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MEDICAL ANIMATION TRANSCRIPT: Your heart is an extraordinary machine. During your lifetime, your hearts muscular walls pump blood into blood vessels branching throughout your body. Your heart has four chambers. Two upper chambers, called the left and right atria, and two lower chambers, called the left and right ventricles, contract in a steady rhythm known as your heartbeat. During a normal heartbeat, blood from your tissues and lungs flows into your atria, then into your ventricles. Walls inside your heart, called the interatrial and interventricular septa, help keep the blood on left and right sides from mixing. Two valves sit like doors between your atria and ventricles to prevent blood from flowing backward into your atria. The tricuspid valve opens into your right ventricle, and the bicuspid valve, also known as the mitral valve, opens into your left ventricle. Strong, thin tissues called chordae tendinae hold your valves in place during the forceful contractions of your ventricles. Blood leaving the ventricles passes through another set of valves: the pulmonary valve, between your right ventricle and pulmonary trunk, and the aortic valve, connecting your left ventricle and aorta. In order to pump blood more efficiently, your heart muscle, called myocardium, is arranged in a unique pattern. Three layers of myocardium wrap around the lower part of your heart. They twist and tighten in different directions to push blood through your heart. When special cells, called pacemaker cells, generate electrical signals inside your heart, the heart muscle cells, called myocytes, contract as a group. Your heart is divided into left and right halves, which work together like a dual pump. On the right side of your heart, deoxygenated blood from your bodys tissues flows through large veins, called the superior and inferior vena cava, into your right atrium. Next, the blood moves into your right ventricle, which contracts and sends blood out of your heart to your lungs to gather oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide. On the left side of your heart, oxygen-rich blood from your lungs flows through your pulmonary veins into your left atrium. The blood then moves into your left ventricle, which contracts and sends blood out of your heart through the aorta to feed your cells and tissues. The first branches off your aorta are the coronary arteries, which supply your heart muscle with oxygen and nutrients. At the top of your aorta, arteries branch off to carry blood to your head and arms. Arteries branching from the middle and lower parts of your aorta supply blood to the rest of your body. Your heart beats an average of sixty to one hundred beats per minute. In that one minute, your heart pumps about five quarts of blood through your arteries, delivering a steady stream of oxygen and nutrients all over your body.
"Thank you for the splendid medical-legal art work you did for us in the
case of a young girl who was blinded by a bb pellet. As a result of your
graphic illustrations of this tragic injury, we were able to persuade the
insurance company to increase their initial offer of $75,000.00 to
$475,000.00, just short of their policy limits.
We simply wanted you to know how pleased we were with your work which, to
repeat, was of superlative character, and to let you know that we would be
more than willing to serve as a reference in case you ever need one. Many
thanks for an extraordinary and dramatic depiction of a very serious injury
which clearly "catapulted" the insurance company's offer to a "full and
fair" amount to settle this case."
Philip C. Coulter Coulter &Coulter Roanoke, VA
"For us, the defining feature of effective demonstrative evidence is
whether, by itself, the piece will tell the story of the case. Medical legal
Art provides our firm with illustrations and animations that are clear and
persuasive. Their exhibits tell the story in a way that allows the jury to
understand a very complex subject, very quickly."
James D. Horwitz Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, P.C. Bridgeport, CT
"Medical illustrations are essential during trial for any medical malpractice case. The people at MLA have the uncanny ability of creating medical illustrations that simplify the most complex of medical concepts and human anatomy to a lay audience. The exhibits of MLA allow experts to easily describe complex concepts and human anatomy in a manner that could
not be done otherwise.
In addition, their custom illustrations show in great detail the extent of
injuries suffered and the devastating effects they have had on the client's
anatomy. These custom illustration can show, side by side, the body before
and after a catastrophic injury. The effect of this juxtaposition is
unmatched by any testimony that can be adduced at the time of trial.
Even jurors after trial have commented on the ease with which they grasp
medical concepts and anatomy once the MLA exhibits were introduced and
used by my experts. Even judges who have "seen it all" are thoroughly
impressed by the detail and sophistication of the illustrations.
"It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Medical Legal Art. We have
used their services for three years and always found their professionalism,
quality of work, and timely attention to detail to exceed our expectations.
We recently settled two complicated catastrophic injury cases. One medical
malpractice case involving a spinal abscess settled for 3.75 million and the
other involving injuries related to a motor vehicle accident settled for 6.9
million. We consider the artwork provided by MLA to have been invaluable in
helping us to successfully conclude these cases.
I highly recommend MLA to anyone seeking high quality, detailed medical
legal artwork."
E. Marcus Davis, Esq.
Davis Zipperman, Krischenbaum & Lotito
Atlanta, GA www.emarcusdavis.com
Medical Legal Art creates medical demonstrative evidence (medical
illustrations, drawings, pictures, graphics, charts, medical animations,
anatomical models, and interactive presentations) for use during legal
proceedings, including research, demand letters, client conferences,
depositions, arbitrations, mediations, settlement conferences, mock jury
trials and for use in the courtroom. We do not provide legal or medical
advice. If you have legal questions, you should find a lawyer with whom you
can discuss your case issues. If you have medical questions, you should seek the advice of a healthcare provider.