Brain injuries can be caused by many different circumstances including car accidents or playing sports. Regardless of the cause, the impact and treatment of such an injury is unique to the type of injury sustained.
As an example, the traumatic brain injury of a New Jersey high school wrestler was recently highlighted. The young man was snowboarding last March when he sustained a life-threatening injury. After the injury, he found normal, everyday activities such as thinking or watching television would cause headaches. He was suffering from symptoms of a severe concussion and thought that he would no longer be able to wrestle. After resting failed to lessen his symptoms, his doctor suggested that getting back into wrestling might help his recovery by increasing his oxygen intake to his previous levels. The young man has found that since he began wrestling again, his headaches have decreased in severity and his tutors have described him as more focused and mentally quicker.
A brain injury can be classified as either open or closed. An open injury involves a skull fracture, often the result of contact with a hard surface. A closed injury does not cause a fracture, but can result in swelling and blood clots, which may be more serious than a fracture. Such swelling is dangerous as the brain is contained within the skull and therefore has no room to swell. The resulting pressure can cause severe impairment and even death. Other common injuries to the brain include bruising, where the brain is moved as the result of a collision and causes damage or bleeding, and tearing, in which nerve damage occurs and can result in significant impairment. The ultimate determination of the resulting level of impairment from any of these injuries is made by a medical evaluation. Such an evaluation can determine a person’s ability to work in the future, whether their condition can be improved by therapy and the amount of compensation that may be required as a result of their injury.
If someone sustains a head injury as the result of the negligence of another, they may be entitled to receive compensation from the at fault party. A personal injury attorney can assist those with such an injury to obtain the maximum compensation that they may be awarded.