Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers In California
Traumatic brain injury is described as a head injury that harms brain tissue and affects more than 2.5 million Americans every year. Trauma, including an accident, can result in traumatic brain injury (TBI). Unfortunately, these head injuries frequently cause permanent impairment or even death and are quite severe. Brain injuries can be traumatic, especially when another person’s carelessness leads to the accident.
There are physical and psychological effects, but TBI patients must travel a long, costly road to recovery. The Southern California brain injury lawyers at The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker are aware of your situation and will do everything in our power to assist you in obtaining compensation. Let us fight for you and ensure those responsible are held accountable if someone or something neglected your safety and you suffered a TBI.
What Causes Traumatic Brain Injuries?
Your brain affects practically every aspect of your existence, from managing your breathing to regulating your neurological system. But what if your brain could no longer handle these duties, leaving you permanently dependent on assistance with routine chores? That would be very frightening for most of us. But this is the reality for almost 5 million Americans living with a handicap attributable to traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Traumatic brain injuries, also referred to as “The Silent Epidemic,” can result from a variety of factors, the most common of which include:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Slip and Fall Accidents
- Being Struck by or Against an Object
- Assault(s)
Concussions, often considered mild brain injuries, can range in intensity from mild to moderate to severe neurological impairments, which frequently have long-lasting or permanent repercussions. Additionally, head trauma injuries are further divided into two categories: open TBIs, in which an object enters the brain via the skull, and closed TBIs.
The latter results in a powerful, non-penetrating hit to the victim’s skull. An injury known as a hypoxic brain injury may arise from the cerebral swelling that follows, which deprives the victim’s brain of oxygen.
Statistics On Traumatic Brain Injuries In California
The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association estimated that 5.3 million persons in the United States have a TBI-related disability.
To better grasp how dangerous these kinds of injuries are, consider the following additional traumatic brain injury statistics:
- An estimated 775,000 senior citizens suffer a long-term disability associated with TBI.
- Males are 16.7% more probable than females to suffer a TBI (8.5 percent).
- Most TBI cases (75%) are minor and may be handled outside of a hospital.
- Every year, there are 7 million new TBI cases in the United States.
- An estimated 235,000 TBI hospitalizations occur each year (this is 20 times more than hospitalizations for spinal cord injuries).
- TBI causes between 80,000 and 90,000 Americans to experience long-term disability every year.
- Car accidents account for between 50% and 70% of accidents that result in TBI.
- In the US, falls account for 1.3 million TBIs, making them the most common cause.
- Every day, 150 Americans pass away because of TBI.
What Kind of Brain Injury Is the Most Serious?
The most severe brain damage is typically brought on by crushing blows or piercing wounds to the skull. These are frequently more severe because they, in some way, impair the fragile brain tissue. A severe head injury usually results in an open head wound that fractures or crushes the skull.
Given severe injuries, long-term hospitalization and extensive rehabilitation are often treatment components. Please remember that although open head injuries are thought to be the most serious, closed head injuries can also result in severe trauma or even worse.
How Can Traumatic Brain Injury Be Avoided?
Traumatic brain injuries are avoidable. Several recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can lower your risk of suffering a traumatic brain injury.
The CDC advises doing the following things to avoid TBI in addition to always wearing a seatbelt when traveling in a car:
- Never operate a vehicle when impaired by drugs or alcohol.
- Wear a helmet or other proper headgear when biking or snowboarding for example.
- Place children in the right car or booster seat to reduce the risk of TBI.
- Preventing falls is important, especially for older persons.
- Exercise your strength and balance.
- Regularly have your eyes tested.
- Take action to secure your home.
- Sports safety must be taken seriously.
- Install window guards, use safety gates, keep the stairs clear of clutter, and use a non-slip mat in the bathroom to prevent head injuries.
Parents of young children and older people should take extra precautions to secure their houses because both groups are at a high risk of sustaining brain damage.
Safety gates, safety bars, and window guards all assist in lessening the danger of TBIs and minimizing accidents around the house..
What Symptoms Are Related To Traumatic Brain Injury?
A severe traumatic brain injury is usually apparent, but it can be challenging to recognize and diagnose mild to moderate brain injuries, mainly if any superficial injuries have also occurred.
Danger indications of a brain or brain stem injury include several psychiatric disorders, including:
- Difficulty Identifying People or Places
- Difficulty Paying Attention
- Confusion, Agitation, or Restlessness
- Unusual Actions
These symptoms may show up right away, but it’s also possible they won’t until several days have passed. It’s crucial to watch out for any physical signs of a brain injury in the immediate aftermath of a head trauma incident following a head injury or other brain trauma.
The following list includes some typical TBI physical symptoms:
- Ongoing Headache
- Consciousness Loss
- Seizures or Tremors
- Vomiting and Nauseous Symptoms, Especially in Children
- Fatigue or Somnolence
- Unsteady Speech
- Unsteadiness or Poor Coordination
- Alterations to Vision
- Various Sized Pupils
- Leakage of Transparent Liquid From the Nose or Ears
- Loss of Hearing or Increased Sensitivity to Sound
- Fingers or Toes That are Numb or Weakened
The parts of the brain that have been damaged are typically associated with the symptoms of a brain injury. The following areas of the brain are frequently harmed:
- Frontal Lobe
- Temporal Lobe
- Orbitofrontal Cortex
- Cerebellum
- Occipital Lobe
- Angular Gyrus
- Parietal Lobe
- Sensory Cortex
- Olfactory Bulb
The Glasgow Coma Scale is used to evaluate a victim’s eye-opening, vocal, and motor responses to assess the severity of a traumatic brain injury (GCS). This classification categorizes head injuries as mild, moderate, and severe, with catastrophically wounded sufferers infrequently responding to testing.
It’s important to remember that there are numerous symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, some of which may take time to manifest. The most crucial action you can take after a traumatic brain injury is to watch for changes in the victim’s physical or mental state. You should seek emergency medical assistance if anything changes or doesn’t seem right.
What Are Traumatic Brain Injuries’ Long-Term Effects?
Everyone’s reaction to a brain injury is unique. While certain symptoms could become obvious, others might develop over time. Even worse, some head injury symptoms might not manifest for years or even permanently, necessitating specialized care or equipment and impairing the victim’s capacity for employment and independent living.
Adults and children who sustain traumatic brain injuries will typically experience one or more of the following long-term effects:
- Physical impairments, including trouble breathing, eating, or exercising, might happen, and therapy may include specialized rehabilitation programs or pricey mobility aids.
- Cognitive impairments impair a victim’s capacity for independent thought, planning, and action and may have long-lasting consequences for the victim and their family.
- Long-term communication problems can result from hearing, reading, writing, speaking, and math difficulties.
- The emotional trauma from a TBI may follow a victim for the rest of their lives, whether due to the injury itself or how it affects the victim’s life.
- TBI victims may exhibit new behavioral deficits that weren’t present before their injury, such as being reckless, impatient, or compulsive.
- Muscles involved in voluntary movement of the brain may become permanently stiff or spastic, making it difficult for the victim to speak, move, eat, or even breathe.
Multiple operations and protracted rehabilitation programs are common for victims, severely limiting a survivor’s capacity to hold a job, live independently, or genuinely enjoy life.
Many people even find it challenging to reach the Maximum Medical Improvement stage (MMI). During the healing process, TBI survivors and their brain injury lawyers may meet with all of the following:
- Neurologist
- Neurophysiologist
- Respiratory Therapist
- Occupational Therapist
- Speech/language Pathologist
- Recreational Therapist
- Physical Therapist
- Cognitive Therapist
- Life-Care Planner
- Rehabilitation Nurses
Who Might Be Held Responsible for Traumatic Brain Injury?
It’s not as simple pinpointing who caused a traumatic brain injury as you may believe. The parties responsible for inflicting a traumatic brain injury vary widely from case to case since brain injuries can happen for many different reasons and in many ways.
The following parties may perhaps be held accountable for a victim’s traumatic brain injury depending on the specifics of the case:
- Negligent Driver / Vehicle Owner / Driver’s Employer
- Product Manufacturers
- Shipping Companies
- Retailers
- Truck Drivers or Trucking Companies
- Bus Drivers or Bus Companies
- Motorcyclists
- Boat Operators
- Car Repair Shops
- Product Manufacturers and Sellers of Goods
- Public and Private Owners of the Land
- Business Owners
- Airplane Operators
- Public Entity (e.g., a local or state government)
- Anyone who acted negligently or who intentionally disregarded another person’s safety, causing a traumatic brain injury.
Family members and close friends of the victim are frequently the eyewitnesses to the person’s serious brain injury in TBI situations. Your personal injury lawyer may also meet with medical and forensic specialists to support your case and set up sworn testimony. It is essential to remember that anyone, regardless of age, can file a TBI lawsuit if another person’s negligence resulted in their damage. Additionally, anyone whose mistakes, carelessness, or unlawful behavior contributed to the accident, and head damage may be held accountable.
What Kind of Restitution Is Available To Victims?
These kinds of head injuries are frequently severe, and as the statistics on traumatic brain injury recovery demonstrated, they typically need expensive medical care and rehabilitation. Traumatic brain injury patients and their families frequently have a right to enormous compensation due to the seriousness of their injuries. Even though there might not be any immediate symptoms after a traumatic brain injury, as the effects develop over time, the victim’s care may incur high costs.
The best chance a TBI victim has of receiving full compensation is to hire a brain injury lawyer due to the legal system’s complexity. Contact us immediately to learn more about brain injury settlements in California. The brain injury lawyers at The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker are dedicated to ensuring that innocent victims receive full compensation for their out-of-pocket expenses and future medical care. They compassionately represent and comprehend the needs of traumatic brain injury victims.
By working with doctors and hospitals to accept payment on a lien basis, The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker can help make arrangements for all necessary medical treatment for clients without medical insurance or other payment methods. Our clients are the center of our attention, and we work hard to secure the highest injury settlements. To begin your FREE case consultation, contact one of our lawyers now at 800-333-0000 if you or someone you know has experienced a traumatic brain injury.
Get In Touch With A Skilled Brain Injury Lawyer Today.
Many victims and their families eventually seek the assistance of a brain injury lawyer due to the expense of engaging with so many medical professionals. Please contact our brain injury lawyers if you or a loved one experienced a severe injury such as a TBI. These kinds of injuries can potentially impact a person’s capacity to work, carry out home responsibilities, drive, and enjoy life, among other elements of their life.
Suppose you suffered a TBI as a result of someone else’s carelessness. In that case, you might be entitled to financial compensation for your past and future medical costs, pain and suffering, lost wages, diminished quality of life, and other things. We can assist you; get in touch with us today for a free consultation.
