Traumatic Brain Injuries

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most complex injuries an individual suffers.  It is also one of the most difficult injuries for an injured individual and their families to cope with and understand. 

Unlike other physical injuries, traumatic brain injuries affect all aspects of the injured individual’s life.  Most physical injuries limit the use of a specific body part, but the injuries themselves do not change the individual's personality or cognitive functions.  Brain injuries, on the other hand, may change the injured individual's personality.

Traumatic brain injuries have a broad spectrum of symptoms and disabilities.  They have devastating impacts on the injured individual and their families. TBIs can be categorized into two groups: mild traumatic brain injury and serious traumatic brain injury.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

A mild traumatic brain injury is one in which the injured person does not lose consciousness for an appreciable amount of time, and where the imaging studies, i.e., MRIs, CAT scans, do not show actual visible damage to the person's brain.

Serious Traumatic Brain Injury

In contrast to the mild traumatic brain injury case, cases that are referred to as serious brain injury cases typically involve a documented loss of consciousness.  Further, the imaging studies in those cases show actual bleeding in the brain, a fracture of the skull, or other injuries of that nature.

Types Of Traumatic Brain Injury Cases

Traumatic brain injury cases arise in many different contexts. 

Automobile Accidents

Individuals may suffer traumatic brain injuries in serious car accidents.  When drivers or passengers are thrown out of the vehicles as a result of the violent impacts, they often suffer traumatic brain injuries because their heads hit the windshields while being thrown out of the vehicles.  Then, their heads often hit the road or pavement as they land. 

Sports Accidents & Recreational Activity Mishaps

Athletes are often susceptible to sustaining concussions and repeated hits to the head resulting in traumatic brain injuries.  For instance, football players often get hit hard by other players and suffer concussions.  If a player sustains a concussion and continues to play and is hit again, he may suffer a traumatic brain injury after the second impact.

Falls From Heights

For many construction and industrial workers, they may need to work high above the ground.  For instance, a roofer working at a PA construction site may have to work 4 stories above ground to install a roof.  If the roofer falls from the roof, he will suffer catastrophic injuries.  In addition to orthopedic injuries, he is also likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury.

Trip & Fall Accidents

A person walking down a flight of marble stairway may trip on a step and tumble down the stairs.  As a result, the person’s head hits the marble steps multiple times resulting in a serious traumatic brain injury.

Other accidents associated with individuals sustaining a traumatic brain injury may be:

• heavy objects falling on a person’s head at a retail store; and even
• medical negligence cases.

Symptoms Of A Traumatic Brain Injury

Though there are many symptoms of a TBI, below are some symptoms injured individuals may suffer:

• difficulty concentrating,
• difficulty solving problems,
• difficulty remembering things,
• headaches,
• fatigue,
• easily irritated,
• vomiting,
• personality changes, and
• moodiness.

Legal Rights

Individuals with traumatic brain injuries may have legal rights if their injuries resulted from someone’s negligence.

Consider the following: a high school football player sustains a hard blow to the head during a game.  His coach asks him if he is okay after the hit.  The player says that he is fine.  The coach puts the player back in the game even though the player throws up after the hit and is not medically evaluated.  After going back in the game, the player sustains another hit which results in a traumatic brain injury. In this case, the player may file a sports injury lawsuit against the coach/school and recover financial compensation.  If the coach benched the player after the first hit, the player would have only suffered a concussion.  However, because the player was put back in the game after suffering a concussion and hit a second time, he now has a traumatic brain injury.

If you or a loved one suffered mild or serious traumatic brain injury from an accident and want to talk to an attorney about your case, contact our PA & NJ personal injury lawyers at White and Williams.

More From Our PA & NJ Traumatic Brain Injury & Accident Library

• Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms – A Philadelphia, PA sports injury lawyer talks about symptoms of traumatic brain injury.
• Are College Football Coaches Monitoring Football Players’ Concussions? – College football coaches should bench their players after sustaining a hard hit on the field to avoid a traumatic brain injury from a second impact.
• The Importance of Checking Protective Equipment To Avoid Traumatic Brain injuries – Coaches and schools may be liable for a player’s traumatic brain injury if they do not check and make sure that the helmet they give to the player is in good working condition.

*Last updated on March 23, 2015