Types of Brain Injuries

The human brain contains over 80 billion neurons forming nearly one quadrillion neurological connections. The brain’s complexities continuously baffle scientists, as do the varying effects of head trauma. From blindness and memory loss to irritability and depression, brain injuries sustained in falls, car accidents, recreational activities, or assaults often cause life-changing disabilities. Age-related degeneration, cancerous ailments, brain trauma, oxygen deprivation, and genetic anomalies all cause head injuries. However, patients might recover financial compensation to help with cognitive therapy, rehabilitation, lost wages, and career adjustments for brain damage sustained in preventable accidents.

Non-Traumatic Acquired Brain Injuries

An acquired brain injury refers to brain damage that occurs during or after birth. Nearly all brain injuries qualify as acquired brain injuries except certain genetic and mental health conditions. Acquired brain damage may occur spontaneously, traumatically, or chemically.

Non-traumatic brain injuries include:

• Age-related degeneration (dementia and Alzheimer’s)
• Alcohol or drug poisoning
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Aneurysm
• Hemorrhage
• Encephalitis (brain inflammation and infections)
• Meningitis (brain inflammation due to viral, fungal, or bacterial infections)
• Anoxic or hypoxic brain injuries (oxygen deprivation)

Despite being considered non-traumatic, these conditions may occur after medical malpractice, recreational accidents, or workplace safety violations. Birthing injuries often result in cerebral palsy, and drowning might cause permanent brain dysfunction. Likewise, prolonged exposure to certain workplace chemicals could contribute to brain cancer. Patients suffering from even non-traumatically acquired brain injuries might still recover compensation if another party’s carelessness contributed to their conditions.

Anoxic or Hypoxic Brain Injuries

A few minutes without oxygen may cause irreparable damage to the brain. Anoxic brain injuries occur during periods of complete oxygen deprivation such as heart attacks, drug overdoses, choking, drowning, or suffocation. Brain cells begin dying after only four minutes without oxygen. This cell death often triggers long-term symptoms, including personality changes, movement difficulties, headaches, and confusion. Without early intervention, anoxic injuries may result in conditions such as a coma, vegetative state, or death.

Hypoxic brain injuries occur when the brain suffers from partial oxygen loss, such as during a stroke, or the lungs cannot sufficiently oxygenate the blood. Altitude sickness, lung disease, and carbon monoxide exposure all prevent fully oxygenated blood from reaching the brain. Hypoxic brain damage often causes confusion, dizziness, shortness of breath, memory loss, irritability, or lost consciousness.

Many children suffer from anoxic or hypoxic brain injuries due to birthing trauma or negligent supervision. Attorneys may help parents with children who have cerebral palsy or its related conditions recover compensation to cover essential expenses, including physical and cognitive rehabilitation.

Traumatic Acquired Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) refer to various head conditions caused by a sudden blow or outside force. They are the top cause of disability and death among kids and young adults. Doctors categorize anything from mild sports concussions to fatal brain stem tears as traumatic brain injuries. Different brain conditions arise depending on the patient’s age, impact force, and impact angle. Frontal lobe injuries may affect patients’ movement, concentration, emotional regulation, and problem-solving abilities, while occipital lobe trauma could harm patients’ vision and language skills. Medical experts further group traumatic brain injuries into open and closed categories.

Open Traumatic Brain Injuries

Open or penetrating brain injuries occur when objects (such as shrapnel, glass, tools, or bullets) pierce the skull and travel into the brain. Skull fractures always accompany open traumatic brain injuries. These localized injuries often result in immediate loss of consciousness or confusion, swelling, vomiting, seizures, and brain hemorrhaging. Emergency medical intervention is often necessary to avoid fatalities or permanent brain damage. Even when an object does not penetrate the skull, it may result in fractures and brain swelling. If the brain begins swelling, this intense pressure often cuts off the brain’s blood flow resulting in hypoxic brain damage.

Closed Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries, generally minor concussions, commonly occur without corresponding skull damage. A layer of fluid contained in an intracranial space separates the brain and skull. This cushion also absorbs minor head trauma (such as hitting an open cabinet door). Closed traumatic brain injuries generally occur when an outside force (such as a motor vehicle collision) internally propels the brain into the skull. The more significant the energy, the greater the corresponding brain damage.

Medical experts group closed brain injuries into mild, moderate, and severe categories based on certain symptoms.

Even “mild” brain injuries, however, can result in long-term brain damage, permanent disabilities, or death.

Assaults, construction injuries, high-speed motor vehicle accidents, and explosions often cause severe head trauma that can result in:

• Brain contusions – This type of contusion is a brain bruise caused by severe trauma that results in swelling and bleeding around the damaged area. Skull fractures, sudden blood clots, and the temporary loss of consciousness often accompany brain contusions. Doctors commonly describe brain contusions as severe concussions, and they appear in approximately 25 percent of TBI cases.
• Diffuse axonal injuries (DAI) – DAIs occur when an extreme force, such as a truck accident, tears the connective nerve fibers at the brain’s base. These fibers control communication between the brain and body but do not regenerate. As such, serious diffuse axonal injuries commonly result in persistent vegetative states, comas, or immediate fatalities.
• Locked-in syndrome – This syndrome describes the complete loss of all voluntary movement except eye movement, but without lost cognitive function. Victims can still think, reason, and communicate by blinking but cannot speak, breathe, or otherwise function without medical intervention. Severe head trauma can sometimes cause this rare condition.
• Comas – A severe brain injury can cause the victim to fall into an unconscious state. While in this state, the victim does not wake or respond to environmental stimuli.
• Vegetative states – The victim is in a waking state that is absent awareness or complex brain function. Persistent vegetative states describe vegetative conditions lasting more than one month.
• Minimally responsive states – The victim falls into an in-between state of consciousness where they occasionally respond to certain stimuli and environmental factors.

A patient’s TBI prognosis and resulting medical state depend on the injury’s severity and location. Severe injuries to parts of the brain controlling complex functions, including thought processing, problem-solving, communication, memory, and behavior, often result in vegetative or minimally responsive states. Damage to areas that control automatic life-sustaining functions, such as heart rate, breathing, sleep, consciousness, and temperature regulation, typically cause comas.

Research suggests that comatose patients can sometimes hear and process information because they have functioning frontal lobes. In contrast, patients in vegetative states may breathe and move without aid because they have functioning brain stems.

Secondary Syndromes Linked to Traumatic Brain Injuries

Some patients develop long-term conditions related to previous brain injuries even after recovering from mild head trauma. Patients should always monitor for signs and symptoms of specific medical conditions.

Post-Concussion Syndrome

Concussions do not always involve amnesia and lost consciousness, and symptoms linked to mild concussions generally dissipate within a few days. However, some patients continue experiencing concussion-related symptoms for weeks, months, or even years following seemingly mild head trauma. This condition, referred to as post-concussion or persistent post-concussion syndrome, often manifests with tension headaches, personality changes, migraines, blurry vision, tinnitus, insomnia, anxiety, depression, memory loss, difficulty focusing, and fatigue. Patients should continuously watch for these symptoms in the months following a mild concussion.

Second Impact Syndrome

This rare syndrome, most frequently seen in young athletes, may result in death or irreversible brain damage. Second-impact syndrome (SIS) occurs when a patient suffering from post-concussion symptoms sustains a second head injury. Whether mild or severe, this second injury could result in brain herniation, cerebral swelling, and sudden death. For this reason, professional athletes must undergo concussion protocols and avoid high-risk activities following even mild head trauma.

Shaken Baby Syndrome (Abusive Head Trauma)

This condition manifests after instances of infant or child abuse involving the forceful shaking of babies during critical developmental years. The sudden back and forth head movement causes traumatic brain injuries that kill brain cells and damage developing brain stems.

The long-term conditions associated with shaken baby syndrome include:

Children suffering from the long-term effects of childhood head trauma often need specialized therapy, schooling, and medical care. An attorney may help children and young adults impacted by abusive head trauma recover compensation from abusers and caretakers even years after the alleged abuse.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

A special category of acquired traumatic brain injuries, called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), gained prominence after studies conducted on retired football players. CTE refers to a degenerative brain disorder linked to multiple traumatic brain injuries or even microtraumas. Military personnel exposed to explosions and certain athletes, such as football players, boxers, and hockey players, have an increased risk of developing CTE.

Doctors can only positively diagnose CTE after death, but high-risk individuals should monitor themselves for symptoms years or even decades after their last head trauma, such as:

Patients with a history of repetitive head trauma, including survivors of child abuse and domestic violence, should speak with a doctor after developing the above symptoms.

Symptoms and Disabilities Associated With Traumatic Brain Injuries

The brain contains three distinct structures: the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem. The largest part of the brain, the cerebrum, controls complex functions. The cerebellum, a small area at the base of the skull, coordinates movement and controls balance. Lastly, the brain stem controls life-sustaining functions, such as breathing, and transmits signals from the brain to the rest of the body.

Direct damage to the brain stem often results in quadriplegia and may require artificial life support; however, patients generally retain complete cognitive function. Direct blows to the cerebellum (such as taking a baseball bat to the head) can likewise impact a patient’s mobility.

Most traumatic brain injuries impact one of the four main lobes in the cerebrum. Diagnosing and treating head trauma, therefore, depends on the damaged lobe.

Consider the following essential functions controlled by each cerebral area and the potential effects of traumatic brain injuries:

• Frontal lobe – The largest individual lobe located in the front of the brain, it controls behavior, emotions, personality, decision-making, speech, bodily movements, self-awareness, concentration, and intelligence. Head trauma commonly impacts the frontal lobe leaving patients struggling with depression, confusion, concentration, communication, and fine motor skills.
• Temporal lobe – The lower-center portion of the brain controls memory, language, hearing, and organization. Penetrating injuries may impact the temporal lobe, as could direct blows to the sides of the head. Such damage may cause hearing loss, amnesia, or inability to form new memories.
• Parietal lobe – The top-rear section of the brain controls the senses and interprets signals they receive. Damage to the parietal lobe may occur after a fall or striking accident and impacts touch, temperature, hearing, visual perception, and language skills.
• Occipital lobe – Located at the rear of the brain, this lobe controls your ability to see and process color, movement, and light. Severe damage to the occipital lobe generally causes partial or total blindness.

The brain’s right and left hemispheres each contain these lobes. As such, patients may experience movement or sensory difficulties on one side of the body with normal function on the other. Rear-end car accidents and falls, among the most common causes of traumatic brain injuries, often affect the brain’s front and rear portions. The brain sustains this damage because a force of impact commonly throws it forward into the front of the skull and then snaps it back into the skull’s rear. The resulting damage, therefore, may include behavioral and emotional issues along with vision difficulties.

Diagnosing Brain Injuries

Not all head trauma results in traumatic brain injuries, especially if the patient never lost consciousness. In such cases, doctors typically diagnose patients with mild concussions and recommend rest and over-the-counter medications. They typically use reported symptoms and changes in behavior to diagnose brain injuries, not imaging.

When patients report blacking out, pain, and memory loss, doctors generally order X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and overnight observation, generally to look for bleeding or swelling. X-rays and CT scans can reveal skull fractures, but CT scans can also show brain hemorrhaging, swelling, and damaged tissues. Abnormal CT scans generally indicate the need for surgical intervention to relieve swelling and stop brain bleeds. MRIs may also reveal brain tissue damage and may measure brain function after a head injury. Unresponsive patients generally undergo various neurological and brain function tests to determine the likelihood of recovery.

All patients complaining of headaches, abnormal fatigue, and confusion following a potential brain injury should immediately seek medical treatment. Hemorrhaging and swelling may begin killing brain cells hours or days after the initial trauma. If the head trauma leads to brain injury claims, insurers and attorneys will demand medical evidence linking the brain injury to an accident. Failure to obtain a positive TBI diagnosis could harm potential claims and result in more severe brain trauma.

Most Common Causes of Acquired Head Trauma in the United States

It takes substantial force to penetrate the skull or cause severe closed traumatic brain injuries. As such, most fatal and life-chaining head injuries occur during preventable accidents. The leading causes of brain trauma in the United States include:

Falls

Slip and falls, tripping down stairs, falling off of playgrounds, or stumbling on roadway defects account for nearly half of all head injuries. Slipping on liquids often results in unstoppable backward momentum causing occipital and parietal lobe trauma, swelling, and herniations. Falls can also cause skull fractures, brain contusions, and brain cell death due to sudden bleeding and swelling.

Striking Incidents

Construction workers must generally wear hard hats to protect their heads from falling debris. Unsafe work environments and safety violations often lead to high-velocity striking accidents. Even small items dropped from a height may cause serious brain damage. Sometimes these hit-by accidents result from safety violations, but they also occur due to mistimed golf swings, falling branches, misdirected baseballs, or flying motor vehicle debris.

Truck and Car Accidents

Many serious brain injuries occur during car and truck accidents. The area and severity of the head trauma generally depend on the angle and speed of impact. T-bone accidents may damage an occupant’s temporal lobe if the driver’s head strikes the vehicle’s side panel. Likewise, rear-end collisions may result in concussions and frontal lobe trauma if the driver’s head hits the steering wheel or a deploying airbag. High-speed car accidents may also cause diffuse axonal injuries if the sudden forward and backward momentum of the crash damages the brain stem.

Motorcycle Accidents

Not every state has mandatory helmet laws; as such, motorcycle crashes often cause brain contusions, skull fractures, and fatal herniations. While helmets may prevent fatal traumatic brain injuries, riders struck by negligent drivers still suffer concussions and brain swelling. Motorcyclists might also expose themselves to second-impact syndrome if they get back on the road too quickly.

Self-Harm

Many suicide attempts involve open traumatic brain injuries and often prove fatal. Sometimes, lawfully prescribed medications have suicidal side effects, or extreme social pressure compels young adults to harm themselves. Survivors and loved ones might recover compensation for self-included head injuries in some instances.

Assault and Battery

Criminal assaults often result in permanent brain damage. Innocent persons might find themselves stuck by baseball bats or repeatedly kicked in the head. Recurrent domestic violence instances, such as throwing items at the victim’s head or striking it against the wall, also contribute to long-term brain injuries.

Domestic violence and assault survivors might recover restitution (such as direct compensation for medical bills) during criminal assault proceedings. However, they may also speak with local injury lawyers about holding the offender or property owner liable in civil proceedings.

Recreational Sports

Both athletes and spectators may suffer traumatic brain injuries during sporting activities. Spectators struck by misdirected baseballs and hockey pucks may suffer from skull damage and brain hemorrhaging. Professional horseback riders, motor-bikers, boxers, and football players also risk concussions, paralysis, and severe concussion-related syndromes.

Most states require impact-grade fencing or netting around high-risk areas of baseball and hockey stadiums. If spectators suffer from head trauma and stadium owners violated safety protocols, an attorney may help families recover needed compensation. Athletes themselves often assume the risk of foreseeable injuries, such as concussions after tackles. Still, they might demand payment for intentional assaults, such as bullying on the football field, or dangerous property conditions contributing to the trauma.

Explosions

The sound waves and sudden force resulting from explosions often cause permanent brain damage. Combat personnel, first responders, or professionals engaged in hazardous conduct should closely monitor themselves for head trauma after a blast. Prolonged exposure to mild traumatic brain injuries may cause depression, personality changes, confusion, irritability, and sensory difficulties, even without loss of consciousness.

Recovering Compensation After a Traumatic Brain Injury

The brain’s complexity necessitates uniquely designed treatment protocols based on the damaged lobe. Some patients completely recover from traumatic brain injuries, but others continue experiencing symptoms years after the accident.

Pharmaceutical and surgical intervention rarely helps patients after accident-related head trauma. Instead, doctors typically recommend continued cognitive and physical therapy combined with lifestyle modifications. Every treatment protocol differs, and patients should not settle accident-related cases until they understand their partial disability’s financial impact.

Life changes quickly after severe head trauma, and insures can rarely compensate claimants adequately for serious brain injuries. Legal professionals often recommend speaking with an experienced brain injury attorney about potential avenues of financial recovery, which may include one or more of the following.

Worker’s Compensation Claims and Litigation

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires certain employers, including construction and mining companies, to take safety precautions preventing or reducing the risk of head trauma. These regulations generally require providing high-risk employees with safety gear, including helmets and anti-fall devices, and performing safety checks to minimize striking hazards and injury risks. Workplace head injuries, including car accidents, slip-and-falls, explosions, and construction incidents, necessitate filing workers’ compensation insurance claims.

Workers’ comp insurance covers injuries sustained at work due to employer or co-worker negligence. Most states require workers’ compensation coverage, and claimants may demand payments for lost wages, benefits, medical bills, therapy, and suffering. Employees cannot typically sue their employers when covered by workers’ comp. However, insurers may offer substantial settlements following a traumatic brain injury rather than continue paying yearly losses and medical expenses.

An attorney may help claimants and their families demand head injury settlements, file workers’ compensation claims, appeal adverse decisions, or sue employers without insurance. Lawyers might also file claims directly against third parties, such as property owners or drivers, if non-employer negligence caused or contributed to a traumatic brain injury at work.

Auto Insurance Settlements

Traumatic brain injuries sustained in car, truck, and motorcycle accidents often support auto insurance settlements. Evidence of severe head trauma caused by negligent or reckless drivers may result in policy payouts. Due to the continued medical support and career-ending consequences often accompanying serious brain injuries, most auto insurance policies cannot cover all losses. TBI lawyers may recommend filing litigation against negligent parties directly or accepting a full-policy settlement and applying for private, state, or federal disability benefits.

Property Insurance Settlements

Property owners, including most state and municipal entities, must keep their properties reasonably safe for lawful visitors. This duty often includes periodically monitoring the property and correcting dangerous conditions. Owners might also carry liability for assaults occurring on their premises. Traumatic brain injuries resulting from falls (such as tripping over loose debris, slipping on liquid hazards, or stumbling over uneven pavement) might support claims against property insurers or corporate owners. Brain injury attorneys will analyze each case based on state law and help families file an insurance claim.

Negligence Litigation

Careless behavior often causes or contributes to accident-related traumatic brain injuries. Whether teachers inadequately supervised playing children, drivers violated traffic safety regulations, or property owners failed to correct icy conditions, the law requires negligent parties to compensate innocent claimants.

Attorneys often recommend filing negligence litigation when insurers refuse to settle traumatic brain injury cases, defendants deny liability, or the claimant’s losses exceed insurance policy limits. General negligence complaints cover situations where one or more persons acted with unreasonable carelessness and caused head trauma. Car accidents, slip-and-falls, and workplace hazard cases often support negligence claims.

Assault, Battery, or Abuse Litigation

Unlike negligence, battery and abuse (intentional tort) claims arise when liable defendants intended the injurious conduct. Anything from setting a trap, shaking a child, or shoving a co-worker could support intentional tort litigation. The defendant only needs to intentionally touch the claimant in some unlawful way that causes head trauma.

For example, accidentally striking a friend when throwing a baseball may support negligence claims, but throwing the ball at a friend in anger raises assault and battery claims. Successful plaintiffs in intentional tort litigation could recover exemplary (punitive) damages in addition to direct damages. Punitive financial awards punish offenders for socially intolerable conduct above compensation awarded for the victim’s losses. Claimants suffering from head trauma after abusive or aggressive behavior should speak with a lawyer about demanding special damages.

Calculating Losses After Suffering a Brain Injury

Sudden head trauma often leaves families in difficult financial situations. Sometimes claimants accept quick settlements before understanding their economic recovery rights due to lost wages and mounting medical bills. Unfortunately, accepting an insurance settlement means waiving your right to demand additional damages. Do not trust liability insurers to value your traumatic brain injury case accurately.

Claimants or their families may generally recover compensation for the past and anticipated future losses linked to the trauma, such as:

• Emergency medical expenses
• Medical equipment, such as wheelchairs or hospital beds
• Cognitive therapy and rehabilitation bills
• Housing or workplace modifications
• Long-term at home or in-patient nursing care
• Household help
• Lost income
• Lost employee benefits (retirement contributions, health insurance, vacation time)
• Lost value of career and promotional opportunities
• Counseling and mental health expenses

Importantly, claimants may demand compensation for non-economic damages caused by unlawful conduct. For example, lost memories do not carry a calculable value but may cause claimants significant mental anguish.

These non-economic losses, also referred to as pain and suffering damages, commonly include:

Spouses and dependents might also demand compensation from liable parties for caretaking functions and lost companionship. Experienced brain injury lawyers typically retain medical, occupational, and economic experts in severe TBI cases. These experts develop a prognosis and value the claimants anticipated lifetime losses related to the trauma. Settling cases without understanding your head trauma claim’s actual value might cause future financial distress and suffering.

When to Contact a Brain Injury Lawyer

Recovering compensation for head trauma typically involves filing legal claims. As such, claimants should consult with a local brain injury lawyer if they’ve suffered from brain injuries after an accident or assault. Local attorneys may also help claimants who develop post-concussion syndrome after seemingly mild injuries. If you or a loved one begin experiencing personality changes, confusion, depression, or movement difficulties following head trauma, contact a legal professional.

Most injury lawyers do not charge any consultation or case analysis fees because they understand the financial challenges that often stem from serious brain injuries. They also generally operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning clients pay attorneys from an eventual settlement or judgment. Most TBI firms even front all fees and litigation costs associated with viable traumatic brain injury claims. Due to attorney-prospective client confidentiality and this contingency fee structure, there’s little to no risk associated with discussing your traumatic brain injury case with a local lawyer.