Every year, approximately 100,000 people suffer from head injuries that result in permanent disabilities. These injuries don’t just lead to expensive medical bills and lost wages; they can also drastically change the victim’s life in the months and years following a serious accident.
Even non-life-threatening head injuries can cause significant challenges for the victim. A lawyer can help them to clarify how these injuries will impact the victim’s life.
An experienced head injury lawyer will work closely with medical experts to get a full picture of the injuries and determine if they have a personal injury case.
Andrew Zucker and his legal team at Zucker Personal Injury & Accident Lawyers, APC based in Temecula, California, can help you understand your rights and legal options. They’ll protect your rights and interests and ensure that you get the compensation you need to move forward.
Types of Head Injuries
Head injuries are injuries that deal damage to the brain, skull, or scalp. These injuries can range in severity, with the most serious ones causing mental impairment, permanent disability, and even death.
Here are some of the common types of head injuries:
- Penetrating Head Wound: A penetrating head injury takes place when a foreign object gets into the skull. This can be a risk for car accident victims, as everyday objects inside the vehicle can turn into dangerous projectiles.
- Skull Fracture: This occurs when the force of the injury is strong enough to fracture the skull. It’s especially dangerous because pieces of a broken skull can get into the brain, leading to bleeding and other types of brain injury.
- Intracranial hematoma: This occurs when bleeding under the skull forms a clot. Like concussions, they can range from mild to severe.
- Concussion: This type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when the brain gets shaken or jarred hard enough to bounce against the skull. A concussion may happen even when the person is not hit on the head—an impact anywhere on the body can generate enough force to cause a concussion.
- Contusion: This is, essentially, a bruise on the brain that can lead to swelling and bleeding.
- Diffuse Axonal Injury: This type of brain injury renders damage to the brain cells, preventing them from functioning properly. Although it doesn’t cause any bleeding, it can lead to swelling. This type is considered one of the most dangerous head injuries because it can result in permanent brain damage or death.
Symptoms of Head Injuries
A brain injury results from a jolt, bump, or blow to the head. It typically disrupts the brain’s normal functions. Its symptoms depend on the type and severity of the injury. Here are some of them:
- Physical Symptoms: Fluid drainage from the ears or nose, convulsions, loss of consciousness, dilated pupils, headaches, nausea, disorientation or confusion, difficulty speaking, fatigue, changes in sleeping patterns
- Mental and Cognitive Symptoms: Mood swings, lack of focus, memory problems, agitation, anxiety, depression
- Sensory Symptoms: Ringing in the ears, light and sound sensitivity, odd taste in the mouth, blurred vision
Depending on the immediate presentation of the symptoms listed above, doctors will categorize a brain injury as mild, moderate, or severe.
However, this categorization doesn’t take into account the long-term effects of the injury. For instance, a severe head injury may only take a day to clear up, while a mild head injury may eventually lead to chronic disability.
Head injuries are unpredictable. This is why as soon as any of these symptoms surface, the victim needs to seek immediate medical attention. The treating physician should be made aware of all the symptoms the victim is experiencing in the days and weeks following the accident.
Causes of Brain Injuries
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 2.5 million people suffer from mild to severe traumatic brain injuries every year. These injuries are commonly caused by accidents that lead to falls, especially those aged 65 or older.
Here are some of the other usual causes of TBI:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Child abuse
- Sports injuries
- Getting struck by an object or a weapon such as a baseball bat, knife, or hammer
- Getting hit by shrapnel or a bullet
- Blast injuries caused by explosions
Natural disasters and other unexpected events may also cause both closed head injuries and penetrating injuries.
Does your head injury require medical attention?
Getting immediate medical attention is crucial after getting into any type of accident, especially the ones enumerated above. If the victim suspects that they’re suffering from a head injury, they should see a doctor right away, no matter how mild it may seem.
Find a Temecula Head Injury Lawyer Today
A head injury should never be taken lightly. Even a seemingly mild one can lead to permanent disability or debilitation. Some victims may have to pay for expensive medical bills for the rest of their life, and others may suffer immense emotional and physical pain for a very long time.
Because of the far-reaching consequences of head injuries, victims should always work with a Temecula lawyer they can trust.
An experienced Temecula head injury lawyer can help victims hold the negligent or guilty party accountable for the damages that they’ve suffered. At Zucker Personal Injury & Accident Lawyers, APC, we can help you recover the compensation that you deserve.
Call (951) 699-2100 or drop us a message to schedule a consultation.
