According to the Brain Injury Association of America (“BIA”), every nine (9) seconds someone in this country suffers a brain injury, and over 5,300,000 Americans currently live with a permanent disability related to a traumatic brain injury.
All too often, accident victims in Indiana and Illinois suffer serious and life-altering bodily injuries in a variety of scenarios, from school sporting events to on-the-job falls, where they suffer head trauma during the incident that results in permanent harm.
Two Types of Head Trauma and Brain Injury: Acquired and Traumatic
Head trauma involving harm to the brain is categorized in several ways, including (1) acquired and (2) traumatic. An acquired brain injury (“ABI”) is any harm to the brain that is not the result of (a) birth trauma; (b) physical degeneration; (c) congenital defect; or (d) heredity. A traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) is considered to be a form of acquired brain injury.
The BIA defines a TBI as “… an alteration in brain function, or other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force. Traumatic impact injuries can be defined as closed (or non-penetrating) or open (penetrating).”
Accidents That Result in Permanent Brain Injury
Sometimes, these severe head injuries are not the result of an accident at home, at school, or on the job. For instance, an acquired brain injury can happen during the course of an infectious disease or as the consequence of a stroke.
However, most ABIs – and especially TBIs – are the result of accidents where the victim suffers an unexpected injury resulting in permanent harm or death.
Accident Causes: Acquired Brain Injury
Common accident causes of ABIs include:
- Electric Shock
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Exposure to Toxins
- Trauma
- Oxygen Deprivation.
For more, read Accidents Involving Electric Shock and Exposure to Electricity; Car Crashes: Fatalities Down But Still Too Many Killed in Motor Vehicle Accidents; More Time for Injured Workers to Seek Justice after Exposure to Toxins on the Job: New Illinois Statute; and Respiratory Protection: Deadly Dangers Facing Variety of Workers in Indiana and Illinois.
Accident Causes: Traumatic Brain Injury
Leading accident causes of TBIs include:
- Falls (47.9%)
- Struck By/Against Incidents (17.10%)
- Motor Vehicle Accidents (13.2%)
- Assaults (8.3%).
For details, see Fatal Falls on the Job and the Employer’s Failure to Protect Worker From Fall Risk; Fatal Construction Work Accident: Injuries from Being Struck By Object; Fatal Motor Vehicle Accidents on the Job: Four Types of Workers Facing Highest Risk of Deadly Work Crash; and Assault: Victims of Intentional Harm in Indiana and Illinois.
Types of Brain Injury in an Accident
During any kind of accident, the victim may suffer permanent head trauma in different ways. The severity of the brain injury ranges from mild, moderate, to severe. Brain injuries in an accident can involve horrific harm to the victim, such as:
1] Diffuse Axonal Injuries, where the brain is hurt from a great force shaking the head and skull or a force that pushes or rotates the head. The brain is moved very fast, and fibers within the brain are sheared away from the bone of the skull.
Diffuse Axonal Injuries are often suffered in a motor vehicle accident or in a fall. The victim often loses consciousness for several hours and will likely face life-long disability as a result.
2] Concussions are the type of traumatic brain injury suffered most often by accident victims. Here, the victim’s head experiences a sudden impact or movement that results in the head shaking rapidly back and forth, with the brain’s blood vessels and nerves being stretched and possibly damaged.
Concussions are often the result of motor vehicle accidents, falls, or playing contact sports including football or soccer. They are considered to be “mild” forms of traumatic brain injury; nevertheless, the victim may experience serious and permanent bodily harm.
3] Contusions happen when the head suffers an extreme force or blow that causes the brain to bleed. Any accident involving a direct and strong blow to the head can result in a contusion. Of particular concern here are a particular type of contusion involving Coup-Contrecoup Injuries. In Coup-Contrecoup Injuries, the incident is so fierce that both the site where the force collides with the head and the site on the opposite side of the brain are injured. Here, the impact is so intense that it moves the brain and slams it against the opposite side of the skull.
Claims for Justice After Accident Brain Injury in Indiana or Illinois
Severe head trauma can happen in all sorts of accidents here in Indiana and Illinois. Victims can range in age from the very young to the very old, and incidents can happen on the school playing field, the work site, a roadway, a nursing home facility, or at a restaurant or grocery store. We have discussed various risks facing accident victims and brain injury before, see:
- Kids and Concussions: High School Football Brain Injuries
- Traumatic Brain Injury Accidents: the Cost of Care and Treatment
- Brain Injury Awareness Day: Suffering After a Traumatic Brain Injury Extends Past the Accident Victim
- Helmets: Limited Protection of the Head and Brain from Serious Injury or Death
- Brain Injury Awareness: Serious Traumatic Brain Injuries Kill Hundreds Every Day in This Country.
For brain injury victims, the need for immediate care as well as long-term assistance can be intensive and expensive. When the accident is caused by the negligence or intentional bad conduct of others, then the state laws of Indiana and Illinois provide avenues for justice to these victims.
Damages including medical expense, surgical care, rehabilitation, physical therapy, pain and suffering, lost wages, lost future earning capacity and more may be legally available under the state laws of negligence, product liability, gross negligence, and/or workers’ compensation.
Head injuries are all too often the tragic consequence of a serious accident in Illinois or Indiana. Lives are lost or forever altered as a result. Please be careful out there!
