Traumatic Brain Injury Is Always Serious

Brain Injury or Closed head injury is typically referred to as a traumatic brain injury or TBI, such an injury is usually caused by a blow or a jolt to the head or a rapid deceleration acceleration without direct impact. Most traumatic brain injuries are a result of heavy impact. Although other causes of head injuries can include restricted oxygen flow or asphyxiation, or even a severe untreated infection.

The Effects Of Traumatic Brain Injury

The effects of a traumatic brain injury can include impairments and balance coordination, fine motor skills, strength endurance, along with memory, information, processing skills and language coherence of the parts of the brain that are most vulnerable to injury are the brain-stem temporal or side lobes and the frontal lobes due to their proximity to bony protrusions on the inside of the skull. Disorientation, hostility and frustration can all be symptoms of a brain-stem injury. Temporal lobe damage can trigger failed memory and behavioral disorders, frontal lobe trauma, a more frequent injury due to its size and position can affect a person’s decision making and judgment abilities. Sadly, the individual with the traumatic brain injury, will sometimes never be able to work again and risks Financial ruin.

Brain Injury Categories Are Not True Indicators Of Your Injuries

Brain injuries are categorized as mild, moderate, or severe. However, the categories are not true indicators of how severe the effects on the human nature. The TBI victim may be an individual diagnosed with a mild traumatic brain injury and may even seem completely normal and uninjured to others, but suffers with significant damage such as loss of consciousness altered mental state at the time of injury or difficulty mentally focusing after the accident. The effects of a true TBI can take months in certain cases to express the symptoms of brain damage. Almost all brain injury patients will go through denial and are definitely afraid to discuss that they have having cognitive trouble.

An Abbreviated List OF TBI Symptoms

Common signs of a traumatic brain injury include constant or mild headaches, loss of consciousness, amnesia, or decreased memory, sleep, pattern changes, dizziness, lightheadedness, balance problems ringing in the ears. Mood or personality changes, increased sensitivity to sounds lights or interruptions and difficulty organizing or sequencing information.

Overall traumatic brain injury can cause brain swelling which typically occurs when a person strikes his or her head or is hit in the head, but the skull remains intact. The actual brain injury occurs because the brain tissue strikes the inside of the skull during the impact potentially leading to bleeding, bruising, swelling, or other damage at the points where the brain impacts the skull.

Obviously an open TBI occurs when the skull is fractured or penetrated or otherwise broken into some way. An open TBI sometimes is defined as a “penetrating head injury”. An open TBI typically results in a significant brain injury. Particularly if the penetrating object causes severe trauma by entering the brain tissue itself.

A few Functional Brain Tests Your Healthcare Physician will use to diagnose Traumatic Brain Injuries

A preliminary evaluation tool used to gauge the severity of traumatic brain injuries is the Glasgow coma scale. The Glasgow coma scale measures the post-trauma brain function such as your ability to perform eyelid opening abilities, verbal responses, motor responses, and then assigns a score to each area. The scores from each section are then added together for an overall score. The lower the score, the worse, the injury,

Other Tests for TBI are the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), and the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) to measure the degree of a traumatic brain injury.

The Functional Independence Measure (FIM) utilizes 18-different functional measurements that delve into an injured person’s physical, psychological and social function. Whereas the Disability Rating Scale as defined by Wikipedia.

“The Disability Rating Scale (DRS) was developed as a way to track a traumatic brain injury (TBI) patient from ‘Coma to Community’. The scale was used to rate the effects of injury and decide how long recovery might take. The rating gives insight into the cognitive impairment of the individual who suffered from the TBI”.  Neuropsychologists can further define the nature and degree of a brain injury through a series of sophisticated tests.

In conclusion Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can lead to death and disability. Sadly, the number of TBI-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths increased by fifty three percent in an 8-year period from 2006 to 2014. Amazingly the death rate from TBI in 2014 was 155 per day.

Survivors a TBI you may suffer consequences that last a few days, or the rest of your life.

The consequences of TBI can include impairments related to thinking or memory, movement, sensation (e.g., vision or hearing), or emotional functioning (e.g., personality changes, depression).

If you or a loved one have suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and need legal representation all aspects of your life today as well as into the future must be accounted for. At Tucker Miller Law we are experienced brain injury lawyers and we will vehemently represent you and yours and get you the largest settlement allowed by state law. Call Now 602-870-5511