The Root Causes: Exploring the Origins of Cerebral Palsy and Erb’s Palsy
Cerebral palsy and Erb’s palsy are two types of birth injuries that can have a significant impact on a child’s life. If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy or Erb’s palsy, it is important to understand the causes, symptoms, and treatment options available. Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that affects muscle control […]
Walls and Windows
Dense, crowded with facts and rules, appellate decisions at times have hidden meanings. What those meanings imply––well, that’s the task of interpretation. At face value a sentence or paragraph may seem relatively simple. But what lurks beyond? “For all the great texts have esoteric significance, he believed and taught…” writes Saul Bellow in Ravelstein. Ascertaining […]
Jury Selection and the Conjunction Fallacy
Once information is gathered, can it be correctly interpreted? We obtain fragments of the truth, but can we be sure we understand its significance? Our initial reaction is to rely on “common sense.” But too often our first take on things can be inaccurate. We assume facts are supportive when in fact they may be […]
Mind-blindness and the Empathetic Response
Tapping into the empathy of others can at times seem elusive. We’ve all seen instances where one would expect empathy to arise spontaneously––for example, in response to another’s injury––but just the opposite occurs. Instead of empathy there’s a distinct closing off of emotion, a hardening and desensitization. Why? What is it that shuts down the […]
A New Surgical Option for Children with Erb’s Palsy?
In the past, children with Erb’s Palsy were typically offered three surgical options: nerve grafting, external neurolysis, and nerve transfers. There were, and are, other procedures available, but these are three of the most commonly performed. Nerve grafting. Nerve grafting involves harvesting a nerve from one part of the body and grafting it onto the […]
Empowering Rules
Institutions, such as hospitals or large corporations, publish rules to be followed by their staff. One reason such standards exist is to promote some degree of certainty and uniformity. Also, these rules are meant to conform behavior to a more optimal level which, were it not for the rule, might not be routinely practiced. All […]
Invisible Facts
Matter, we are told, has three primary states—solid, liquid, and gas. Today of course scientists recognize many more states of matter, including plasma as well as the more recently discovered states of matter such as superfluid, quantum spin liquid, string-net liquid, and many others. However, the basic framework into which the facts of a contested […]
First Principles: Free Speech
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”—so reads the First Amendment of the Constitution. Free speech is […]
