
complicated anatomical and medical terms on a very similar level as the
expert. On the other hand, working with an un- or minimally qualified
and/or inexperienced medical illustrator can be a frustrating and time
consuming task that may require multiple revisions of drafts,
ineffective demonstrative aids, or even embarrassment during a hearing
because of the discovery of some error or inconsistency during
testimony.
It can be difficult to determine the qualifications of a medical
illustrator based upon looking at their artwork alone. A copy of a
résumé or curriculum vitae should be requested. One of the
most basic requirements that the résumé should show would include
graduation from one of the below medical illustration graduate
programs. There are several medical illustration programs in colleges
and various institutes in North America and across the globe; however,
only five are currently accredited by the American Medical Association,
and Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.
Those programs include:
Medical College of Georgia - Master of Science in Medical Illustration
University of Illinois at Chicago - Master of Science in Biomedical Visualization
Johns Hopkins University - Master of Arts in Medical and Biological Illustration
University of Texas, Southwestern – Master of Arts in Biomedical Communications
University of Toronto - Master of Science in Biomedical Communications
Other criteria that should be evident in a résumé or CV that would
help demonstrate at least minimal qualifications are 1) Certification
as a medical illustrator as issued by The Board of Certification of
Medical Illustrators and 2) Professional Membership in the Association
of Medical Illustrators. Both of these require that the individual
possess at least minimal medical illustration training and skill
levels. Also, just as there are different subspecialties in medicine
which require specific and advanced skills and knowledge,
specialization in “medical-legal” illustration requires additional
knowledge and experience in addition to those required for general
medical illustration. For that reason, it is also wise to select a
qualified medical illustrator who is not only familiar with
illustration and medicine, but also has a significant amount of
experience in creating illustrations for litigation purposes.
© MediVisuals, Inc. - Permission to use any image (or parts thereof) posted on this blog in depositions, demand packages, settlement hearings, mediation, trial, and/or any other litigation or non-litigation use can be obtained by contacting MediVisuals at www.medivisuals.com – otherwise copyright laws prohibit their use for those or other purposes.
Posted by Trisha Haszel Kreibich on Thu, Sep 24, 2009 @ 12:12 PM
A very effective way of increasing the effectiveness of expert
testimony is by enhancing focus, understanding, and recall by teaming
the testifying expert with a qualified medical illustrator, experienced
in preparing legal graphics (illustrations, animations, models, etc.).
By working together, the medical knowledge and oral skills of the
expert can be supported by expertly created medical graphics that
greatly clarify complicated anatomical, physiological, and medical
subtleties. Together they result in much more effective communication
with the decision makers than if verbal testimony or the graphics were
used alone (one mode of communication used alone without being
supported by the other). In addition, during a period of hours or days
of listening to arguments that are typically only verbal, decision
makers grasp the opportunity to focus on visuals in the form of
illustrations, photographs, models, and/or animations. In fact,
information is generally better processed if jury members and other
triers of fact can have information presented in a multimodal fashion
(i.e. combinations of simultaneous auditory, visual, and tactile
stimuli).
The effectiveness of visuals is supported throughout our society by
such common phrases as “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and
“Seeing is believing.” In addition, numerous manuscripts refer to
studies substantiating that recall is greatly increased when the verbal
message is supported by visual images. Typically these studies have
shown that after varying periods of time information that was delivered
by a combination of voice supported by visuals was recalled at a
significantly higher percentage than the same message delivered by
voice alone.
References
DeBoth, C. J., & Dominowski, R. L. Individual differences in learning: Visual versus
auditory presentation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1978; Aug 70 (4): 498-503
McCall, J., & Rae, G. Relative efficiency of visual, auditory and combined modes of
presentation in learning of paired-associates. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1974; June (38) : 955-958.
Multimodal Learning Through Media: What the Research Says. Cisco Web site. http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/Multimodal-Learning-Through-Media.pdf. Accessed August 19, 2008.
© MediVisuals, Inc. - Permission to use any image (or parts thereof) posted on this blog in depositions, demand packages, settlement hearings, mediation, trial, and/or any other litigation or non-litigation use can be obtained by contacting MediVisuals at www.medivisuals.com – otherwise copyright laws prohibit their use for those or other purposes.