One of the most difficult injuries to discover and diagnose, and even more difficult to prove, is brain damage. Traumatic Brain injury (TBI) affects about 3.5 million Americans each year and kills over 52,000 victims annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Often referred to as the "hidden epidemic," it is also the main cause of disability and death for the elderly, young adults, and children.
Brain injury attorneys are frequently asked to explain the causes of traumatic brain injury and the long-term effects for clients in Arizona courtrooms and across the country. A traumatic brain injury, regardless of the type of accident that caused it, can have a significant impact on your life. The symptoms can last for months or even years, affecting everything from your ability to work to maintaining healthy relationships.
The following information covers all you need to know about traumatic brain injuries, your rights, and where to seek help if you or a family member has suffered brain damage due to injury.
The human brain weighs roughly three pounds and floats in fluid inside the skull due to its soft, jelly-like consistency. This sensitive organ, despite being enclosed in a hard, protective covering, is extremely vulnerable to harm.
When another object strikes the head and skull, the brain inside scrapes against the rough, hard inside surface of the skull. After impact, the force of the hit is conveyed to the brain, producing bruising, bleeding, and potentially nerve cell damage.
When the head collides with a fixed object, such as when a person falls and hits their head on the floor, the brain may be harmed.
The brain can be injured by the twisting or stretching of nerve cells and nerve fibers, in addition to direct trauma. Even without the brain touching or being struck by an object in a car accident, the violent and sudden movement or rotation of the head can cause injury to the nerve fibers.
Some of the most common causes of traumatic brain injuries include:
The brain serves as the control center for our whole neurological system. One of our brain lobes is in charge of everything we do, including talking, breathing, eating, walking, thinking, sleeping, and feeling emotions. Because each lobe (temporal, frontal, occipital, parietal) is responsible for various functions, the symptoms vary depending on which part of the brain was harmed. Memory loss and confusion are common side effects of several brain injuries. Others may wreak havoc on your motor skills. Each person is affected differently by a brain injury, and no two are alike.
Some of the most common types of brain injuries are as follows:
A skull fracture is caused by a strong impact and can result in serious injuries such as loss of smell and taste.
Focal contusions are the result of the brain sliding about inside the skull. This type of brain injury is the most likely to induce cognitive deficits and emotional control issues.
Brain bleeding/brain hemorrhage: This is frequently caused by trauma and can result in seizure activity and traumatic epilepsy.
Diffuse axonal damage (DAI) is caused by the rapid acceleration and deceleration of nerve fibers throughout the brain, stretching and tearing individual nerve cells.
Hypoxia and anoxia: A lack of oxygen can cause brain injury, also known as hypoxic ischemia or anoxia. It is frequently found in drownings and strokes, as well as in cardiac arrest and birth injuries when a baby is not delivered soon.
One common misperception regarding traumatic brain damage is that a person needs to be "knocked unconscious" to experience an injury. This is a fallacy. Brain injury can occur without an individual being declared unconscious. In fact, a person who has undergone brain damage may appear normal at the time of the accident to the untrained eye. The trauma's symptoms can be mild, and they may not surface for days, weeks, or even months after the event.
The human brain is complicated, and signs of damage can differ greatly from one individual to the next. Some symptoms may occur immediately, while others may take days or weeks to appear after the incident. The following are some general signs of a brain injury:
Traumatic brain injury is frequently misunderstood by both medical and legal professionals. A person can sustain a major, permanent, and disabling traumatic brain injury, even though:
They weren't "knocked out." A concussion does not require an individual to be rendered unconscious.
The victim was conversing and walking at the scene of the accident. Untrained onlookers can mistake a person who has suffered brain damage for “normal.”
The person’s injuries did not include broken bones, cuts, or serious physical damage. Even a low-speed or low-impact automobile accident can induce a traumatic brain injury.
They continue to work after the injury has occurred. In cases where people have been moved to a different position, promoted, or given more responsibilities, they may have a hard time adjusting.
An EEG, MRI, or CT scan all came out negative. The sensitivity of these tests is insufficient to detect imperceptible brain injury.
They've had a successful routine neurological examination. In reality, the cognitive abnormalities associated with traumatic brain damage are not revealed by this exam.
If you’ve been the victim of a personal injury or an accident where there’s a bodily injury claim, you need to seek the right legal representation to make sure that you file the right claim and get the compensation that you deserve. There's a big difference in liability depending on what happened and what type of insurance is in question. For example, a car insurance claim is going to be handled quite differently from a personal injury claim from a home insurance company after a dog bite.
Now that you understand more about personal injury, bodily injury, and how fault and liability are determined in the state of Arizona, you’ll be able to protect yourself and your family better. In addition to hiring a good lawyer to help with your injury claim, you’ll also want to find a reputable insurance agent that can assist you in getting all of the coverage that you need to protect you from anything that could possibly go wrong.