Chicago Traumatic Brain Injury Attorney
A traumatic brain injury is a severe condition that affects many accident victims annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in fact, revealed that an estimated 2.8 million individuals sustain this type of injury per year. This condition requires immediate medical diagnosis and treatment, as it can severely affect a person’s quality of life.
If you or someone you know has suffered from a brain injury due to another person’s negligence, you can file a claim with the help of a reliable Chicago traumatic brain injury lawyer to obtain full and fair compensation. Contact Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC today.
Traumatic Brain Injury: An Overview
A traumatic brain injury is a non-congenital, non-degenerative insult to the brain from an external, mechanical force. This condition occurs when an individual:
- Strikes or gets struck by an object
- Gets hit by an object that pierces the skull
- Suffers a violent and sudden shaking or jolt
The trauma from the external force damages the structure of the brain and prevents it from functioning normally. The CDC notes that traumatic brain injury can affect the way an individual:
- Walks and moves
- Thinks (reasoning and memory)
- Controls his/her emotions and social interactions
- Communicates with other people (understanding and speaking)
- Experiences sensations, such as smell, taste, and touch
While some people recover from this condition and live their lives normally, others never regain normal brain function. Individuals with a debilitating brain injury may need assistance with basic living tasks, as well as ongoing treatment and care.
Various Types of Traumatic Brain Injury
There are several kinds of traumatic brain injury, but they fall into either one of the two categories: Open or closed. An open head injury happens when an object penetrates the skull and damages the brain tissue. On the other hand, a closed head injury occurs when a sudden, violent motion or a blow knocks the brain against the skull but does not penetrate it.
Closed traumatic brain injuries are more complex and have several different patterns of signs and symptoms. A few of the types of closed head injury are:
- Concussion – This mild form of head injury causes the victim to suffer a brief period of unconsciousness, or feel disoriented, confused, or dazed while maintaining consciousness. It can lead to a wide range of health problems, including dizziness, balance problems, painful headaches, anxiety, depression, and personality changes. Additionally, it can make the individual more prone to additional concussions. Recurring cases of this type of injury may result in dementia or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative disease of the brain.
- Diffuse Axonal – This type of brain injury arises from a severe jolt or a powerful and sudden rotation of the head. When the head moves from the shaking or rotation, the brain trails behind in motion. The organ eventually strikes against the interior skull and injures multiple parts of the brain. Diffuse axonal is a common type of injury that results from a vehicular accident.
- Epidural Hematoma – This deadly traumatic head injury occurs when blood builds up between the skull and the hard covering of the brain. This rapidly puts pressure on the organ.
Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury
Some of the typical events that contribute to a traumatic head injury are:
- Vehicle-Related Accidents – Collisions involving bicycles, motorcycles, or cars are a common cause of this brain injury.
- Falls – Young children and the elderly can sustain a traumatic brain injury when they fall from the down the stairs, in a nursing home or other areas.
Signs of Traumatic Brain Injury
The symptoms of a brain injury can be either immediate or delayed. If the signs do not show up right away, they may manifest days or weeks following the injury.
Individuals should seek medical attention as soon as possible if they experience any of the following head injury symptoms:
- Headache
- Nausea and vomiting
- Clear fluids coming out of the ears or nose
- Unequal dilation in the pupils
- Double vision
- Seizures or convulsions
- Change or loss of consciousness anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
- Changes in sleep patterns, such as having a hard time falling asleep or sleeping more than usual
- Fatigue
- Feelings of anxiety and depression
- Mood swings, combativeness, agitation, or other unusual behavior
- Increased sensitivity to distractions, sounds, or lights
- Sensory problems, including loss of sense of smell, ringing in the ears, seeing stars, and blurred vision
- Vertigo, dizziness, lightheadedness, or loss of coordination or balance
Headache, fatigue, confusion, and dizziness tend to begin immediately after an injury, but resolve over time. Emotional symptoms, such as irritability and frustration, tend to emerge later on during the recovery period. Victims may easily overlook many of the enumerated signs and symptoms, as they may appear okay even though they feel or behave differently.
Reach out to Our Law Firm
If your doctor has diagnosed you with traumatic brain injury and suspect that your condition was someone else’s fault, come to Taxman, Pollock, Murray & Bekkerman, LLC. Our renowned head injury law firm helps you obtain compensation for your suffering and financial losses.
When our team of experienced head injury attorneys takes on your case, they use a modern-age approach to get the responsible surgeon or negligent individual to pay the recovery amount you deserve. If the liable party does not want to reach a fair settlement, we will not hesitate to bring your case before a judge.
Don’t wait any longer. Call our reputable brain injury lawyers at (312) 586-1700 or email them at info@tpmblegal.com.