Brain Injury / Concussions

Fort Lauderdale Brain Injury Attorneys

In the case of a traumatic brain injury, you may have severe damages that require extensive rehabilitation and end up costing you a fortune in medical expenses, lost income or productivity, and potential loss of mental ability. The personal injury attorneys at Levine & Glassman are experienced in helping men, women, and children who have suffered an injury to the brain at the hand of another person's negligent behavior. The complications that can result from a traumatic brain injury are often considerably complex, and the service of skilled legal representation can make a personal injury claim regarding this kind of injury significantly easier.

If you've experienced a concussion or head injury due to someone else's negligent behavior, call the attorneys at Levine & Glassman, P.A. to discuss possible damages you may be entitled to receive in your personal injury lawsuit. Even if you only sustained a mild brain injury, you should take quick and decisive action in ensuring that you are fully compensated for the damage you may have suffered. We are dedicated to representing clients throughout Florida, particularly including the Fort Lauderdale / Miami / West Palm Beach metropolitan area encompassing Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties in Southeast Florida.

What is a traumatic brain injury?

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is any blow, jolt, or penetration of the head that disrupts the function of the brain. This is opposed to a non-traumatic brain injury, which results from something other than physical force such as a stroke or bacterial infection in the nervous system. A TBI is classified according to the severity of the injury, the type of primary and secondary damage it has on the nervous system and body, and the type of force that caused the injury.

Classifying a traumatic brain injury according to these traits includes the following considerations:

• Severity of the Injury - Typically, the severity of a brain injury is determined according to the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), a scale of 3–15 that takes into account the patient's reactions to stimuli. A patient suffering from a TBI with a GCS rating of 13-15, generally referred to as a concussion, is considered to have only a mild injury. From 12 down to 8 is moderate, and below 8 is severe.

  This method of classifying severity isn't very good with helping to predict treatment outcomes, however. As a result, there are a couple of additional methods used to classify the severity of a brain injury. These include the duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) and the amount of time the patient spends unconscious before being resuscitated.

• Pathological Features - This type of classification deals with the properties of the damage done to the brain and nervous system and how that damage interacts with mental function. A TBI can be intra-axial, which means that it actually takes place in the brain, or extra-axial, which is an injury that is in the skull but not the brain.

  Some other characteristic features include the total area of the damage. A brain injury can be considered focal or diffuse. A focal brain injury occurs in one specific area of the brain and usually affects the function of that particular area. For example, a focal lesion in the orbitofrontal cortex in the lower portion of the frontal lobes or anterior temporal lobes can inhibit social function, personality, or behavior. A diffuse injury is when the damage spreads over a large area of the brain; such injuries including edema (swelling), most types of concussions, and diffuse axonal injuries.

• Mechanisms / Causal Forces - Any combination of severity and type of damage can be determined by the type, duration, intensity, and direction of the forces that caused the injury. Direct impact of the head with another object usually causes a focal injury, while movement of the brain within the skull as a result of sudden acceleration typically results in a diffuse injury. Blunt injuries and those which result from an object piercing the skull into the brain also have widely varying characteristics. Shock waves can actually be sent through the brain in an impact, causing tissue damage that compounds with the damage caused by the impact itself.

  The location of the brain injury relative to the impact is also considered. An injury that occurs directly under the site of impact is known as a coup injury, while one that occurs on the opposite side of the brain from the impact is known as contrecoup. Generally, an object in motion that collides with a stationary head causes a coup injury, and a moving head hitting a stationary object causes contrecoup damage.

Shown to the right is a breakdown of the areas of the brain. Given that a large portion of head injuries occur either from directly in front or behind the victim, the most common areas to be injured are contained within the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe. Damage to the frontal lobe often results in social and personality changes, difficulty with problem solving, loss of mental focus, or loss of speaking ability due to Broca's aphasia. The temporal lobes control hearing, organization, and some memory, so damage to this area can result in short-term memory loss, problems organizing objects, increased aggression, or problems understanding speech due to Wernicke's aphasia. The occipital lobe is primarily involved in vision, so damage here could cause difficulties in reading or writing, cuts in visual field, or visual hallucinations.

Knowing what kind of brain damage has been sustained is essential to properly treating and recovering from a traumatic brain injury. These classifications help those who are in charge of tending to your injuries after your accident determine what to do in order to speed along your recovery.

What is a concussion, then?

A concussion is considered a mild form of TBI that results in an altered state of awareness or consciousness. A number of symptoms usually occur with a concussion, including dizziness, confusion, nausea, vomiting, disorientation, forgetfulness or amnesia, irritability, depression, or mood swings. The above methods of classification will often be used to determine if the TBI sustained is a concussion or something more serious.

What is this I hear about sleeping after a concussion?

There is a common myth about keeping someone awake after a concussion. It was long believed that someone with a concussion that fell asleep would fall into a coma and never wake up. This is now considered to be false; sleeping after a mild concussion is no more dangerous than sleeping any other time, and is certainly recommended to cut down on sleep deprivation and speed up the healing and recovery process. It is a good idea to seek medical attention as soon as possible, though, since not all brain damage occurs immediately following the accident.

What kind of damage occurs after the accident?

A significant portion of TBI-related deaths are not due to the damage sustained by the initial injury; 40% of people hospitalized for a brain injury actually worsen rather than improve during their stay in the hospital. This is because of what is called secondary damage. Secondary damage is the continuous degradation of the brain's systems that can result from a number of the following causes:

• Damage to the blood-brain barrier
• Inflammation
• Free radical overload
• Excessive Glutamate / Excitotoxicity
• Overload of calcium and sodium ions in neurons
• Mitochondrial dysfunction
• Diffuse axonal injuries
• Brain blood flow problems / Insufficient oxygen
• Cerebral edema / swelling
• Raised pressure within the skull
• Neurotransmitter cascades

These causes account for a large percentage of TBI-related deaths. A relatively minor brain injury can quickly turn into a disastrous trauma following the initial accident. Seek medical attention as soon as possible; a brain injury is not something to be trifled with.

How common are traumatic brain injuries?

More common than you would think. There are an average of 1.4 million cases of TBI in the United States each year, and that just includes the cases that are reported in hospitals; it is estimated that about 25% of all TBI sufferers don't receive medical attention for their injury. These are generally just mild concussions, however.

Here are some interesting statistics regarding traumatic brain injuries in the United States:

• An estimated 50,000 people die of brain injuries each year; 235,000 are hospitalized for a period of time. 1.1 million individuals each year receive emergency care for their brain injury.
• Males are 1.5 times more likely to suffer from a traumatic brain injury than females.
• Children under age 4 and teenagers are the most likely age groups for TBI.
• Among those who die from TBI-related complications, African Americans have the highest death rate.
• Estimated annual costs for brain injuries come to $48.3 billion.
• The lifetime cost of an individual suffering from a serious traumatic brain injury can range from $600,000 to almost $2 million.

These statistics show that brain injuries are substantially more common than we realize. The incidence of brain injuries is over 120 times that of spinal cord injuries, and the possible complications of brain injuries can cause serious problems for the victim.

How do brain injuries happen?

There are many different ways that someone can sustain a brain injury, and they can happen pretty much anywhere. Any situation that has a person in a physically active or dangerous scenario is especially likely to cause a brain injury. Some of the most common scenarios that result in brain injuries include:

• Slips / Falls
• Motor Vehicle Accidents
• Workplace Accidents
• Blasts / Explosions
• Assault
• Child Abuse / Shaken Baby Syndrome
• Sports-Related Injuries

In many of these scenarios, the injury is often the result of negligent or criminal behavior on the part of someone else. Given the potential severity of a brain injury, sustaining one of these injuries due to no fault of your own can be terrible. If you've suffered such a catastrophic injury in Florida, securing legal representation as soon as possible following your recovery will ensure that you are fairly compensated for everything you were forced to endure.

Levine & Glassman, P.A. - Florida Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers

Contact the attorneys at Levine & Glassman, P.A. today to discuss your case in Fort Lauderdale or the surrounding areas of Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties. Don't let your opportunity for compensation pass you by; call us at (954) 332-6100 or fill out our contact form to set up a free initial consultation with one of our attorneys.

Brain Injury Information Center

Brain Injury Association of America - National third-party organization dedicated to informing and serving individuals and families who have suffered due to traumatic brain injuries

The Brain Trauma Foundation - The Brain Trauma Foundation works to improve the outcomes of TBI cases by developing best practice guidelines, conducting clinical research, and educating medical professionals and consumers.

National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) - Division of the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research that keeps records and data on rehabilitation methods for disabilities like head trauma.