The brain is the most important organ in the human body while also being one of the most fragile parts of the body as well. Mother Nature offered us protection in the form of a thick skull that would act as a barrier between our fragile brain matter and the outside world. However, due to the high impact of most car accidents, that protective measure given to us through biology can also cause complications that result in traumatic brain injury that we are often unaware of initially after an accident. If you have sustained a traumatic brain injury as the result of a car accident in the greater Chicago area, you may want to consult a Chicago car accident lawyer (http://www.rosenfeldinjurylawyers.com/practice/motor-vehicle-accidents/car-accidents/) to see if you are owed compensation.

Most traumatic brain injuries are not immediately identifiable because the symptoms may not show themselves immediately after a car accident. Paramedics are trained to provide medical care to those involved in an accident regardless of how they actually feel due to the possibility of brain injuries that remain asymptomatic. Oftentimes, when a person’s body comes to a sudden halt during a car accident, the brain continues moving and bounces around inside of the skull. Many injuries in which the skull is fractured are far less severe than those with no damage to the skull due to the buildup of pressure that occurs inside of the brain when it is bruised and swelling.

If you are in a car accident, you should never assume that you are not in need of medical care simply because you are not exhibiting symptoms. Traumatic brain injuries develop over time as the brain tissue that has been affected by an impact swells and bleeds. Because there is nowhere for the blood to go in the brain, the bleeding makes the situation worse by creating pressure to surrounding brain tissue. In its mildest form, this type of injury is referred to as a concussion.

Signs of brain injuries

If you have sustained a concussion, you may or may not exhibit immediate symptoms. Some of the signs of a concussion are the loss of consciousness during the accident for any time period ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes. You do not need to lose consciousness to sustain a concussion and if you feel disorientated, confused, tired or dizzy, you may have sustained a traumatic brain injury. Over time, you may experience blurred vision, nausea, severe headaches, migraines or a deep state of fatigue.

Signs of more serious trauma to the brain include the loss of consciousness for greater periods of time, inability to awake once asleep, slurred speech, seizures and loss of bowel control. In order to prevent the onset of more serious symptoms, make sure to receive proper medical treatment after you have been involved in any kind of car accident, regardless of how severe. You can sustain trauma to the brain even if you were not going very fast before the impact.

Diagnosing Brain Injuries

Not all brain imaging scans will detect traumatic brain injuries but there are several important brain imaging tests that will identify what others cannot. The most common brain image scans are CT, or CAT scans and MRIs. Neither of these scans will detect the existence of a traumatic brain injury due to the fact that most traumatic brain injuries involve very subtle damage to tissue as well as chemical changes that occur in the brain in response to the injury. DTI, PET and SPECT scans are all more effective in diagnosing a traumatic brain injury, but none of these scans will ultimately change the medical treatment that is prescribed.

Not all of the effects of brain damage are reversible and some people who sustain traumatic brain injuries will never be the same again. Brain injuries can affect motor function, the ability to concentrate, speech, memory and other functions that most of us take for granted. It is for this reason that it is important to diagnose a traumatic brain injury as quickly as possible in order to prevent future complications.

If you have been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident and live in the greater Chicago area, you may wish to consult with a Chicago car accident lawyer to discuss whether or not you are owed compensation for your injury. Jonathan Rosenfeld of Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers (http://www.rosenfeldinjurylawyers) is an injury lawyer who has experience representing clients involved in motor accidents and who have had their lives changed by a debilitating injury such as a traumatic brain injury (http://www.rosenfeldinjurylawyers.com/practice/personal-injury/injury-types/traumatic-brain-injury-tbi/)

Sources:

http://www.tbiguide.com/howbrainhurt.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/traumatic-brain-injury/ds00552/dsection=symptoms
http://www.traumaticbraininjuryatoz.org/Mild-TBI/Diagnosing-Mild-TBI-Concussion/Imaging-Tests.aspx

In this treatise, Florida personal injury lawyer, Matt Dolman discusses the role physicians played in the recent NFL lawsuits. In 1994, the same year the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee was established, professional football player Junior Seau was named NFL’s Man of the Year. Last Wednesday, May 2, 2012, Seau shot himself in the chest, taking his own life. It is believed that Seau was suffering from the enervating disease that deteriorates one’s frontal lobes, dictates neurological impulses and eventually leads to death, often by suicide.  The brain trauma he suffered from was almost certainly related to repeated blows to the head sustained over his NFL career.

Seau’s death has compelled many former NFL players to step forward and share their stories through lawsuits against the NFL. Past events have insinuated that Seau’s death is not an anomaly. Six former NFL players have died of abnormal causes including Andre Waters, Terry Long, Mike Webster, Shane Dronett, Dave Duerson, and Ray Easterling. The NFL is facing a serious concussion crisis, with hundreds of lawsuits filed over the past eighteen months against the league. But who is responsible? Is the league to blame for the epidemic of brain trauma that has recently come to ? The players? The coaches? The doctors? To reach a solution, understanding the doctor-patient relationship in the NFL is vital.

Many fans are under the impression that NFL doctors are the cream-of-the-crop; carefully selected by NFL teams to provide the very best medical attention to players, so their human investments can remain lucrative. Sadly, this is not always the case. Many believe doctors are paid a salary by the team; however, most team doctors actually pay the team hundreds of thousands of dollars themselves, to have rights as the team doctor.  They ultimately obtain the privilege to promote themselves as the official team physician. This is not to suggest that team physicians are questionable doctors, because many times they are in fact exceptional, but that’s not usually how they got the job.  Further, how well versed are these physicians in evaluating closed head injuries?  As a Florida traumatic brain injury lawyer, I have seen many physicians ignore obvious clinical signs of a brain injury and focus on the more obvious orthopedic ailments.

So who’s really monitoring the concussions on the sidelines? Is it a skilled expert, or the most qualified member of the medical team that paid for the rights to be there? Either way, it’s evident that the majority of doctors on the field lack proper training in managing concussions. There are various protocols for treating concussions, all currently based on expert opinions and rarely on scientific evidence. These guidelines state that it is acceptable to return an athlete back onto the field if symptoms are minimal and temporary.

Let’s put this into perspective. It’s the final quarter and the quarterback is viciously tackled. He finds it difficult to stand up and noticeably stumbles. The QB makes his way to the sideline and complains he has a headache but otherwise he feels normal and he wants to be put back into the game. Should he? Is the team doctor liable to thoroughly examine the player? The answer is no. If the athlete does not ask for medical assistance then he may never receive it. If he is downplaying his symptoms and wants to be tenacious and get back out on the field, then he may even go so far as to refuse to be evaluated. Keep in mind a concussed athlete does not make practical decisions due to the symptoms of the concussion itself. If the athlete is examined, the physician must decide whether the athlete is well enough to return to play.

The athlete may be given ibuprofen for the headache, but that’s where treatment stops. There is no educational information given to the player regarding their concussion, because the clock is running and the game must continue on. With no educational information presented, the athlete returns back to practice and on to next week’s game. For years, this is how NFL players suffering from mild concussions were able to remain playing and remain putting themselves at risk for additional head injuries. Now that these players have retired, and permanent long-term damages are being brought to light, we are finally able to acknowledge the seriousness of concussions and post-concussion syndrome.
Physicians are now aware that head injuries have cumulative effects and that it is not okay for a concussed athlete to ever return back into a game.

League guidelines for head injuries have been established and experts in the field of concussions are now stationed on the sidelines. Former athletes seeking damages for lost wages, pain and suffering, and medical treatment as a result of brain trauma continue in their legal battles with the NFL. Their cases question the patient-team-doctor relationship. The league cannot erase the faulty judgments they have made in the past regarding head injuries, but they can continue to support safety measures that prevent unnecessary brain injury to current players.

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PET (Positron Emission Tomography) relies on a radionuclide (an isotope) with a half life of twenty minutes that is injected into the body with an intravenous drip of glucose.  The patient is then provided a number of cognitive tasks, which will provide stress (activity) to specific sections of the brain when forced to perform mental work. The healthy areas of the brain will absorb large portions of the radioactive glucose and will show up as a bright orange or read when the patient’s head is placed under the gamma camera.  The areas of the brain that are damaged or dying will in turn absorb very little of the fluid and will display as blue or purple under the gamma camera.

PET scans provide very dynamic illustrations of injury to the working brain.  Many brain injuries illustrated by PET scan would be missed utilizing a less sensitive imaging like a CT or MRI scan.  Further, the PET scan helps illustrate damage and deficits in the areas of the brain that control memory, mood, concentration, ability to analyze and many other critical areas that make up what is known as “executive thinking.”

PET scans are admissible in the State of Florida to prove up the existence of a brain injury and there is a long line of case law in support of such.  With a proper foundation created by utilizing a sound expert, a Florida traumatic brain injury attorney can utilize this dynamic study and show 3D color images of the brain with great clarity to the jury.

SPECT Scan

SPECT (Single Photo Emission Computed Tomography) Scan is a nuclear diagnostic imaging test that measures regional changes in the brain’s activity.  A radioactive tracer is injected and absorbed as it circulates through the blood stream.  A camera is utilized to snap photos of how the tracer is being absorbed and this information is transmitted to a computer which will display cross sectional images of blood flow in the brain.

SPECT Scans are much cheaper that a PET Scan but the images are not nearly as precise and it does not serve as strong as a demonstrative aid as does the PET. However, SPECT scans are more readily available than PET.  The biggest difference between the two imaging studies is that the tracer stays in your blood stream in a SPECT as opposed to being absorbed into tissue as in a PET Scan.  Thus, the images are limited to where the blood actually flows.
FMRI (Functional MRI)

A functional MRI of the brain is a non-invasive diagnostic study providing high- resolution reports of neural activity detected by blood oxygen level dependent signal.  Again, this study examines the brain’s response to specific tasks but does not require an isotope injection and the scanning time is much quicker.    FMRI’s are not used as commonly as PET or SPECT Scans for diagnosing traumatic brain injury.  The criticism of FMRI is it’s inherent limitations in spatial and temporal resolution.  Due to the rapid scanning time, the images are often less clear.  MRI’s are more of a structural test and display less information about the internal tissue.  MRI’s cannot be used if the patient has ventilation equipment or pacemaker as a result of the magnetic field.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (hereinafter referred to as “DTI”), is an MRI which utilizes magnetic pulses to measure the diffusion (outward movement) of molecules of water in relation to brain fiber in six different planes.  It measures the diffusion of water through brain tissue and allows the Radiologist to estimate the damage to nerve fibers that connect the white matter of the brain.

The predominant theory behind DTI scans is the ability to detect “white matter lesions.”  White matter lesions are cells that are dead or damaged within the brain tissue.  DTI isolates water movement within the brain, enabling physicians to isolate specific regions of the brain that are functioning improperly. Typical MRI’s cannot track the movement of water molecules. This new technology is not only useful in the medical field but now can be a tool, utilized by plaintiff’s lawyers to illustrate an injury to the brain.  The images are very crisp and can produce dramatic proof of damage to a specified area of the brain.  This can prove to be a tremendous demonstrative aid for a plaintiff attorney attempting to prove up the existence of a mild traumatic brain injury.

Unfortunately for us brain injury attorneys for Clearwater, DTI has not been accepted as an admissible test in many jurisdictions.  In Hillsborough County, DTI was ruled in the case of Hammer vs. Sentinel Insurance to be a commonly accepted medical test that has been peer reviewed and can be utilized by the appropriate physician to correlate the existence of a traumatic brain injury.

Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI)

SWI is a diagnostic test utilizing high resolution imaging to detect injury to the brain manifested in the form of a microhemorrhage or shearing /tearing of the axons of the brain also known as a diffuse axonal injury. This new technology allows medical practitioners to see even the smallest lesions of the brain.

SWI is very sensitive to both iron and blood products and as a result, can locate microhemorrhages that would be missed by a conventional MRI. Many Radiologists and physicians treating victims of mild traumatic brain injury utilize both susceptibility weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in conjunction to best illustrate the existence and extent of diffuse axonal injury and brain lesions.  SWI is a very new technology and much is still to be learned about the use of this study and its applicability in a Florida Courtroom.  This was a great review of medicine and law and we want to thank Dolman Law firm for guest speaking today.

Unfortunately, many victims of accidents don’t consider their injuries to be serious.  They may consider nausea, some headache, or confusion to be caused by the stress of an accident.  All victims of accidents should be evaluated on the scene by emergency personnel such as emergency medical technicians.  Such first responders to the scene can determine at least whether or not the victim has a concussion, alteration to the way the brain functions.  However, these first responders are not generally qualified to diagnose or rule out brain trauma.  If there is any chance of any head or brain injury at all, even without the head being struck, the victim should be taken to a hospital for full evaluation.

Full evaluation of traumatic brain trauma requires specialists and specific equipment because injuries are often unseen behind the thick, protective skull.  Symptoms may not even occur for hours or days after the injury, so there is no way that the victim can determine that he is without injury.  Special ways of imaging, such as CT scans, can allow the doctors to see what the eye cannot and diagnose and treat the patient properly.

If any appear, some symptoms of brain trauma might include:

•    Loss of consciousness.
•    Fixed pupils or differences in pupil size.
•    Headaches.
•    Nausea and vomiting.
•    Language and Speech problems.
•    Behavior changes.
•    Change in or loss of vision.

Long term effects can include a loss of memory, changes in personality or ability to manage emotions, loss of function, coma, or death.

If you or your loved one is from a California city, including Pacific Beach, San Diego, or Oakland, and are the victim of an accident caused by another’s negligence, a personal injury lawyer can help you get medical treatment and evaluation now, and eventual recompense.

The new testing that is being used will allow the radiologist to be able to identify even small lesions in the brain. This is brain damage that can be done by micro-hemorrhages, sheering or tearing of axons and defused axonal injuries.

Brain injury testing by many radiologists and physicians are using the susceptibility weighted imaging for their patients with mild traumatic injuries, along with diffusion tensor imaging to have the best results in viewing the extent of diffuse axonal brain damage and lesions.

Physicians rate the coma state of a patient using the Glasgow Coma Scale, since all comas are not the same. The physician can use the Rancho Los Amigos Scale in the early hours or days of a coma. The use of the Glasgow Coma Scale will tell the physician how well the coma patient responds to stimuli with motor responses, eye movements and verbal response. The use of this scale will tell the physician how well the patient is doing by their score, with the higher score of 15 being fully awake. The patient that is in a deep coma could score as low as a 3 on this scale. These scores can help the physician know the amount of possible brain damage the patient will suffer once they are out of the coma and the care that will be required.

One of the serious consequences of the traumatic brain injury can be the coma, because while the victim is alive they are unable to respond to doctors and there is no way to predict when or if the brain injury victim will recover. This is a devastating time for the family that is filled with stressful decisions for the future health care of the victim. When the brain injury victim does come out of the coma the family is also faced with the extensive therapy and other medical care they will need to be able to live as normal of a life as possible.

When a loved one has fallen into a coma due a brain injury at another person’s carelessness or negligence it can be financially and emotionally devastating. The family of the brain injury victim has the right to hold this negligent party responsible for the brain injury. This means being able to seek compensation for the medical bills and future medical care that will be needed, along with companionship, loss of salary and other losses. The Ehline Law attorneys are compassionate about protecting the brain injury victim’s rights and respect the emotional stress the family is under. They will aggressively fight for the maximum amount of compensation and hold the negligent party responsible.

Toxic chemicals are more prevalent today than ever before due to environmental pollution, industrial accidents and exposure at work or other chemical causes. These chemicals can end up in the air, soil, water, drinks and foods. There are chemicals that can cause serious brain damage when the victims are exposed to them regularly. There are toxins that can attack the nervous system and are neurotoxins.

There are common toxic chemicals that can affect the health and can cause brain damage:

Lead Poisoning: Lead poisoning is one of the most common chemicals and mimics lead that the body needs to function, but it is poison to the human body. Lead poisoning is most common in young children and is usually put into the body by putting lead contaminated things in their mouths or living in homes or apartment buildings with lead paint. Lead poisoning can be toxic to people that are exposed to leaded gasoline, work in a factory and are exposed or live near a factory. The toxic affect of lead poisoning causes learning disabilities and lowers the IQ. There are other affects can be lethargy, irritability, hyperactivity, insomnia, seizures and coma. The kidneys, reproductive organs and digestive system can also be affected from lead poisoning.

Pesticides Poisoning: Pesticides are poisons used to kill both household and agricultural pests and can also be a toxic chemical to humans. Although these are toxic chemicals that are used to kill insects and some are organophosphates, which are a close relative to the chemicals, used in nerve agents. These are neurotoxins used by both the military and terrorists. The exposure to pesticides can include respiratory difficulties, muscle weakness, blurred vision, confusion, memory difficulties and hyperactivity. There has been research that has shown the exposure to pesticides is linked with Parkinson’s Disease. When the exposure to pesticides is at high enough toxic levels it can cause organ failure.

Carbon Monoxide: Carbon monoxide is a toxic chemical that is found in the exhaust from vehicles and other machines and smoke. When there is not enough ventilation, people are exposed to carbon monoxide from running vehicles in an enclosed space, such as a garage. They can also be exposed to carbon monoxide from furnaces and generators or being trapped inside of a burning building.  The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can cause depression, difficulties with motor skills, loss of short term memory, dementia and non-neurological symptoms. There can be Parkinson’s disease type of symptoms also from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Solvents: These are chemical solutions that can be used for a variety of reasons including things like dry cleaning. These are ammonia, benzene, chemical band detergents and dry cleaning chemicals that are all solvents. These are useful, but do not breakdown easily and can contaminate the environment. When solvents contaminate the environment they can last for decades and are extremely hazardous to humans. The affects of solvent exposure can cause headaches, confusion, balance difficulties, loss of vision, loss of consciousness, dementia, memory difficulties and attention deficit disorder.

These are the more common toxic chemicals that can be hazardous to anyone exposed to them and cause serious neurological difficulties. If you or a loved one has been exposed to toxic chemicals and have permanent damage from the exposure the Southern California brain injury attorneys of Ehline Law Firm have the experience, talent and skill it takes to hold the negligent party responsible and recover the best possible compensation. For a free consultation our toxic chemical injury attorneys can be contacted at 888-400-9721.