More Than a Vehicle Crash: Traumatic Brain Injury in Richmond, VA

More Than a Vehicle Crash: Traumatic Brain Injury in Richmond, VA

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), approximately half of all U.S. traumatic brain injuries (TBI) involve automobiles, bicycles, motorcycles and pedestrians. TBI results from some external force in which the skull may or may not be penetrated, but the brain is injured. After a person suffers a brain injury, the symptoms may take minutes, hours, days or weeks to show up.  Both before and after a TBI victim shows symptoms, the brain damage can cause a host of long-term medical, work and personal issues.

Myth of TBI’s

One myth concerning TBI’s is that in order to suffer a TBI people must hit their head on something, like a steering wheel or windshield. TBI’s can occurs even when someone’s head does not hit anything in the vehicle. This is because our brain can bounce around and hits the skull. For example, if your vehicle is traveling at 50 miles an hour and someone crashes into you, your brain goes from 50 to zero miles per hour in less than a fraction of a second!  The natural and damaging reality is that your brain a bounces around the skull’s interior, ricocheting off your skull bones.

Here are a few facts about TBIs:

  • They can be mild, moderate or severe.
  • They include torn nerve fibers, bruising and bleeding.
  • They can include the entire brain or just some areas.
  • Secondary injuries occur when a swelling brain pushes against the skull.

Finding Out Now or Later

Serious TBI symptoms, like unconsciousness and seizures, can appear rapidly after a serious vehicle accident, but not always. In “2013 Virginia Statewide Brain Injury Services and Needs Assessment,” 48 percent of respondents learned right away they had a brain injury, and 52 percent found out later.

If there is slow bleeding in the brain, or the brain swells very slowly as you remain conscious, you might not realize for days or weeks that a traumatic brain injury occurred. By the time you seek medical help days or weeks later, you may have suffered permanent damage, like memory loss, inability to communicate and physical disability.

Contact an Attorney

You should contact an attorney when:

  • An accident leads to any physical injury,because Emergency Room doctors treat life-threatening injuries first, and may or may not evaluate potential a brain injury after the person is stabilized.
  • The accident could havecaused TBI due to the sheer force of the vehicle stop or crash.
  • ANY TBI symptoms appear at a later date.

Walking away from a vehicle accident is not proof that you did not suffer a brain injury, nor does being “checked out in” the emergency room. Estimates vary, but up to 80 percent of mild TBI cases are missed in the ER. Mild TBI’s can cause cognitive impairments, making it difficult to work, to take care of family and enjoy life. After you are in a crash or accident and you get emergency medical services, it is crucial to contact a personal injury attorney in Richmond, VA to ensure the accident, and all legal, insurance and medical issues are properly managed.

More Than a Vehicle Crash: Traumatic Brain Injury in Richmond, VA

Sources

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/detail_tbi.htm#291973218

http://www.brainline.org/content/2009/06/facts-about-concussion-and-brain-injury_pageall.html

http://www.vadrs.org/cbs/biscis.htm



Call Us