Understanding Traumatic Brain Injuries and Their Impact
Each March is when the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAUSA) marks Brain Injury Awareness Month. Not only does this month serve as an annual fundraising opportunity for the non-profit organization, but it also aims to create awareness about what often proves to be a life-changing injury.?
For this month's installment of the Thomas Law Offices Monthly Digest, we'll do our part to draw awareness to traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) by discussing how they occur, how life-changing they can be if you suffer them, and the options available to individuals who do.
How Common TBIs Are
Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that at least 1.5 million people are diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury every year. At least 230,000 of those patients are hospitalized after suffering such an injury. Additional CDC data shows that at least 69,000 U.S. patients die from TBI-related injuries every year, a number that equates to around 190 deaths daily.
How Do Brain Injuries Occur?
There's not one single way these permanently disabling or fatal injuries occur. A TBI can result from individuals:?
●??????? Being abused or physically assaulted (i.e., punched)
●??????? Having their head strike an inanimate object in an auto accident
●??????? Being struck by an object (i.e., that falls off a store shelf or tools falling from a construction site)
●??????? Striking their head on the pavement during a slip and fall
●??????? Victimized by gun violence
●??????? Having doctors who fail to uphold their standard of care when treating them?
While the list above is far from exhaustive, it hopefully gives you an idea as to how someone can be left with a brain injury by engaging in various unexpected yet preventable ways.
Outcomes TBI Survivors Face
While, as you can likely tell from the statistics outlined above, many TBI patients often survive their injuries, their lives seldom return to what it was like pre-injury. Instead, they're left with lifelong impairments, such as:?
●??????? Issues with balancing or coordination
●??????? Sensitivity to light or loud noises
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●??????? Issues with cognition (i.e., thinking through things)
●??????? Visual acuity concerns (like blurry vision)
●??????? An inability to remember things
●??????? Mood changes (causing angry outbursts, anxiety, or depression, for example)
●??????? Sleep disturbances (like insomnia)
●??????? Difficulties with impulse control
●??????? An inclination toward aggression?
The severity of a patient's symptoms and their prognosis is greatly impacted by the type and extent of the TBI they suffer.
Costs Associated With Treating Brain Injuries
TBIs can be particularly costly to treat. It can cost in the high tens of thousands to millions of dollars to so across a patient's lifetime. Factors like the type of injury, when its onset occurs, whether the patient undergoes surgery and what kind of follow-up care they receive can all impact how much treating a brain injury costs across their lifetime.?
In many cases, TBI patients are unable to return to the same job role they once had and may require around-the-clock care at home or placement in an assisted living facility, factors that can also result in patients incurring added costs.?
Our hope this Brain Injury Awareness Month is that you're reading this and other resources simply to become more informed about others' plights and to minimize the chances of you and those close to you suffering brain injuries. However, if you've had the misfortune of suffering a TBI and want to know what your rights to recovering compensation from liable parties after injury incidents like these are, our Thomas Law Offices team is here to answer any questions you may have -- free of charge.