If you or someone you love has been involved in a car accident, it is possible that their life is changed by a traumatic brain injury (TBI). What are the signs, symptoms, causes and cures for TBI? With over 20 years in personal injury law, Simon Law Group understands the impact of Traumatic Brain Injuries and the accidents that can cause them. Here’s what you need to know.What Causes a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A brain injury is any damage, traumatic or non-traumatic, caused to the brain that affects someone emotionally, behaviorally, and/or physically. Brain injuries are classified as non-traumatic or traumatic depending on the cause. A non-traumatic brain injury may be caused by illness or a tumor perhaps, but a traumatic brain injury is caused by an accident.
The top three causes of TBI are motor vehicle accidents, slips and falls, and gunshot wounds. Other causes include violent attacks and bomb blasts. Many active duty military experience TBI caused from gunshot wounds received on the battlefields and shrapnel from bomb blasts.
There are three types of TBI:
- Closed Head Injury– Most common when a TBI is caused by falls or car accidents.
- Open Head Injury– Most common in gunshot victims and active duty military
- Deceleration Injuries– Most common when the head is slammed around in an unnatural way causing the brain to bounce around in the skull.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of TBI?
TBI is actually a common injury that is overlooked often when medical teams are working to save an individual’s life. They may be focused on more noticeable injuries and not be aware that there is a traumatic brain injury present. This is most common with closed head TBI’s. Sometimes symptoms may not appear for days or even longer.
If the TBI is mild, an MRI or CAT scan could appear normal, but the victim will have cognitive issues, and/or changes in mood or emotional state. These “mild” TBI’s are often overlooked for long periods of time, very often never being properly diagnosed.
A severe TBI is when an individual loses consciousness for at least 30 minutes. Both short and long term effects will be witnessed and varied, but can include: impaired cognitive functions to completely comatose states; physical disabilities such as limited function in their extremities or abnormal speech; loss of memory; mood swings; emotional problems.
An open head TBI is when there is actual penetration of the skull. This type of traumatic brain injury is most often associated with gunshot wounds. Injuries caused by firearms are very often fatal, with 9 out of 10 victims of these types of wounds dying from their injuries.
How Do You Cure Traumatic Brain Injury?
Although the effects of TBI vary greatly, traumatic brain injury is always devastating to the person injured as well as their family. In a single moment a person’s life is forever changed. Our brain is what defines us, so unlike a broken arm or pierced lung, it does not limit a specific part of the body, but instead one’s entire being.
A broken bone can be healed, generally one will regain normal use of the damaged body part… the mental abilities remain. A brain that has experienced a traumatic injury usually does not regain normal function ever again.
Even in “mild” cases of TBI, a person is forever changed and the effects on them and their loved ones are far from mild. In more severe cases, the range and degree of function and recovery is as varied as the individual. There is no cure for TBI, so one must do their best to prevent the occurrence of a traumatic brain injury, and be sure to plan a recovery plan that will span a lifetime.
If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident and were injured, you may be awarded compensation for your loss to cover medical expenses, living expenses, pain and suffering and more. Contact Simon Law Group for a free consultation if you are an Arizona resident who has been injured as is suffering with a Traumatic Brain Injury due to an accident. Remember, Experience Matters!
