How a Traumatic Brain Injury Can Change Your Life After an Accident

A traumatic brain injury can cause significant damage in an accident victim’s life. While some TBIs cause nothing more than a mild headache for a few days, others leave victims comatose or permanently and severely disabled. If you’ve sustained a traumatic brain injury, you need access to the best medical care to maximize your chances of recovery.

If your injury is the result of someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. The medical expenses that come with a TBI can be financially devastating, and you shouldn’t be left to handle them alone. Let us help. Call the Law Offices of Robin D. Perry at 562-216-2944 to set up a consultation now.

Levels of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injuries are generally categorized as mild, moderate, or severe. Mild traumatic brain injuries lead to either no loss of consciousness or just a brief loss of consciousness. Moderate brain injuries result in unconsciousness for up to 24 hours, and severe TBIs leave victims unconscious for more than 24 hours.

With both moderate and severe TBIs, signs of a TBI can be seen on neurological diagnostic imaging. Prompt diagnostic imaging is crucial after a TBI. The brain is known for its plasticity, which means that it can often recover from varying levels of injury. To maximize the benefits of the brain’s natural plasticity, immediate diagnosis and treatment is necessary.

The Effects of a TBI Are Wide-Ranging

One of the most devastating parts of a traumatic brain injury is the fact that it can affect every single part of your life. When people think of traumatic brain injuries, the same few symptoms generally come to mind. But when you see the true scope of a TBI, it’s clear how it can wreak havoc in every possible way. Learn more about some of the effects:

• Cognitive
  • Confusion
  • Short attention span
  • Memory issues
  • Difficulty solving problems or making appropriate judgment calls
  • Inability to comprehend time and space
  • Inability to follow more than one-step or two-step directions
• Sensory
  • Changes to one’s sense of smell, taste, hearing, sight, and touch
  • Significant changes in sensation and control of one side of the body
  • Loss of or heightened sensation of specific body parts
• Communication
  • Challenges understanding speech
  • Challenges with speaking
  • Difficulty choosing words while speaking
  • Difficulty reading and writing
  • Slow speech
  • Limited vocabulary
  • Weakened ability to identify objects and their purpose
• Social
  • Decreased social capacity
  • Difficulty making and maintaining friendships
  • Difficulty picking up on the nuances of social interaction and friendships
• Personality
  • Apathy or flat affect
  • Irritability
  • Weakened motivation
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Emotional disinhibition, which may result in inappropriate emotional outbursts, sexual behaviors, and aggression
• Functional
  • Inability to drive a car
  • Difficulty with executive function
  • Difficulty with basic day-to-day skills, such as dressing and undressing, hygiene, and feeding oneself
• Motor
  • Poor balance
  • Inability to plan and execute movements
  • Tremors
  • Weakened coordination
  • Muscle spasticity
  • Muscle weakness
  • Paralysis
  • Difficulty controlling bowel or bladder

Obviously, every TBI patient is not going to display every deficit associated with traumatic brain injuries. Much depends on the severity of the injury and which parts of the brain are affected. For example, someone may be left almost fully paralyzed but retain their ability to speak and perform cognitively. Someone else may require minimal assistance with motor movements but have lost all of their reasoning and communication abilities.

Costs Associated With TBIs

As you can see, traumatic brain injuries cause a wide range of deficits that can negatively impact a car accident victim’s life. These types of injuries can be incredibly expensive, often to the point that patients are unable to get the care they need or must pick and choose what they can afford on a monthly basis. Some of the costs associated with TBIs include:

• Medical care, both immediately after the injury and to maintain a patient’s progress for the rest of their life
• Loss of income, which is often permanent for those with serious traumatic brain injuries
• Home renovations to accommodate adaptive equipment such as wheelchair ramps
• Vehicle renovations or replacement to accommodate wheelchairs and other adaptive equipment
• Adaptive equipment
• Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
• Mental health therapy
• Costs of hiring around-the-clock care
• Loss of a loved one’s income if they step in to provide care

Reach Out to the Law Offices of Robin D. Perry

If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury, you may be entitled to compensation for everything the injury has cost you. It all starts with a consultation with a personal injury attorney. It’s time to talk to the team at the Law Offices of Robin D. Perry. Call us at 562-216-2944 or reach out to our team online.

Robin Perry

Attorney Robin D. Perry has been part of the Long Beach Community for over 25 years handling business litigation, employment litigation and advising, criminal defense, personal injury and code enforcement defense for businesses.