The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine defines a traumatic brain injury as one where a person has had a traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function, manifested by at least one of the following:
The trauma can be caused by being struck in the head, or the head striking an object, or the brain undergoing an acceleration/deceleration movement, such as whiplash, without any direct external trauma to the head.
The diagnosis of a brain injury is sometimes delayed because of more immediate symptoms from orthopedic injuries, which may require medications that can mask symptoms of a traumatic brain injury. A brain injury may become more apparent when a person attempts to return to normal activities and experiences difficulty performing routine tasks. The injured person may not realize there is a problem or care to admit it, but symptoms from a brain injury are often recognized by friends or family members. Neuro psychological testing is useful in measuring traumatic brain injury symptoms as well connecting the symptoms to head trauma
Unlike an obvious injury like a broken bone or torn muscle, a person suffering a brain injury may not understand or appreciate the nature of their injury. The brain injured victim may know that something is “wrong,” but may not know what is causing it or what to do about it.
As one expert in the field of traumatic brain injury so eloquently stated regard his patient:
To the best of my ability to understand what life is like for him, he believes that he is being punished by God, he may not be able to express to me or to anyone why he thinks he’s being punished, but every day is like a torment. He’s a guy that finds himself in the third circle of hell wishing he weren’t there and not knowing what the heck he’s going to do about it. …
With clients suffering memory loss from a traumatic brain injury, the brain injury lawyers at Murphy & Prachthauser will typically speak with co-workers, who often notice a change in memory. A person suffering memory loss often develops coping mechanisms, such as having pads of post-it notes available to write reminders to themselves.
The personal injury lawyers at Murphy & Prachthauser have worked with clients who have suffered both severe and subtle symptoms from traumatic brain injuries. If you feel that you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in an accident, consult a brain injury attorney at Murphy & Prachthauser to have your case evaluated.
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