What is a Head Injury?
Every year in America, there are nearly 2 million traumatic brain injury related emergency room departments, hospitalizations, and deaths. Traumatic brain injuries aren’t always cause by high speed impacts. Severe brain injuries can result from car accidents, sports, falls, and work-related accidents. Any kind of injury to the head or neck region can cause the brain to bruise, bleed, tear, or swell.
There are two types of head injuries:
Open Head Injury
An open injury means the skull has been fractured, and this kind of brain injury usually results from falls or other accidents in which the head comes in direct contact with a hard surface or object.
Closed Head Injury
A closed head injury doesn’t involve a fracture, but can be more serious than an open injury due to the possibility of brain swelling and the formation of dangerous blood clots inside the skull. A closed head injury is a trauma in which the brain is injured as a result of a blow to the head, or a sudden, violent motion that causes the brain to knock against the skull. A closed head injury is different from an open head injury, in that no object actually penetrates the brain.
Whether a brain injury is open or closed, the most serious of either type can cause paralysis, loss of consciousness, and even death.
If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury as a result of an accident, and you believe that someone else may be at fault for what happened, you may be entitled to a legal remedy for the harm. Consulting an experienced personal injury attorney is the best way to protect your legal rights.
