A traumatic brain injury can be one of the most devastating injuries that can be sustained in a car accident, boating accident, workplace injury, or other accident. Despite the fact that brain injuries cause debilitating injury for years and sometimes for a lifetime, many victims of such injuries are under-compensated or even not compensated at all for their injuries. This is because many injuries are slow to show symptoms and many victims delay seeking medical help, mistakenly assuming that a bump on the head is not serious.
Florida personal injury attorneys have seen this situation far too often. If you receive any head trauma or any bump on the head, please seek medical help at once. A doctor can properly diagnose your condition and can help you heal properly. If you do not seek medical help, you may simply not be able to convince an insurance claims adjuster that a brain injury was caused by an accident. This is a situation where it is much better to be safe than sorry.
If you have been in any sort of accident or have suffered any injury to your head, see a doctor at once. Report your injury or accident to your doctor and ask your health care provider to check for brain injury. Then, keep a sharp lookout for symptoms such as pain or bruising around the head, headaches, loss of memory, dizziness, ringing in the ears, bleeding in the ear canal, seepage of fluid from the ear canal, or any other symptoms.
If you develop any of these symptoms after an accident, see your doctor again, even if your physician has already told you that you do not appear to have an injury – sometimes, it can take time for symptoms of brain injury to appear. Sometimes, as well, doctors will overlook symptoms or will assume that no immediate symptoms mean no brain injury. Your best defense is to look for and report any suspect symptoms yourself.
Be especially alert for symptoms if you or a loved one have suffered seemingly minor injuries. While emergency room physicians and patients will often treat burn injuries, fractured bones, and other obvious personal injuries seriously, there is a tendency to minimize smaller injuries. Even low-speed car accidents or bumps on the head from slip and fall accidents can lead to traumatic brain injury, so be vigilant about symptoms.
Many people assume that traumatic brain injury can only occur with a direct blow to the head, but this is not the case. You should always be alert for the symptoms that can signal brain injury and seek medical help immediately if you or a loved one develops these symptoms. The fact is, traumatic brain injury (TBI) can occur even if the head is not hit directly. If the brain inside the skull is shaken and comes into direct contact with the skull, traumatic brain injury can occur. Brain damage can result from shaking, violent movement of the head, loss of oxygen, or even from poisoning or infection. If your head was whipped around in a car accident or other injury, if you have survived a near-drowning, or if you have experienced a loss of oxygen, you may be at risk of brain injury.