If I Suffer a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Can It Change My Life?

The realistic answer is yes; a TBI can alter your life forever and also have a devastating impact on your family. This type of injury commonly will impose extreme physical, emotional, behavioral, and financial changes on your life.

You could be hospitalized for an extended time and then go through inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation procedures for months, years, or the rest of your life.

Even with the extensive medical advancements regarding TBI injuries, almost 50% of people with a TBI experience a further decline.

If you survive the TBI and receive the needed, expensive, and lengthy inpatient rehabilitation, your life expectancy may still be shortened by approximately nine years.

Incurring a TBI also increases your risk of dying from related issues, such as:

  • Seizures – These are 50 times more likely to occur.
  • Drug poisoning – Which can be 11 times more frequent.
  • Numerous infections – Which can be nine times more frequent and severe.
  • Recurring pneumonia – Which may be six times more likely to affect you.

Traumatic brain injuries can occur in myriad ways. Auto accidents are a significant cause due to the horrific physical forces involved. However, falls on hard surfaces, falling objects, slipping on unmaintained or icy walkways, and more can cause the same severe injury to your brain.

So, you must be aware that consulting with a knowledgeable, experienced, and aggressive Las Vegas brain injury lawyer is mandatory if you’ve been the victim of a TBI due to another’s negligence. Your lawyer, of course,  will not be able to help you medically. However, they will tirelessly work to ensure you obtain the money you need for treatment, care, and the financial well-being of you and your entire family.

What Are the Most Common Types or Grades of Traumatic Brain Injuries?

A traumatic brain injury can occur whenever anything impacts your head. At first, the impact may seem minor, but many TBIs don’t manifest symptoms until weeks or months later. These types of injuries can be penetrating (such as gunshot wounds) or non-penetrating injuries, such as being struck in the head during a car accident.

When you receive an impact to your head, the severity of your injury is determined by several different factors; these are loss of consciousness, specific neurological symptoms that happened at the time of the damage, loss of memory from the injury, and time surrounding it, and abnormalities on head CT or brain MRI.

Some of the main types of TBIs diagnosed are:

  • Mild Concussions – Concussions are, by far, the most common type of TBI. Three out of four TBIs are concussions. These TBIs usually include brief consciousness changes such as feeling “dazed” or losing consciousness for less than 30 minutes.
  • Moderate TBI – This injury is associated with you having a loss of consciousness for over 30 minutes but less than one day. Confusion and other symptoms can last for up to one week or more.
  • Severe TBI – If you’ve had a powerful impact on your head, you may lose consciousness for over a day or more. This TBI can have lasting effects that may take months to identify and treat. Commonly they are medically identified with changes seen on a head CT or brain MRI.
  • Closed TBI – The vast majority of TBIs are closed. This means that a fall, impact, or any outside force caused a blow or jolt to your head but did not penetrate your skull. When the impact is severe enough, it can critically injure your brain, causing it to swell. Due to the possible lack of blood, it may seem minor but assuredly is not.

Any accident where you receive a cranial impact must be medically evaluated immediately. Hopefully, it may be minor, but it is often not. You need treatment and the funds to receive it, and this is where the services of a Las Vegas brain injury lawyer will be invaluable.

What Symptoms Should I Look For After I’ve Hit My Head?

After an accident that impacts your head, you may have immediate symptoms of a TBI, or they may emerge days, weeks, or months later. TBI symptoms can seem minor, or you may notice the issue but not relate it directly to your head injury.

No matter how minor a symptom may seem, your doctor should be immediately contacted, as only then can your injury be accurately diagnosed.

However, even a mild TBI can have the following symptoms:

  • Headache
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Fatigue and drowsiness
  • Problems with speech
  • Loss of consciousness for a few seconds, a few minutes, or more
  • No loss of consciousness for feeling dizzy, confused, or disoriented.
  • Difficulty sleeping or sleeping more than usual.

Traumatic head injuries, or any blow to your head, should never be taken lightly. Your doctor will do all the right tests to ensure you get proper treatment, but expenses and loss of wages can begin to mount. If you even suspect that your accident resulted from someone else’s negligence, consult, as soon as possible, with a professional, experienced Las Vegas brain injury lawyer. Get the financial help you rightfully deserve to recover and thrive.

What Is the Most Severe Type of Brain Injury?

Auto accidents cause many brain injuries due to the enormous and extreme forces involved. You may not even hit your head, but the horrific physics involved shakes and twists your brain inside your head.

This type of brain injury is referred to as a “diffuse axonal injury” and is one of the most severe you can receive. The impact causes your brain to twist, and your cerebral tissue slides back and forth until the long connecting fibers in the brain, or axons, tear.

This type of brain injury is common in car accidents, and because the tears are primarily microscopic, they can be challenging to detect on an MRI.

However, your injuries may be life-threatening and life-altering, so getting swift medical help is mandatory. So, however, is consulting with a Las Vegas brain injury lawyer. Your Lawyer will thoroughly analyze your accident and, if negligence is involved, will obtain the significant compensation you and your family will surely need.

I’ve Suffered a TBI In an Accident; What Should I Do Now?

First, always get the medical help you need as quickly as possible. If you’ve had a TBI, then time is not on your side.

However, it could be weeks or months before you know precisely how this injury will impact your life and your family. Treatment is expensive and could quickly go up to and beyond seven figures. Additionally, you may not be able to work; this paints a bleak financial future.

However, consulting with your local Las Vegas personal injury law team can make this dark future far brighter. Your personal injury lawyer will passionately fight on your and your family’s behalf. Consult with them first, and don’t gamble with your or your family’s future!