While the headlines seem to be full of stories about professional football players and traumatic brain injury (TBI), playing sports is not the most common way a person might suffer a traumatic brain injury. Being injured in a car crash or falling are the two most common ways in which Americans suffer TBI. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 2.5 million Americans suffered from a traumatic brain injury, with 14% caused by traffic accidents and 40% as the result of a fall.
The severity of a TBI can range from mild to severe. When a person sustains a brain injury in a car crash where the vehicles were traveling at high speed when they collided, the delicate structures of the brain, which is essentially floating inside of the protective skull, can collide back and forth between the inside front and back of the skull. With severe brain injury, there is often loss of consciousness which can range from just a few seconds or a day or more if the accident victim ends up in a coma.
What is the life impact of a traumatic brain injury?
After suffering a traumatic brain injury in a car crash, there is no such thing as a typical long-term effect from the injury as all injuries are different. There are some symptoms and lasting effects that tend to be common among TBI victims, and the Ohio Valley Center for Brain Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation at Ohio University (OVC) lists the following:
- Seizures
- Cognitive deficits
- Depression
- Aggression
- Unemployment or social isolation
- Premature death
- Decline in cognitive function
- Progressive dementia
- Parkinsonism
- Endocrine dysfunction, hypopituitarism
According to OVC, TBI is a chronic health condition that has a long-term, deleterious effect on overall health for some individuals. The type and severity of the effects of TBI may be proportional to the severity of the injury.
Life care planning after a traumatic brain injury
When an individual has suffered a catastrophic injury such as a traumatic brain injury, the injury will cause lasting damage that will impact the quality of their life. As part of a lawsuit to recover financial compensation for their injuries, the injured person would have to present a comprehensive calculation for how much it will cost to cover the ongoing medical care and all the other costs associated with caring for someone with a permanent brain injury.
The injured person would work catastrophic injury attorney to develop a plan that would take into consideration their care at home or health care facility, what kinds of medical equipment they might require, medications and vocational issues such as their functional capacity.
At Crandall & Pera Law, our TBI attorneys represent your interest when you have been hurt and have permanent injuries because of someone else’s negligence. If you would like compassionate, yet aggressive representation, you are welcome to call our Kentucky lawyers at 877-686-8879, our Ohio team at 877-686-8879, or use our contact form to make an appointment now.