Traumatic Brain Injuries Make for Complex Cases

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) resulting from a semi-truck, commercial motor vehicle, or passenger vehicle accident can be life-altering. Any hard blow to the head during a vehicle collision can cause a TBI. In fact, 61,000 people died from a TBI in 2019. Additionally, around 2.8 million Americans sustain a TBI, and 1 in 60 in the U.S. live with a TBI-related disability.

However, a TBI can make truck wreck cases more complex. While it may be manageable for an experienced truck wreck attorney to determine factors like who is liable for a wreck or how much a client is owed in medical compensation, TBIs can complicate a case’s outcome.

What is a TBI?

Any sudden blow or jolt to the head or penetrating injury can cause a traumatic brain injury. After experiencing any sort of impact to the skull, it is vital to seek treatment immediately. A TBI can be deadly otherwise.

Traumatic brain injuries are typically classified as a primary injury or secondary injury.

Primary injuries are sudden brain injuries sustained at the time of an accident. These could include the following:

• Skull fractures.
• Intracranial hematomas: a ruptured blood vessel that can cause blood to collect in brain tissue and form clots.
• Contusion: bruising of brain tissue.
• Coup-contrecoup: the brain is injured on two sides, resulting from the brain moving back and forth inside the skull.
• Diffuse axonal injury: caused by abrupt stopping or rotating force, leading to tearing or twisting of the nerve fibers that transmit brain signals.

Secondary injuries are the changes that occur inside the brain in the hours and days following the initial injury, resulting in further brain damage. These could include the following:

• Hydrocephalus: the buildup of fluid that creates pressure, which can lead to further brain tissue damage.
• Hypoxia: lack of oxygen flow to the brain, causing damage to the brain and other organs.
• Hypotension: once blood pressure drops below a certain level, it becomes more difficult for oxygen and other nutrients to be delivered to the brain effectively.
• Cerebral edema: a buildup of excess fluid around the brain, leading to increased pressure inside the skull.
• Ischemia: an ischemic stroke may occur when the brain does not receive an adequate blood supply.

Symptoms of traumatic brain injury can range in frequency and severity, with TBIs presenting in a variety of ways. Some of the most common ones can deal with cognitive impairment, issues with sight and hearing, sleep problems and more.

However, symptoms of a moderate or severe TBI can be more alarming, including seizures, slurred speech, confusion and coordination loss, numb or weak extremities, consistent nausea/vomiting, persistent or worsening headache, dilated pupils, or even coma. These serious symptoms can have a lasting impact on health, so it is important to seek treatment right away after a head injury.

Long-Term Effects of TBI

In the long-term, a TBI survivor may have trouble moving, working, completing daily activities, and maintaining or forming relationships. It can also change how someone with a TBI thinks, acts, learns, or feels.

How a TBI effects someone in the long-term can depend on the degree of impact, how long someone was unconscious, and where in the brain the trauma occurred. Damage to different areas can impact someone in the following ways:

• Frontal lobe: can lead to risky or inappropriate behaviors.
• Left side: can cause issues with logic, speech, and understanding others.
• Right side: can lead to problems processing visual information, neglect, or ability to engage in regular or familiar tasks.

When there is increased severity, a TBI can lead to many physical impairments, but also cognitive impairments, challenges with problem-solving, sleep disturbances, and depression. For those that suffer from the long-term side effects of a TBI, it changes their lives forever. They may never be able to participate in physical activities, work, hobbies, or relationships the same way they did before their injury.

Traumatic brain injuries and how their effects manifest over time can be unpredictable, which ultimately makes it harder to determine what treatments will be needed over time. It can also make it difficult to determine what one’s life may look like years after the injury.

Each of these factors creates more complicated cases for victims of truck wrecks that have sustained a TBI.

Complicated Cases

When an experienced truck wreck attorney takes on a truck accident case, they have to determine the case’s full value. To do so, they may consult with several experts to calculate how the accident impacted the client’s life directly following the accident and over time.

This can include compensation for things like loss of income, either in the short term or indefinitely, due to inability to work; medical bills following the accident, as well as treatments in the future; medical equipment or assistance needed in the long-term; pain and suffering; and emotional damages.

Of those who are diagnosed with moderate to severe TBI, 20% become fully dependent in all aspects of care. For mild TBI, 30-56% have not recovered to the point of their functional baseline at 6-12 months after their injury. Many aspects of care directly following these injuries can contribute to what treatment is needed over time, and the impact of the care received may not manifest until further on.

When a patient comes into a hospital with a TBI, medical professionals must immediately engage in intensive care treatment. They will typically prioritize careful attention to the airway, oxygenation and hemodynamic support (interventions used to assist the circulatory system to maintain blood flow and pressure) to avoid secondary injuries that come from hypoxia and hypotension. The longer it takes for a patient to receive treatment, the higher the risk of lifelong complications.

Some of these lifelong effects may not be prevalent right away or resolved with treatment. Studies have shown that even years after injury, there is evidence of progressive atrophy of both gray and white matter in the brain. Markers of neuroinflammation in brain parenchyma, or the functional tissue of the brain, can persist for up to 16 years after TBI. Post-traumatic epilepsy can occur weeks, months, or years after injury. Not only that, but TBI patients can be at a higher risk for age-related neurodegenerative disorders, like dementia.

With all of the potential consequences of a TBI that could manifest years after a case is closed, it can be very complicated to determine the overall value or compensation that a client is entitled to. For these situations, a truck wreck attorney may hire a medical expert, as well as a vocationalist and/or economist to determine the value needed to cover medical expenses and loss of income.

The financial burden patients and their families experience following a TBI is exorbitant. Across the United States in the year 2000, the costs in medical expenses were estimated at $9.2 billion and $51 billion for lost productivity. Adjusted for today’s inflation, that’s around $17.2 billion and $95.5 billion, respectively.

Victims of truck accidents that cause a TBI may not experience life the same as they did before. The repercussions of such an injury can be astronomical. That is why truck drivers and trucking companies should be held accountable and ensure victims are equipped with the resources and compensation they need to lead as healthy a life as possible within their new normal.

Sustained a TBI From an Accident? Craig, Kelley & Faultless Can Help

Attorneys at Craig, Kelley & Faultless are prepared and have the experience to help victims of commercial vehicle wrecks through every aspect of their case.

Their team-centered approach puts client needs at the forefront, and several attorneys will work on your case to achieve the best possible outcome.

Reach out for a free case consultation today at (800) 746-0226 or online.

 

David W. Craig is board-certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, accredited by the American Bar Association in Truck Accident Law. He sits on the Board of Regents of the Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (which requires the board certification in truck accident law). He is the managing partner and one of the founding partners of Craig, Kelley & Faultless LLC. He is recognized as a Top 10 Trucking Trial Lawyer and Top 100 Trial Lawyer in Indiana by the National Trial Lawyers, as well as a Top 50 Indiana lawyer by Super Lawyers. David is the author of Semitruck Wreck, A Guide for Victims and Their Families and It’s Never Been Easier to Hire the Wrong Attorney, both written to help people navigate what comes next after a tragic wreck. He also hosts the podcast After the Crash, where you can gain valuable information about the dangers involving semis and large trucks that do not follow safety protocol regarding speed, weather conditions, maintenance upkeep, etc.