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Traumatic Brain Injury

Introduction

Each year, about two million people in the United States sustain a head injury. About eighty-five percent are considered to be "minor" in nature. However, many of these minor head injuries have significant, long-lasting results. In many cases, the injuries which result in traumatic brain injury may be bloodless, require no medical care, and initially seem non-disabling. In fact, many times the victim does not lose consciousness at the accident scene. Additionally, in many cases, physical and neurological examination, x-ray, CAT scan, and MRI scan will reveal no objective problems, but microscopic research has shown that irreversible nerve damage can occur even when the head does not strike an object, but instead is only shaken violently as in a whiplash incident.

Traumatic brain injury cases require highly technical evaluation and extensive attention to detail. This is because many health care providers as well as attorneys often misunderstand and misevaluate the potential devastation of a mild brain injury. Many of the symptoms of mild to moderate organic brain injury are subtle, making it difficult to assess; and often a client's initial treating or emergency room physician will fail to detect traumatic brain injury. Moreover, a client with traumatic brain injury is often unaware or denies that she suffers from such an injury despite obvious changes in her personality, work habits, memory or lifestyle. Consequently, these victims never receive proper medical attention for the physical, cognitive, and psychological impairment that follows.

Brain injuries are normally classified as either mild, moderate, or severe. Mild brain injuries often have serious, far-reaching and permanent impact on the victims personality, family and social life, and may even be vocationally disabling.

All too often, plaintiffs lawyers associate the word "mild" with a non-serious, low-damage-potential case. However, by evaluating each case in a detailed fact-intensive manner, a trial lawyer can uncover a plethora of information which will help the client deal with her disability and enable her to receive the proper medical attention and evaluation.

Please use our brain injury resources and publications to provide background information on the brain and its function in the body. Additionally, they provide an in-depth tutorial on brain injury, and the physical and psychological impact that accompanies it. You can do everything from read an online brain textbook to view a dissected brain through these links. There are also live discussion groups available on neurological topics as well as brain injury support information. These sites will be updated periodically to bring you the most current brain injury information available via the Internet.

Howard L Nations, P.C. :: The Sterling Mansion :: 4515 Yoakum Boulevard :: Houston, Texas 77006 :: 800-269-3050 :: 713-807-8400