Florida Car Accident Lawyer Blog
Hallandale Beach car collisions can easily lead to head injuries because of the force of impact. It can take months or years to recover from a traumatic brain injury sustained in a traffic collision and the healing process can require complex and expensive medical treatment. For some patients, their injuries prove permanent or even fatal.
What Is a TBI?
Traumatic head injuries (TBIs) occur when a person’s head is either shaken violently or comes into contact with a hard surface, such as a dashboard. Even with an airbag, the force of a collision can be strong enough to cause injury.
When the brain inside the skull is shaken violently or comes into sharp contact with a hard surface, the soft brain tissue may move around and crash against the skull. This can cause tissue damage, bruising, and bleeding, which can affect brain function. In some cases, the damage to the brain causes swelling of brain tissue. Because of the skull, there is no place for the brain to expand and as it crushes up against the skull, further damage occurs, putting the patient’s life at risk.
Patients with a TBI may experience many symptoms:
- Sleep disturbances
- Loss of consciousness and coma
- Slurred speech and speech difficulties
- Memory loss
- Changed personality
- Depression, irritability, and anxiety
- Nausea and vomiting
- Cognitive challenges
- Loss of sensory perception
- Fatigue
- Balance problems
- Headaches
- Sensitivity to light and noise
- Seizures and convulsions
- Weakness or numbness in parts of the body
- Confusion and agitation
Some of these symptoms may last months or can even be permanent or debilitating. One of the most frightening things about a TBI is that there are sometimes no symptoms at all. A person may walk away from a Hallandale Beach car collision feeling fine, only to develop life-threatening symptoms in hours.
Some symptoms of a TBI are delayed or so subtle that patients do not seek help in time, which can be a life-threatening mistake. If you have been in a car collision and may have been thrown about or may have hit your head, even on an airbag, get a full medical evaluation. It could save your life.
The Healing Process After a Hallandale Beach Car Crash
Once a diagnosis of brain injury is made, the treatment options depend on the specifics of the injury. Most patients will need to remain in the hospital for some time to be monitored and treated. Surgery may be required to relieve pressure on the brain if there is swelling and doctors will use imaging tests to determine the injury and the damage.
For mild injuries, pain medication, continued monitoring, and rest are usually prescribed. Patients usually return to normal activities gradually.
Long-term, the recovery from a serious brain injury can be grueling. Patients may require medication or physical and occupational therapy to recover some motor and cognitive function or to learn to live safely with a loss of cognitive function. They may also need to work with other professionals, including psychiatrists, to deal with the life-changing trauma of a TBI.
The cost of a serious brain injury can be significant, especially if a patient’s condition results in blood clots or other common complications. Car insurance usually only considers immediate costs of a collision, but a patient may have their income affected for a lifetime and may require a lifetime of significant medical treatment.
For this reason, if you have sustained a TBI in a car collision, contact Flaxman Law Group at 1-866-352-9626 (1-866-FLAXMAN) for a free accident consultation with a Hallandale Beach car collision injury claims attorney. Our legal team has worked with thousands of plaintiffs and we have successfully recovered tens of millions of dollars for South Florida residents whose lives have been changed by a serious injury.