The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that over one million Americans per year visit doctors due to brain injuries, and nearly 50,000 per year lose their lives. It’s also estimated that over 5 million Americans – about 1.5% of the U.S. population – live with disabilities due to brain injuries. These injuries can be devastating and life-changing; they can diminish a person’s quality of life, as well as place a burden of care on loved ones when the injuries are particularly severe. What used to be regular, everyday functions become quite difficult, and cognitive/motor abilities may be impaired or significantly reduced for some time to come.
Anyone who has fallen victim to another’s negligence deserves to be fully compensated for their injuries and losses. If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in an accident, contact our attorneys today for a free consultation.
Here are the most common types of brain injuries sustained in accidents:
- Conmociones cerebrales: aunque muchas conmociones cerebrales se consideran traumatismos craneoencefálicos «leves», nunca deben ignorarse bajo ninguna circunstancia. Si una persona sufre una conmoción cerebral y retoma la actividad física antes de que se haya curado por completo, una segunda lesión podría provocar el síndrome del segundo impacto (SIS), una afección potencialmente mortal que causa inflamación del cerebro y que puede dar lugar a daños permanentes e incluso a la muerte.
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) – Defined simply as, “Brain dysfunction caused by an outside force, usually a violent blow to the head,” this term encompasses many serious injuries to the brain.
- Lesiones cerebrales penetrantes: estas lesiones se producen cuando un objeto extraño atraviesa el cráneo y penetra en la duramadre, la membrana que rodea el cerebro. Suelen estar causadas por proyectiles de alta velocidad, como balas o metralla, o por perforaciones a menor velocidad, como una puñalada o un fragmento óseo incrustado en el tejido cerebral debido a una fractura de cráneo. Las víctimas que han sufrido lesiones cerebrales penetrantes pueden perder las funciones asociadas a la zona lesionada del cerebro y padecer problemas respiratorios, epilepsia u otras complicaciones médicas.
- Contusiones cerebrales: se conocen comúnmente como «hematomas en el cerebro» y suelen estar provocadas por un traumatismo craneal. Pueden aparecer en uno o varios lados del cerebro y provocar convulsiones, dolores de cabeza, confusión, náuseas y vómitos, problemas sensoriales y pérdida de conciencia. Las contusiones cerebrales siempre requieren una evaluación médica inmediata y un seguimiento exhaustivo para controlar la lesión y prevenir la aparición de complicaciones.
- Intracranial hemorrhages – When a brain injury occurs, a blood vessel inside the skull may leak or rupture, resulting in intracranial bleeding. This can lead to dangerous pressure inside the skull, causing further damage to brain tissue, and bleeding in the brain tissue (cerebral hemorrhage) can also occur. Cerebral and intracranial hemorrhages always require immediate medical attention, as they can lead to stroke, coma, or even death in severe cases.
Symptoms of brain injuries are sometimes difficult to detect, but are often of a neurological or behavioral nature. They include:
- Sensory – Difficulties with interpretation of movement, touch, temperature, fine discrimination, and limb-position
- Perceptual – Affecting “the integration or patterning of sensory impressions into psychologically meaningful data”
- Hearing – Decreased or lost hearing, higher sensitivity to sounds, or ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
- Visual – Double vision (diplopia), blurred vision, poor depth perception, intolerance of light (photophobia), involuntary eye movements (nystagmus), or partial or total loss of vision
- Smell/taste – Lost or diminished sense of smell (anosmia) or taste
- Seizures – A variety of convulsions associated with epilepsy which may involve disruption of motor movements, sensory perception, or general consciousness
- Other physical changes – These include chronic pain, diminished control of bowel or bladder, loss of stamina, sleep disorders, and changes in appetite.
Actualmente, unos 5,3 millones de estadounidenses padecen afecciones médicas derivadas de lesiones cerebrales que les han cambiado la vida, entre las que se incluyen trastornos físicos, emocionales o cognitivos, como déficit de atención, problemas de comunicación, pérdida de memoria a corto o largo plazo, dolores de cabeza crónicos y/o migrañas, convulsiones y trastornos del habla. Los problemas neuropsiquiátricos derivados de un traumatismo craneoencefálico pueden mermar la calidad de vida de una persona, y los estudios también han demostrado que las lesiones repetitivas pueden provocar problemas neuropsiquiátricos durante «años o incluso décadas» tras el impacto inicial; esta afección se conoce como encefalopatía traumática crónica (CTE) y se diagnostica de forma póstuma.
These debilitations often require the lifelong assistance of medical professionals, such as for counseling, physical rehabilitation, physical/speech therapy, vocational retraining, and special equipment to assist in daily functions. The costs of this care, combined with lost income over years and decades, can result in astronomical financial losses if the injury claim for the accident was not handled properly. This is where we come in: our attorneys will fight to ensure that you receive full compensation for all expenses and losses, both present and future, including medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.
We at 844 See Mike are proud to serve our fellow citizens in personal injury cases, especially when you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, and we are fully committed to protecting your rights and ensuring that the other party is held legally accountable when negligence occurs. We will fight until the very end to ensure that you are fully compensated for all injuries and losses resulting from the accident, and you won’t owe us a dime for our services.
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury in an accident, contact 844 See Mike today for a free consultation. We are a Chicago-based personal injury law firm, and helping our clients is about counseling, advocating, and ultimately solving problems. With years of experience successfully representing the people and not the powerful, we will file your claim and take care of the insurance company, the bills, and the lost income. We will handle your case quickly and advise you every step of the way, and we will not hesitate to go to trial for you. Lastly, our personal injury lawyers are not paid attorney fees unless we win your case. Our no-fee promise is that simple. You have nothing to risk when you hire us – only the opportunity to seek justice.
