Top Three Brain Injury Causes
Each year, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) kill over 50,000 Americans. Vehicle collisions are, by far, the leading cause of non-combat TBIs, mostly because they combine all three major causes of brain injuries, as outlined below. Despite the prevalence of collision-related TBIs, doctors fail to accurately diagnose many of these injuries. Initial TBI symptoms mimic accident shock, a temporary and non-serious condition that goes away on its own.
TBI medical expenses are extremely high. These injuries are difficult to treat, and physical therapy is long and difficult. A Sugar Land personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation for all these medical bills, as well as other economic losses, such as lost wages. Compensation is also available for noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.
Loud Noise
The first major car crash-related TBI cause could affect pedestrians and other bystanders as well as the victims directly involved in the wreck.
Noise-related TBIs were very common in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Sudden loud noises, like explosive blasts, trigger shock waves that permanently disrupt brain functions. Most witnesses say that car crashes sound like explosions. So, the sound wave has the same effect.
The aforementioned diagnosis issues are especially problematic in these cases. Frequently, these victims, especially bystanders, go to their doctors because they have headaches and other classic TBI symptoms. But since the victims sustained no “trauma,” the doctor doesn’t treat the TBI.
The science in this area is very well-established and victim-friendly. The law, while equally well-established, is much less victim-friendly.
A Missouri City personal injury lawyer can obtain compensation if the injury was foreseeable. This legal concept is rather vague. Some pedestrian injuries are foreseeable. Cars often fly out of control after collisions. Other pedestrian injuries aren’t foreseeable, such as a medical mistake during surgery. Pedestrian injury noise-related TBIs are somewhere in between these two things.
Trauma
Engineering innovations, such as advanced airbags, have made today’s cars and trucks much safer than the ones people drove just twenty years ago. But no safety system, however effective, can possibly absorb all the force in a high-speed wreck.
For example, when drivers hit their heads into airbags, it’s like slamming one’s head into a pillow-covered concrete wall, except the motion occurs at 50mph.
Only a handful of doctors are qualified to surgically reduce the resulting brain bleeding and swelling. Subsequent physical therapy is a long and painstaking process. Since dead brain cells don’t regenerate, physical therapists must train uninjured areas of the brain to assume lost functions.
Insurance company adjusters often dispute the amount of damages in these situations. They claim any doctor, not just an expensive specialist, could have handled the surgery. They also claim that, when physical therapy progress plateaus, there’s no reason to continue it.
A Missouri city personal injury lawyer ensures that the surgical bills get paid and the money keeps flowing during physical therapy.
Motion
Some car crash victims show no visible signs of a brain injury, like surface bruises or lacerations, because they sustain motion-related TBIs. The violent motion of a car wreck causes the brain to slam against the inside of the skull. That impact causes the aforementioned bleeding, swelling, and other issues.
Count on a Hard-Working Fort Bend County Attorney
Injury victims are entitled to significant compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in Missouri City, contact the Henrietta Ezeoke Law Firm. Attorneys can connect victims with doctors, even if they have no insurance or money.
Source:
cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/data/index.html