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The doctor is correct. Many people who have been involved in vehicle accidents do experience head trauma. They may lose consciousness right away or seem fine only to develop symptoms later. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are often complex injuries.
Many people do not realize that a hit to the head, whether mild or not, has the potential to result in long-term health issues. The more severe the head trauma, the more serious the disabilities that may accompany it.
It would be a good idea to speak to an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney and find out what your mom’s legal rights are, how TBI may affect your her, what she may expect as she recovers and what you may expect to receive in compensation in a settlement or as the result of a jury verdict.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is divided into two categories, mild and severe. A brain injury can be classified as mild if confusion, disorientation and/or loss of consciousness are less than 30 minutes. An individual with mild TBI will have cognitive problems like headaches, memory loss, mood swings, etc. Severe brain injuries are associated with loss of consciousness of more than 30 minutes and memory loss. A person with severe TBI will experience severe impairment to their health. Many will experience physical, emotional, and cognitive loss and some will remain in comatose states.
A skull fracture is a serious injury and likely resulted in your friend losing consciousness instantly. Such an injury carries with it the likelihood of severe brain damage. It is important that your friend obtains medical help and undergoes tests to determine the severity of his TBI. The effects of TBI can be profound and long-term rehabilitation may be necessary.
Can your friend sue the team, coaches and perhaps the educational institution for not fully explaining the risks playing football? It is likely that he can, but he would need to speak to an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney to find out what his options are and whether he may have a case.
Your doctor is referring to issues attributed to specific aspects of a brain injury. An example would be the impairment or loss of control over judgment and normal inhibitions. Patients may struggle with perception problems or frequent frustration. They may be unable to control their impulses, get angry without provocation or act in socially inappropriate ways. Sometimes medications assist patients in regaining control of their behavior.
An acquired brain injury usually occurs after birth, and is not considered to be degenerative, congenital or hereditary. The impairments may be permanent or temporary and may cause partial disability, psychosocial maladjustment or functional disability.
The most common causes of acquired brain injuries may include but are not limited to:
An injury to the brain stem usually affects motor control, mobility and other central functions that the body carries out on a daily basis. The brain stem is in control of a number of physiologic systems. If damaged, a patient may have difficulties with walking, standing up, sitting down, writing, lifting and other basic activities. Many patients face a lifetime of rehabilitation to help them cope and regain function.
There is no single test used when physicians attempt to diagnose TBI and TBI does not always show up on a CT scan or an MRI. That is why there are a number of other tests done to help diagnose TBI.
Below is a list containing a number of tests that can be used in a diagnosis of TBI:
Traumatic brain injuries do tend to be relatively common in vehicle accidents, but they may also be sustained while playing sports, the result of a slip and fall, fighting or other situations where an individual hits their head. Almost 80,000 people struggle with the onset of long-term disability annually as the result of a severe brain injury.
Each year close to $30 billion is spent treating, caring for and rehabilitating traumatic brain injury victims.
In most traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases, treatment is long-term and likely permanent, although it varies with the severity of the injury. Most TBI patients attempting to recover and regain a mostly normal life are offered various assistive technologies that allow more mobility and improve comprehension skills.
A recovering TBI patient may be offered therapy, medications, counseling, speech therapy and physiotherapy. In order for the patient to fund these therapies, fair and equitable compensation from the courts is essential. The ultimate goal for rehabilitation from a TBI is the best recovery possible and independent living.
The answer to that question depends on the relative severity of the injury, what parts of the brain were affected by the trauma and the patient’s willingness to work at recovery. There is a spontaneous recovery period, which may take months or years, just after the injury. During this period, the brain tries to repair damaged neurons. Rehabilitation does help the brain to retrain other neurons and create new working pathways. Often, physical skills and other functional skills must also be relearned.
Plaintiffs suffering from traumatic brain injury need the assistance of an experienced personal injury lawyer to enable them to recover fair and equitable compensation for their injuries. Often, traumatic brain injury is a life-altering event.
Recovering from a concussion depends in large part on the severity of the injury, and for each person, the recovery period is different. Furthermore, there are different levels of severity of concussions. For example, mild traumatic brain injuries are often difficult to diagnose because it is common for CT scans/MRIs to come back normal. However, this in no way means you did not sustain a head injury. Moreover, regardless of the severity of a concussion, some symptoms may not always be immediately present. Many symptoms may show up days after the injury occurred.
The treatment of your concussion will be affected by the severity of the injury. Therefore, the more severe your head injury, the longer the recovery process will take. The severity of your injury will determine the financial compensation available to you in court. So, if the prognosis for your recovery is optimistic, it may lower the financial compensation awarded. Guessing how a concussion affects someone and how they are going to recover is difficult. Even an experienced attorney can only estimate possible compensation based on the facts of the case and the medical diagnosis.