Types of Brain Injuries and Brain Injury Lawyers

Background

Brain injuries can happen to people of all ages, they can occur without warning and in some cases can be life-altering. If you are looking for a personal injury lawyer to represent you during difficult times you are at the right place. Our Firm is dedicated exclusively to helping individuals and family members of those who have sufferred serious injuries, including different types of brain injuries.

Severe brain injuries can results in physical challenges (ex. ability to walk and eye-hand coordination) cognitive issues (ex. memory and language challenges) and emotional medical problems. The majority of brain injuries are a result of three types of accidents; sports related accidents, work related accidents and motor vehicle accidents. According to the Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute of Ontario there are over 1 million new cases of brain injury each year in North America and motor vehicle accident account for 60% of all brain injuries.

Different Types of Brain Injuries

1. Concussion - the most common and least serious type of brain injury. Most often caused by a sudden direct blow or bump to the head. When you sustain a concussion, the impact can jolt your brain. Sometimes, it literally causes it to slosh around in your head. Traumatic brain injuries can cause bruising, damage to the blood vessels, and injury to the nerves. (www.webmd.com)
2. Skull Fracture - Head injuries typically come from blunt or penetrating trauma to the head. The skull does not have to be fractured, but can be. If the skull is soft when touched, or missing, the victim has an open or depressed skull fracture. Other signs of a skull fracture include blood or clear fluid draining from the ears or nose, and bruising around both eyes or behind the ears. (www.about.com)
3. Anoxic Brain Injury - occurs when the brain does not receive any oxygen. Cells in the brain need oxygen to survive and function. Types of Anoxic Brain Injury:
1. Anoxic Anoxia- Brain injury from no oxygen supplied to the brain
2. Anemic Anoxia- Brain injury from blood that does not carry enough oxygen
3. Toxic Anoxia- Brain injury from toxins or metabolites that block oxygen in the blood from being used. (http://www.biau.org/)
4. Coup-Contrecoup Injury - describes contusions that are both at the site of the impact and on the complete opposite side of the brain. This occurs when the force impacting the head is not only great enough to cause a contusion at the site of impact, but also is able to move the brain and cause it to slam into the opposite side of the skull, which causes the additional contusion. (http://www.biau.org/)
5. Diffuse-Axonal Injury - can be caused by shaking or strong rotation of the head, as with Shaken Baby Syndrome, or by rotational forces, such as with a car accident. Injury occurs because the unmoving brain lags behind the movement of the skull, causing brain structures to tear. A person with a diffuse axonal injury could present a variety of functional impairments depending on where the shearing (tears) occurred in the brain. (http://www.biau.org/)
6. Spinal cord Injuries - occur when the spinal cord is damaged. Most spinal cord injuries cause permanent disability or loss of movement (paralysis) and sensation below the site of the injury. Paralysis that involves the majority of the body, including the arms and legs, is called quadriplegia or tetraplegia. When a spinal cord injury affects only the lower body, the condition is called paraplegia. SCI are classified as partial or complete, depending on how much of the cord width is damaged. People with partial spinal cord injury retain some sensation and possibly some motor function below the affected area. People with complete spinal cord injury typically have total or near-total loss of motor function and sensation below the area of injury. (http://www.mayoclinic.com/)

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is usually caused by a crushing blow, jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Such injuries cause severe damage to delicate brain tissue. The severity of a TBI may range from "mild," i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness to "severe," i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury. A severe injury is the most life threatening. Severe head injuries usually result from crushing blows or penetrating wounds to the head. Such injuries crush, rip and shear delicate brain tissue. This is the most life threatening, and the most intractable type of brain injury. Treatment of open head injuries usually requires prolonged hospitalization and extensive rehabilitation. Typically, rehabilitation is incomplete and for most part there is no return to pre-injury status. (http://www.biau.org/)

Recognizing a Serious Head Injury

Most head injuries are not serious. A serious head injury can be recognized based on certain symptoms. These symptoms indicate that brain functioning is worsening. If any of them occur in an adult or a child, medical attention should be sought immediately.

• Vomiting, paleness, irritability, or drowsiness that continues for more than 6 hours
• Loss of consciousness
• Inability to move or feel part of the body
• Inability to recognize people or the surroundings
• Inability to maintain balance
• Problems with speaking or seeing (for example, slurred speech, blurred vision, or blind spots)
• Drainage of clear fluid (cerebrospinal fluid) from the nose or ear
• Severe headache
  (http://www.about.com/)

Safety Improvement

Improvements in automobile safety devices have significantly reduced the number of brain injuries caused as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Air bags, ABS brakes and seat belts all contribute to reducing the severity of injuries. In many provinces the wearing of a helmet is mandatory while riding a bicycle. According to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation about ¾ of all cycling fatalities involve head injuries. Although there have been significant safety improvements over the past decade, brain injuries continue to occur. Research has shown that helmets used for skiing and snowboarding are associated with a 60 per cent reduction in head injuries. (Helmet Use and Risk of Head Injuries in Alpine Skiers and Snowboarders. Steinar Sulheim, MD; Ingar Holme, PhD; Arne Ekeland, MD, PhD; Roald Bahr, MD, PhD. JAMA. 2006;295:919-924.)

Looking for a personal injury lawyer? Click to find out how can Smitiuch Injury Law help.