Traumatic Brain Injuries Reduce Affected Persons’ Ability to Engage in Normal Activities
Brain injuries always take a heavy toll on affected persons. The immediate effects are enough to keep injured parties bed-ridden, disoriented, and out of work for days, weeks, or even months. When injury symptoms are serious, they may lead to temporary or long-term impairment.
Symptoms of traumatic brain injuries may cause serious challenges when it comes to basic activities of life, such as:
- - Dressing oneself and using buttons, zippers, etc.
- - Speaking coherently and engaging in meaningful conversation
- - Chewing and swallowing food and drinks
- - Remembering instructions
- - Interacting meaningfully with others
- - Moving or carrying objects
- - Seeing clearly
- - Driving or operating other motor vehicles
- - Keeping professional relationships and engagements
- - Recognizing objects based on touch
The Hefty Personal Cost of a Traumatic Head Injury
Experiencing a traumatic brain injury can affect 3 major areas of an affected person’s life, including:
- - Physical health: Concussions, diffuse axonal injuries, and other traumatic brain damage can result in chronic pain, loss of bladder and bowel control, seizure, uncontrollable hormonal shifts, difficulty eating, low energy, sleep disorders and more, all of which can severely damage overall physical health and ability to function without extensive medical care.
- - Independence and self-care: People with severe traumatic brain injuries may experience serious limitations in their ability to focus, remember details, be productive at work, and perform important activities of self-care, such as showering, dressing, cooking, etc.
- - Social interaction: Traumatic brain injury victims often aren’t able to hold meaningful conversations, remember things others say, express their emotions in a healthy way, or articulate their thoughts well. They may also experience receptive aphasia, which makes it difficult to comprehend spoken words. This can lead to social isolation, depression, and other negative mental or emotional consequences.
- - Finances: Medical care for persons with traumatic brain injuries can become astronomically expensive and may include hospital stays, surgery, medicine, inpatient care, assistive devices, and other costly forms of care and accommodation. Such care may exceed the limits of affected persons’ insurance policies and can result in depletion of savings, reduced income, and devastating financial loss for affected persons and their families.
Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries
In many cases, traumatic brain injuries are directly caused by the negligence of others. This may be true in car accidents, truck accidents, workplace accidents, and other incidents caused by inattention, recklessness, or failure to exercise appropriate caution. When it is possible to demonstrate external liability for brain trauma, injured persons may be able to take legal action against the responsible party and obtain fair compensation for their injury-related costs.
Depending on the overall effect of the traumatic brain injury in question, courts sometimes award punitive damages and require the responsible party (or parties) to compensate victims for their pain and suffering.
Brain Injury Lawyers Serving Injured Persons in Sedalia & the Surrounding Areas
At Kempton & Russell, we work hard to punish negligence. We fight for the rights of injured people day in and day out, and we routinely help our clients obtain positive settlements and verdicts through personal injury litigation and negotiation. If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury through the recklessness of another person or entity, allow us to come alongside you and give you the help you need.
Start by scheduling your free consultation today. Call (660) 722-4115 or send us a message to speak to a Sedalia brain injury attorney.