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Understanding Concussions And The Temporary And Long-Term Effects Of Such Personal Injuries
Every day ordinary things such as driving a car, riding a bicycle, going to work, attending school, and playing a sport can result in a knock to the head. Although some head injuries are immediately found to be life-threatening, other head injuries such as concussions may be thought of as minor injuries, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
Although there are varying degrees of severity within brain injuries-with traumatic brain injuries being the most severe-someone who suffers from a concussion is still suffering from a head injury that can alter one's brain function. This is because whenever a blow to the head happens, the way the brain normally functions can be affected.
Concussions typically cause the following temporary symptoms:
- Disorientation and confusion
- Nausea and vomiting
- Swelling of the head and brain
- Headaches
- Moodiness and depression
- Loss of consciousness
- Brain bruising
- Amnesia
After A Traumatic Brain Injury: The Impact Of Physical Impairments
For a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor, life is forever changed. Not only does a brain injury cause many neurological and emotional issues, but a TBI can lead to physical impairments. While some emotional and mental changes may take time to detect, there's no hiding when a physical change occurs.
Physical Limitations: Common Side Effects of Serious Brain Injuries
It is very apparent when someone starts walking with a limp or shuffle when he or she never used to. Additionally, it is obvious when someone has a hard time using his or her hands due to the onset of weakness and poor coordination in the extremities. Sadly, these-as well as many other deficits-are all physical effects of traumatic brain injuries.
While some physical limitations can be remedied through surgery and physical therapy, other physical impairments result in permanent changes for TBI survivors. Some of the common physical effects of a brain injury include:
- Change in muscle strength and coordination. When a traumatic brain injury occurs, it can cause the brain to lose control of the muscular system, which can lead to hypertonicity (when the extremities feel tight and stiff) or hypotonicity (when the limbs feel heavy and limp). As a result, muscle stiffness, weakness, and muscle paralysis can occur, which can lead to clumsiness and poor coordination.
How Our Lawyers Can Help Car Accident Victims Recover From Their Injuries
Automobile accidents occur millions of times each year. If you are one of the unfortunate people to have been injured in a motor vehicle accident, you already know that your body physically absorbed the impact of the trauma. This is why it is important for you to get the best possible physical recovery so that you don't have to live in pain the rest of your life.
Being injured in a car accident will likely leave you in a world of pain and discomfort-both externally and internally. Unfortunately, dealing with that pain can cause you not to think straight, which can affect your long-term physical recovery and the outcome of your personal injury claim. This is why it is critical to speak with a personal injury lawyer as soon as possible following a collision.
Ways a Lawyer Can Help You Recover
While fighting for your financial recovery, our lawyers can also help you make the best physical recovery possible by ensuring you receive the following:
- Good doctors. The type of medical treatment you receive will play a large role in your overall physical recovery. This is why it is essential that you are seeing a doctor who not only knows how to treat your specific physical injuries but also knows how to deal with personal injury claims and work with accident injury attorneys. Because there are so many doctors to choose from, we can help ensure that you have the right doctor for your injury case.
The Throbbing Pain Of A Headache Could Be A Symptom Of A Brain Injury
Almost everyone has experienced a headache at some point in time and likely assumes it is brought on by stress, dehydration, or another cause. While most headaches are simply annoyances that go away, sometimes a headache could be a sign of a traumatic brain injury. Although most people's headaches go away with a few pain pills, those who have suffered a brain injury aren't so fortunate.
While not every person with a brain injury suffers from severe headaches, headaches are common symptoms of traumatic brain injuries and they can be persistent, painful, and even debilitating. Headaches can range in severity from a dull ache to a sharp shooting pain. Brain injury victims typically suffer from four different intense types of headaches, including:
How Coma Victims Can Get Help And Justice After A Serious Injury In DC
As experienced Virginia personal injury attorneys, we know that it's hard to cope with any incapacitating injury in Virginia. But when it happens to someone you love, it can be even harder to watch him or her suffer than to be injured yourself. However, your relative does have one hope: you. Families of coma victims may not know that they can file an injury suit on their loved one's behalf. The law will allow for surviving family members to seek medical payments and compensation for victims who are unconscious, unable to speak, or are in a state of altered consciousness. You may be able to get compensation for injury costs if your loved one is experiencing:
- Coma. If your loved one is unconscious and unaware of their surroundings, he or she is in a comatose state. Many people recover from a coma in a matter of days, but some will remain unresponsive for months or even years, requiring permanent hospital residence.
- Vegetative state. In some head injury cases, the brain will "shut down" in order to repair itself. This often results in a vegetative state: patients are not conscious or aware of what's going on, but their eyes may be open and their reflexes may respond.
Sepsis 101: What Hospital Patients Should Know
Although hospitals should be very clean in order to protect vulnerable patients, they are actually often riddled with bacteria. This is why so many patients end up getting infections and suffering serious complications during their hospital stays. In fact, one of the most common bacterial infections suffered in hospitals is sepsis, which is a serious illness that affects over a million Americans and claims up to 500,000 lives every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Understanding Sepsis
When medical professionals fail to wash their hands or fail to use proper protocols for sterilizing central lines and catheters, patients can suffer infections such as sepsis. Sepsis is actually the body's reaction to an infection. When the body's immune system releases chemicals to fight an infection but causes inflammation instead, it means that the body wasn't able to fight off the infection normally. As a result, sepsis develops, which can cause organ failure, tissue damage, blood clots, heart problems, and even death. According to Sepsis.org, "Every two minutes someone dies from sepsis in the U.S.-that's more than from prostate cancer, breast cancer, and AIDS combined."
Causes Of Wrongful Death: Surgical Errors
People undergo surgery to make their health better, not worse. However, sometimes, healthcare workers are negligent and cause patients harm. Sadly, some patients even die as a result of such carelessness on the part of doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and hospitals.
While some surgeries are planned out months in advance, others are emergency surgeries that are done for lifesaving purposes. In either event, patients put their trust in the hands of their doctors and other medical professionals at the hospital or medical facility. Unfortunately, sometimes that trust is broken when healthcare workers act negligently and make critical life-threatening mistakes.
When this happens and families lose a loved one, they want answers, and rightfully so. Sadly, there is no answer that can bring back a loved one, but there are answers that can help explain how acts of medical malpractice occur and why a family may have a right to a wrongful death claim. Some acts of negligence surrounding a surgical procedure can include:
Tired Drivers Cause Many Drowsy Driving Accidents And Injuries
Did you know that impaired driving doesn't just refer to driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and that drowsy driving is a form of impaired driving? In fact, people who drive when they are tired are engaging in impaired driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA). The truth of the matter is that when a driver gets behind the wheel feeling fatigued, he or she is more likely to crash.
So What Exactly Is Drowsy Driving?
A person doesn't have to fall asleep to be considered a drowsy driver. Although the worst type of drowsy driving is when a driver falls asleep at the wheel, drowsy driving can also include tiredness that causes a driver's alertness, attention, judgment, reactions, and decisions to be slowed and negatively impacted.
Although some drowsy driving accidents have been caused by those with sleep disorders, drowsy driving crashes are also frequently caused by shift workers, truck drivers, young male drivers, and people who sleep less than six hours per night, according to NHTSA. However, it is important to note that no one is immune from drowsy driving.
After A Traumatic Brain Injury: The Impact Of Memory Problems
Victims of traumatic brain injury (TBI) often suffer from memory loss and a continued inability to store and retrieve memories. Depending on which areas of the brain have been affected, this deficit can impact a TBI sufferer in significant ways. Daily tasks can become overwhelming and continuing with school may be impossible.
Memory Loss: A Common Effect of a TBI
While it may not seem logical, brain injury survivors are more likely to remember events that occurred long ago than new information and recent events. For example, a person with a TBI may remember everything about his or her childhood, but might not remember a conversation he or she had the previous day.
While some memories come back over time, many people living with TBI are not able to recall an entire conversation, event, or situation that took place before and after suffering head trauma. This makes life difficult for them and frustrating for their loved ones.
Although pre-injury memories are easier to retain, head injury survivors may still have some trouble recalling memories from certain periods of time. This is because brain injury survivors often suffer from amnesia related to a certain time. Although TBI survivors may suffer from some permanent long-term memory loss, the biggest challenge is accessing short-term memory because these are the memories we need to perform daily routines and to interact with others in a meaningful way.
After A Traumatic Brain Injury: The Impact Of Emotional Changes
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can affect a person's emotions by changing the way one feels or expresses emotions. This happens because damage occurs to part of the brain that controls emotions. As a result, people with TBIs can be happy one moment and then angry or sad the next moment. This is especially hard on family members of a TBI survivor because there may be no trigger or warning to let someone know the injured person is going to act out emotionally.
Emotional Changes After a Brain Injury
Not only are traumatic brain injury survivors affected by emotional mood swings, but they experience other emotional problems, such as:
- Anxiety. Brain injury victims may feel fearful, worried, and nervous without really knowing why they are feeling this way. When TBI survivors are stressed, pressured, overwhelmed, or in crowded environments, they may feel anxious or experience panic attacks.
- Depression. When people are depressed, they typically feel sad and worthless. Additionally, people who struggle with depression generally withdraw from others and don't show an interest for anything in life. They may struggle concentrating and have thoughts of suicide.
703-591-0067
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703-591-0067
From our office in Fairfax, Shevlin Smith, P.C. serves clients throughout Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., including Alexandria, Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Burke, Centreville, Dale City, Fair Oaks, Leesburg, Manassas, McLean, Oakton, Reston, Springfield, and Woodbridge, as well as Fairfax County, Arlington County, Fauquier County, Loudoun County, and Prince William County.
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