Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer

A brain injury can be simply defined as anything that upsets the brain’s function. It may be a hit or blow to the head or something that penetrates the skull, therefore damaging the brain. The primary causes of brain injuries include falling with the head hitting the ground, motor vehicle and automobile accidents, and assault. In the military, hits and blast injuries to the head are the major cause of brain injuries. More severe brain injuries can cause coma, stupor, or a persistent vegetative state.

Some of the key indicators that you may have a brain injury include:

- Headaches. This is recognized by frequent headache attacks, pain in the forehead or back of the head, and episodes of sharp pain.

- Memory loss that involves asking the same question over and over again, short-term memory difficulties, and frequent forgetfulness.

- Vocabulary problems or having a hard time coming up with the right word to say.

- Fatigue. This is demonstrated by emotional and physical tiredness.

- Sleep changes with signs of being awake throughout the night, waking up too early in the morning, and not being able to fall sleep right away.

- Emotional changes like being angry, sad, scared, or combinations of these every now and then.

- Stimulus overload involves an overwhelming feeling in busy, crowded, and noisy places.

- Concentration and distraction problems. This involves not staying focused and can easily cause attention disorders.

- Organizational difficulties make you unable to organize your thoughts and complete your tasks and activities.

The human brain is sensitive and vulnerable. If an object hits you in the head or if your head strikes a hard surface, you will most likely suffer from serious brain injury. Even if there are no obvious symptoms, you should seek medical attention immediately.

If your brain injury was due to a negligent act of another person or an institution, seek advice from lawyers who are experienced in traumatic brain injury settlements so they may help you recover monetary compensations for your brain injury and other costs regarding your accident. For more articles like this, bookmark www.TraumaticBrainInjuryLawyer.net

Author: Kevin Stith

A traumatic brain injury lawyer can represent a wide variety of brain injured clients, from minor injuries due to playground accidents to fatality injuries involving medical malpractice or medical negligence.  If you, or a loved one, has suffered from a brain injury, you should contact a traumatic brain injury attorney so you can obtain legal advice, counsel and even potential legal representation. Ask A Lawyer Online Now.  Get an Answer ASAP.  12 Lawyers Are Online!  Law.JustAnswer.com

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that there are 1.5 million people in the United States alone that suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year. Of these 1.5 million people, 50,000 people die and 85,000 suffer from long-term disabilities. The CDC also estimates that more than 5.3 million people live with disabilities that were caused by traumatic brain injuries.

There are, without a doubt, many, varied causes of these brain injuries. The top three causes are vehicle crashes, firearms, and falls. Firearm injuries are often fatal. Of those that are injured due to a firearm, 90% die. Young adults and the elderly are the most at risk for this type of injury.

There are a few situations that result in traumatic brain injuries. These are called the mechanisms of injury. The main mechanisms of injury are open head injury, closed head injury, deceleration injuries, chemical and toxic injuries, and hypoxia.

Open head injuries are frequently bullet wounds. They involve some sort of object such as a bullet, a nail, etc. penetrating the skull. Generally, this type of wound has mainly focal damage, or damage that is confined to a small area of the brain. Despite this, the effects of the injury can be as serious as closed brain injuries.

Closed head injuries generally result from falls or car crashes. They can involve focal damage as well as widespread damage to axons (tiny portions of nerves inside the brain). The effects of closed head injuries are frequently broad and diffuse. In order for an injury to be a closed head injury, there cannot have been penetration of the skull into the brain cavity.

Deceleration injuries are often called diffuse axonal injuries. This type of injury is due to the physics of the brain than anything else. The skull is hard and inflexible while the brain is soft with the consistency of jello. When the skull rapidly decelerates due to contact with a stationary object, the brain moves around inside the skull. The brain moves at a different rate than the skull because it is soft. In addition, various parts of the brain move at different speeds because of their relative lightness or heaviness.

The differential movement of the skull and the brain when the head is struck leads to direct brain injury. The brain injury is due to diffuse axonal shearing, contusion, and brain swelling. Diffuse axonal shearing is the stretching and compression of the axons and neurons due to the gelatinous consistency. This movement causes the fragile axons to be compressed and stretched. They frequently stretch until they are torn (shearing). When the axons are sheared, the neurons die.

Chemical or toxic traumatic brain injuries are frequently due to metabolic disorders. They occur when harmful chemicals damage the neurons.

Hypoxia, or the lack of oxygen, is also a major source of traumatic brain injury. When the blood flow to the brain is depleted of oxygen, either or completely or in reduced quantities, brain damage occurs. This brain damage can occur if the brain is left without oxygen for merely a few minutes. The lack of oxygen can be caused by heart attacks, respiratory failure, a decrease in blood pressure, and a low oxygen environment. Hypoxia can result in severe cognitive and memory defects.

Do you have questions about a potential brain injury you may have suffered?  You should immediately contact your physician, or call 911 for emergency medical assistance.  Brain injuries can be very serious, and time is of the essence in receiving medical attention.   Ask A Doctor Online Now.  Get an Answer ASAP.  11 Doctors Are Online!  Medical.JustAnswer.com

Author: Joseph Devine

Joseph Devine

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Devine

Traumatic brain injury lawyers not only provide legal counsel to their clients, but often provide referrals of services to help the loved ones with support and understanding of how to provide potential long-term care for their loved one who has suffered a TBI.  Ask A Lawyer Online Now.  Get an Answer ASAP.   Need a Personal Injury Lawyer?  Click for more information from a traumatic brain injury attorney in your area who can assist you with your TBI case.

When life changes in a blink of an eye, people are never prepared for what will happen or how they will deal with the changes. Being a caregiver for a person with Traumatic Brain Injury is learning and a teaching experience for all individuals involved. Family and friends must know what to do and how to deal with the unexpected. Although you never quite understand what goes on in the injured brain, there are signs that will give you a good idea of which way to turn.

Head trauma can be as slight as a bump on the head or as severe as an almost fatal automobile accident. In any case, damage to the brain can occur with the slightest of injury. What happens after still mystifies a lot of the medical professionals today. Does the person who has had the trauma forget things, get irritated quickly, have headaches or vision problems, has difficulty with solving problems that were very easy to do before or maybe go into a blank stare, get lost in the store while shopping or even driving to a place they had been to hundreds of times before? People with Traumatic Brain Injury might have some of these symptoms if not more.

Compassion for the survivor is of the utmost importance due to the fact that they probably do not realize the reasons why they can’t complete a sentence, lose their thought in a conversation with a blank stare, forget about the cake in the oven or dinner that was ready in twenty minutes but it has been an hour and the roast is now a piece of jerky, then all of a sudden get frustrated and a irritated, an outburst of anxiety comes out and the people around them think that they might be losing their mind…well, in a sense, they did. Their routing of cognitive thinking has been impaired. Frustration and aggravation, self esteem and confidence goes down, and their self worth is being diminished by the simple things in life that they used to be able to do so well.

On the outside, everything looks fine. For the lucky ones who can still dress and take care of their hygienic needs every day, family and friends think that everything is normal, but the invisible damage from the trauma lingers on inside the brain. Understanding through educating yourself will get you and the individual on the right track to get their life and yours back to a normal way of life.

Acceptance that life has changed as you knew it is one of the hardest things to overcome. Being a caregiver is sometime difficult to change the things you did in the past to things you have to do now. Educate yourself on the injury and what can be done to help overcome this traumatic event. There are many organizations, support groups, books, articles, doctors, and friends that will help. Rest assured that you are not alone out there and the situation is not unique. The more you learn about Traumatic Brain Injury-Giving Care For the Survivor will be easier, and the tasks at hand will become a part of everyday life. Have patience, love, and compassion and all will be just fine.

I am a caregiver.

Author: C J Davidson

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=C_J_Davidson

If you believe that you, or a loved one, has suffered a traumatic brain injury, the following information can assist you in better understanding some of the signs.  Contact a traumatic brain injury lawyer if you have suffered a tbi, you may have legal rights and a compensation claim to assist you with your mounting medical costs. 

Over 75% percent of traumatic brain injury victims go without the care and treatment of a well-trained doctor. Undergoing an event, like falling from a tree, can be quite dangerous. These dangers escalate as other complex variables are factored into the equation, like, for example, the child who rides his bike around the neighborhood without a helmet, or who goes off to attempt a risky stunt without proper supervision. All of these cases are situations in which people are most at risk of incurring a traumatic brain injury. And while it might appear that everything is okay on the outside, the very opposite of that might be the case on the inside. This means that deciding not to consult a doctor for a head injury can be very costly.

Here are some interesting facts about traumatic brain injury. Brain injury accounts for nearly a third of all head injury deaths. Males are affected at twice the average rate and 15 to 20 year-olds are at most risk from suffering a brain injury due to car accident. Rural areas, in general, have a higher rate of fatal traumatic brain injury. Over 50,000 people die each year because of these injuries. Brain injuries are serious, and they affect many American lives each day.

There are four main symptoms that define exactly what a traumatic brain injury is. They are:

A loss of consciousness at any time during or after the event.

A loss of memory about the events prior to, during, or after the event.

An alteration of the mental state during or after the event (This includes dizziness or a confused state)

A neurological deficit, usually characterized by Post Traumatic Amnesia

It is imperative that any person, who experiences these systems after a bump on the head, gets immediate medical attention. Other symptoms include blurred vision, lethargy, sensory loss, concentration and perception loss, and behavioral changes.

Though many of the injuries result from an unforeseen accident of some kind, other instances where these accidents occur can be avoided. Faulty technology, negligence and failure to follow certain safety codes can result in disastrous outcomes. When this happens, someone needs to take responsibility.

Author: Joseph Devine

Joseph Devine

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Devine