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Washington Brain Injury Lawyer

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If you have experienced any kind of injury or accident to your head, you may be concerned about brain injury. If you have already been diagnosed with a brain injury, you may fear the repercussions could be life-altering, even if they surface years later. You also may be wondering if there is a way to find closure and peace of mind on the issue of this traumatic injury. The concerns of brain injury are many, and without contacting a qualified Washington personal injury attorney specialized in brain injury, getting to the bottom of these questions can be difficult.

Including skull and facial fractures, there are around 2 million head injuries every year in the United States. One and a half million of those 2 million are nonfatal traumatic brain injuries, not requiring hospitalization, while 300,000 brain injuries are severe enough for hospitalization, and 99,000 of those result in a long-lasting disability. Every year, 56,000 people die because of a traumatic brain injury, accounting for 34 percent of all injury deaths in the United States. Traumatic brain injuries affect males at twice the rate they affect females, with a higher mortality rate, too. People who are aged 15-24 have a high risk of traumatic brain injuries, as well as people aged over 60.

Although there is nothing that can be done to reverse your brain injury, or its devastating effects on your well-being, the culpable parties involved in your accident can be held accountable. If your brain injury can be determined to have been caused by the negligence of another individual or party, you have a right to know. You also have a right to seek financial compensation for that injury not only for your medical costs and lost wages, but also for any pain or potential long-term effects that stemmed from the brain injury.

There are many different types of brain injuries, including open head injury when it has been penetrated and there is a break in the skull bone; closed head brain injury, a result from the slamming back and forth of the brain inside the skull, which tears blood vessels and tissues; deceleration injuries, where an abrupt stop causes the skull to stop, but the brain to continue traveling, bruising it and causing brain swelling and nerve cell damage; hypoxia, or lack of oxygen; and then there are infections caused by viruses and bacteria.

Depending on the accident involved, an injury to the brain can be as simple as a headache that requires only some over-the-counter pain relievers, or as complicated and devastating as complete paralysis or loss of mental function. The severity of the impact to the brain and the area of the brain that is affected will determine the nature and extent of the brain injury. If you have suffered any kind of trauma to the head during an accident, you need to be evaluated by a qualified health care practitioner immediately.

The brain is a particularly vulnerable part of the body, and does not have the same ability as other parts to heal itself after an injury. Even if the injured person does recover from a traumatic brain injury, it is likely that there will be permanent changes or damages to their cognitive or physical functions. Effects of injury to the brain are more complex, more serious, and more long-lasting than other injuries.

In a recent Washington brain injury case, there is a claim against a hospital because of their failure to insert a catheter properly into the blood vessels of an infant, causing it to slip out. This caused a loss of blood that was so great in amount that the child had permanent, profound brain injury.

If you have suffered a moderate or severe brain injury, you will also want to consult with an attorney, especially if the injury may have been due to the negligence of another person or entity. Even if you have suffered only a minor brain injury, it might be worth your while to contact an attorney. In some cases, the full extent of the victim's incapacitation, or the life-altering effect it has, may not even be understood until years after the initial trauma.