Traumatic Brain Injury

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is any blow or wound to the head severe enough to produce a change in consciousness. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million people sustain TBIs every year. The vast majority of these incidents involve so-called “mild” concussions that are treated in emergency rooms. But approximately 285,000 people every year suffer injuries severe enough to land them in the hospital and 50,000 of those will die. Among the survivors, 85,000 will suffer from long-term disabilities that will devastate them emotionally, draining their own and their families’ financial resources. These disabilities may include:

• Paralysis
• Loss of involuntary motor functions
• Memory loss
• Aphasia
• Sensory deficits affecting sight, hearing and proprioception
• Cognitive deficits affecting thinking and reasoning abilities
• Emotional consequences including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder

How do traumatic brain injuries happen? The three major causes are accidents involving motor vehicles, firearms and falls. But accidents rarely “just happen:” when an accident is investigated thoroughly it is often the case it occurred through somebody’s careless, negligent or outright reckless behavior. If a TMI occurs as the result of a motor vehicle accident that was caused by somebody’s negligence, the victim may be entitled to compensation for current and future medical costs, loss of future earnings, and pain and suffering.

An additional cause of traumatic brain injuries associated is sports-related injuries. Their numbers are increasing dramatically every year. TMIs are especially prevalent in high school and college settings where coaches routinely underestimate the significance of concussions.

Often, too, a traumatic brain injury can be exacerbated by the medical treatment a victim received – or didn’t receive. Many doctors will tell you that if a TBI does not result in a documented loss of consciousness and if the imaging studies performed during the acute stage come back negative, that a concussion will not result in permanent damage. Increasingly researchers are discovering, however, that this is not always the case. Many neurobiologists now believe that a concussion is a mild form of diffuse axonal injury with the potential to disrupt a significant amount of brain activity. People who suffer from what physicians dismiss as a mild concussion are frequently discharged from the emergency room in a few short hours. But many TMIs don’t become fully symptomatic until 24 hours after the initial brain injury. If it can be determined that the severity of a TMI is related to improper or incomplete medical care, victims and their families may also be entitled to compensation.

Of course this information is presented as food for thought, not legal advice. If a loved one is dealing with the devastating effects of a traumatic brain injury, you would be well advised to discuss his or her situation with a personal injury attorney with experience in traumatic brain injury redress.

Contact a personal injury and medical malpractice attorney