Brain injuries are some of the most serious injuries that can occur in an accident. The brain is the control center for the entire body, and injuries to the brain can have surprising effects on the rest of your body, your mind, and even your emotions.
If you suffered a potential brain injury in an accident, the first thing you should always do is seek medical attention. Brain injuries can often lead to death or severe complications, if left untreated. If you or a loved one suffered traumatic brain injury in an accident, you might be entitled to compensation. Talk to an attorney about your case. If you are in New York City, talk to the Queens personal injury attorneys at Sullivan and Galleshaw.
Brain Injury Facts
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) tracks statistics on brain injuries, as well as other serious problems – not just diseases. The CDC estimates that 1.7 million people suffer from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) each year, and that around 52,000 of these injuries are fatal. Another 1.3 million more are hospitalized and released, and an unfortunate 275,000 people are hospitalized for brain injuries.
Brain injuries can occur as very severe “traumatic brain injuries,” or the more common concussion (also called “mild traumatic brain injuries” or “MBTI”). In both of these injuries, despite the great protection the skull gives the brain, the brain still suffers injury from impact. Many times, the brain may actually move within the skull, suffering damage when it bounces off the inside of the skull.
Brain injuries can be incredibly severe, since the brain cannot heal like the rest of your body. While your bones can knit themselves back together, and skin can heal over a wound, the nervous cells and axons in your brain are not capable of regenerating themselves to the same extent. This means that many brain injuries are permanent, and only heal to the extent that your brain can form new connections to work around the injury.
Brain injuries often have strange symptoms that affect the entire person, body and mind. TBI can impact your ability to walk, speak, and move. It can also have strange effects, such as damaging your ability to taste or smell. Brain injuries can also affect your mood and personality, causing strange behaviors, inability to recognize people or objects, other memory issues, mood swings, and changes in personality.
Common Causes of Brain Injuries
Brain injuries are often associated with sports and sport-related injuries, and these are common. One of the most common causes of brain injuries is in fact sport-related injuries. These injuries are often part of playing the game, but when they should have been prevented by proper safety gear or were caused by unsportsmanlike conduct, you may have a case for compensation.
The single most common cause of traumatic brain injury is actually from something that does not seem particularly serious: falls. Whether it is a slip and fall accident, a trip and fall, or a fall from unsafe staircases, people who hit their heads in a fall accounted for 781,389 visits to the emergency room between 2006 and 2016, according to CDC statistics. Often, these injuries are pure blunt force injuries, where the skull and the brain suffer severe damage when the victim falls. If the victim slips and falls backward, the back of their head could hit the ground with little to no chance of the victim being able to brace for the fall or catch themselves.
Car accidents are the other most common cause of accidental brain injury. During a car crash, especially one involving high speeds, debris and broken pieces of vehicles could fly through the windshield. If one of these pieces hits the driver or a passenger in the head, it can cause a severe blunt force injury. Many injuries can be even more severe if an object penetrates the skull. These “open” brain injuries could mean that a foreign object pierces through the brain. This severely damages those areas of the brain and may require intensive surgeries and treatment to repair.
Impact with other objects make up the rest of the most common accidental brain injuries. Whether this means falling into an object or being struck by a falling or flying object (not involved in a car accident), these injuries account for a large share of accidental injuries.
Queens Personal Injury Attorneys
The lawyers at Sullivan and Galleshaw may be able to help you seek substantial compensation for your brain injury case. If you or a loved one suffered a traumatic brain injury, you might be entitled to compensation from the premises owner, car insurance company, or the parties responsible for the accident. Talk to our attorneys today to see what your case might be worth. Call (718) 843-0300 today for a free consultation.