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West Virginia Brain Injury Lawyer

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Brain injuries are extremely complex injuries to assess and none too rare. In fact, including skull and facial fractures, there are around 2 million head injuries every year in the United States. One and a half million of them 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.

Since the brain is such an extremely complex organ, and since injuries to it can affect many different aspects of bodily function, from motor skills and coordination to cognitive processes, it may be hard to determine whether an accident has caused a brain injury or not. This is one of the many reasons why brain injuries are so devastating to both the victim and their families.

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 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.

In a recent case in West Virginia, a woman was driving drunk when she struck another car, killing the 20-year-old passenger riding alongside his father. The result of death was multiple blunt trauma after the car he was driving in was hit by her car. The drunk driver is now serving a one to 10 year sentence.

There are many different causes for traumatic brain injuries, with motor vehicle accidents causing around 28 percent of them, though it is considered they are the reason for 49 percent of brain injuries; sports and physical activity for 20 percent; assaults for 9 percent; 43 percent for other reasons.

Finding a lawyer you trust and are comfortable with is important, because they can help in more than one way. Not only can they get you the monetary damages that are owed to you, but they can help to take some of the stress related to brain injury and legal proceedings off of you. They have also dealt with many brain injury victims, and they may be able to give some good advice when it comes to the recovery process.