San Diego Brain Injury Lawyer

Concussions

Everyone is most familiar with this type of injury, as they are the most common. Not only that, but we are just beginning to understand some of the long-term effects of serious head injuries, with headlines of athletes dying from CTE grabbing headlines.

Concussions can come from open or closed brain injuries resulting from being struck on the head or the force of shaking or whiplash-jolting movements. They are called mild TBIs, but we all know they are not. Post-Concussion Syndrome, or PCS, is symptoms lasting months to a year after the initial accident.

Post-Concussion Syndrome shows up like most head injuries: Memory loss, irritability, headaches, dizziness, problems sleeping, mood and behavior changes, anxiety, and depression. These might get noticed only later because, in an accident, the focus is usually on apparent injuries and not on possible head trauma.

Most symptoms of concussions clear up with time and rest. If you receive another concussion before your initial one heals, you are in a dangerous situation called Second Impact Syndrome (SIS). It doesn’t take a significant impact to cause a second concussion, and the brain swells rapidly. SIS can result in death right away or, in milder cases, be debilitating.

Athletes are no strangers to SIS. There are some well-known cases of sports injuries leading to Chronic Trauma Encephalopathy (CTE), dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, and even personality changes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes the danger that high-impact sports can have and has prompted government legislation to make games safer. Games like football, at the youth or professional level, are significant contributors to concussions in athletes.

Diagnosing your possible PCS will require medical attention and an examination of your neurological functioning and injury history. Our traumatic brain injury lawyers can refer you to a top medical professional to gather evidence of your injuries for a personal injury claim.

Hematomas

Subdural hematomas are blood clots that have formed between the brain and the skull due to broken blood vessels. If these clots build up too much, they can cause paralysis or even death, as there is nowhere for the pressure to go.

Subdural hematomas can cause headaches, weakness, vision changes, and thought-processing issues. These symptoms can help you recognize the presence of a hematoma, and they will worsen if not treated right away.

Blood clots in the brain are tricky to notice without diagnostic tests. These can go away on their own, or they could require surgery. Blood clots here can lead to brain damage by causing a stroke, which is scary to consider.

If you suspect you have a hematoma due to the head trauma you experienced, seek medical care immediately.

Diffuse Axonal Injuries

Many brain injuries occur because the brain is uniquely positioned in the skull but not attached to it. The brain moves slower than the skull, and parts end up tearing. Specific movements can cause injury to it, and diffuse axonal injuries are another example of this. They often result from motor vehicle accidents or extreme jolting or shaking events.

Nerve cells lose contact with each other, so you often experience loss of consciousness when the collision occurs. Depending on the severity of the tear, the result could be paralysis, loss of speech, or even death.

Brain Contusions

Contusions are bruises or cuts in the brain tissue resulting from an impact. They appear below the impact site in the cortical layer of the brain. In some circumstances, you could end up with two contusion sites – one from the initial impact and the second from where the brain slammed into the opposite side of the skull. These are called coup contrecoup brain injuries.

Contusions can be dangerous and related to hemorrhages and blood vessel leaks. They can also involve swelling (called edema). Surgery may be needed if there’s swelling or a large contusion with a chance of causing further bleeding in the brain. Without this measure, you run the risk of permanent disability or death.

Symptoms of brain contusions will depend on where in the brain they have occurred and the severity of the injury. Swelling tends to be at its worst 5-6 days following the accident. Hence, it’s wise to seek medical treatment right away following an accident so they can monitor the situation.

Penetrating Brain Injuries

These injuries are the most severe form of direct head trauma. Usually, penetrating brain injuries arise from an assault. Penetrating brain injuries include gunshot wounds, stabbing injuries, or blunt or sharp force trauma to the head. They are often quite severe and result in permanent disability, if not death. Doctors must assess victims if they make it to the emergency room. The Glasgow Coma Scale determines whether or not surgery is a viable option.

Since, more often than not, these injuries involve another person, you can file a brain injury claim to recoup damages. If you experienced an assault, criminal proceedings might already be underway. Still, a personal injury lawyer can advise you on financial compensation.

Brain injuries have a high cost to the victim and the health system. The American government spends billions through programs and legislation to reduce the number and effects of TBIs. The short-term symptoms of head trauma are bad enough and can be life-changing. Consider these long-term effects:

• Concentration/task execution issues – The ability to work is affected, and accident victims might lose their job and income.
• Memory loss – Short-term memory loss around the accident is common. Long-term memory loss affects a person’s relationships, work, and functioning.
• Depression and anxiety – Surprising effect, but research shows a significant connection between brain injuries and these changes in mood and regulation.
• Sensitivity to light or sound – Often cannot read or look at screens for long and may have difficulty seeing contrast, making reading difficult.

Traumatic brain injuries impact your entire life, and this impact is long-lasting. This information sounds frightening if you’ve been on the receiving end of a head injury. Getting medical attention is the best thing you can do to reduce the short- and long-term effects and speed up your recovery. Mova Law Group – Personal Injury Attorneys works with many top medical professionals and can refer you to one if you need one. Our traumatic brain injury attorneys are well-versed in handling personal injury cases. They can take the claim so you can cover your medical expenses.

An external force of some sort causes a TBI. The force can be an object striking the head or an impact that shakes the head violently. Sometimes the cause can be easy to point to, but the scary thing is that other times the injury is invisible, and the cause is hard to pinpoint. You discover brain injury because symptoms appear.

The most common cause of traumatic brain injuries is slip and fall accidents. After those, other common reasons are:

• Car accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Boat accidents
• Unintentional blunt force trauma, such as high-impact sports
• Assault

Another person may be responsible for your injuries due to their intentional behavior or unintended negligence. Under California personal injury law, you could file a brain injury claim to seek compensation for your damages.

Establishing negligence can be tricky, as you must show that the other party breached their duty of care and that these actions caused your accident and injuries. Insurance companies will fight your claim and cast doubt on your head trauma’s severity or existence.

Our San Diego office of traumatic brain injury lawyers knows how to prove your claim. Don’t let the insurance companies off the hook for your pain – get one of our lawyers working on your case today, and we will do your fighting for you.

Key evidence for a brain injury claim includes medical records, diagnostic reports (such as CT or MRI scans), eyewitness statements, and documentation of the accident or incident that caused the injury. An attorney can help gather and organize this evidence to support your case.