Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, at least 1.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury every year, equaling 4,000 people every day. Of these brain injuries, 50,000 patients die and 80,000 are left with lifelong disabilities.

Whenever a traumatic brain injury is caused by someone else’s negligence—such as a reckless driver or medical malpractice—a brain injury lawyer should be consulted. Each Tampa, Florida brain injury lawyer at Clark and Martino, P.A., has specific experience in handling brain injury cases. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a brain injury, we urge you to contact a personal injury attorney at our Tampa, Florida headquarters. During a free consultation, we’ll talk about the levels of brain injury, which are as follows:

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

During a mild traumatic brain injury, the loss of consciousness is brief, perhaps a few seconds or minutes. Sometimes the patient will be confused instead of unconscious. Under brain scans a brain with mild traumatic brain injury may seem normal. Symptoms of a mild traumatic brain injury include headache, fatigue, irritability, sensitivity to noise or light, problems with balance, memory problems, nausea, depression, anxiety, and decreased speed of mental processing.

Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury

A patient with moderate traumatic brain injury will usually lose consciousness for a few minutes to a few hours. The patient will be confused for days or possibly weeks. The physical, cognitive, and/or behavioral deficiencies of a person with moderate traumatic brain injury could last for months or could be permanent. Patients with moderate traumatic brain injury often show the same symptoms as mild traumatic brain injury, in addition to other symptoms such as a persistent headache, repeated vomiting, convulsions, and seizures.

Severe Brain Injury

With severe brain injury, the unconsciousness or coma lasts for days, weeks, or months. Examples of severe brain injury are a vegetative state, persistent vegetative state, minimally responsive state, locked-in syndrome, and brain death. While in a coma, a severe brain injury patient will have no response to stimuli and cannot be awakened. In a vegetative state, a person will show signs of responding to stimuli, but this person is not able to interact with his or her environment. The minimally responsive individual is not in a coma and can follow simple commands but is still bedridden. Locked-in syndrome is a rare condition which leaves the patient unable to move any part of his or her body except for the eyes. A person with locked-in syndrome is able to think and is conscious.

All of the examples mentioned above are heartbreaking to all those involved such as family, friends, and medical workers. As Tampa personal injury attorneys, the trial lawyers at Clark and Martino, P.A., have seen the tragedies left behind by brain injuries, and we have always worked diligently to help brain injury patients recover financially as much as possible.

An experienced brain injury attorney understands some important principles: (1) no two brain injuries are the same, (2) the symptoms and results of a brain injury vary from person to person, and (3) it takes a long period of time to realize the full extent of a brain injury. Please call a Tampa, Florida personal injury attorney from Clark and Martino, P.A., at 1-866-598-9111.