A car accident can cause those involved to suffer a wide range of injuries. While certain types of injuries are fairly common when it comes to automobile collisions, the degree and severity of these injuries can vary from person to person and accident to accident. With regards to head trauma, the challenges faced by an accident victim can vary greatly. That being said, it is likely that a brain injury will negatively impact an accident victim, requiring treatment and recovery to address current and future medical needs.
The recovery process following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be a long road. Depending on the type of brain injury and what caused it, a victim might have endured swelling, bleeding and even changes to the brain’s chemistry. This can impact how a person thinks, acts and can live their life. When the brain injury is severe, the early stages of recovery can include coma, a vegetative state or a minimally conscious state.
This is often followed by a period of confusion. Following a TBI, a person’s ability to pay attention and learn essentially stops and is replaced with agitation, nervousness, restlessness and frustration. This can also lead to disrupted sleeping patterns as well as inconsistent behavior. The length of recovery time ranges from injury to injury. For some people, recovery can take six months or more.
In addition to lengthy recovery time, a TBI can also result in long-term impacts. This means that a victim may not be able to live their life as they once did because of the injury to their brain. This could be due to a variety reasons, including new treatment plans, the inability for brain scans to show all areas of impact, secondary problems following the initial brain injury and the age of the victims and their pre-injury abilities.
Being involved in a car accident is a serious event. Suffering a brain injury in that accident can be life-altering. The damages and losses that follow such an injury can be extensive. Thus, it is important to understand how to address this situation. If a negligent party is to blame for the accident, they could be held accountable for the brain injury or any other injury that resulted from the incident. A personal injury action could help with the recovery of losses and damages arising form the incident.
Source: Msktc.org, “Understanding TBI: Part 3 – The Recovery Process,” accessed April 29, 2018