Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys

Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyers

You don’t have to be a doctor to know that brain injuries are terrible. Our brains control our ability to move, think, feel emotion, and basically, to do anything. Brain injuries come in many mechanisms – blunt force trauma, deprivation of oxygen, inhalation of dangerous chemicals, heart attacks and strokes, infection, and other reasons. Each of these is often the result of motor vehicle wrecks, workplace injuries, and even medical malpractice, and generally any sort of accident where force or trauma occurs to your head.

Oftentimes, fetuses suffer permanent injury to their brains during the birth process as a result of needlessly delayed delivery. During the labor process, fetuses are subjected to extensive physical stress. This can come in the form of actual physical forces applied to the fetus’ head through the use of forceps or vacuum extraction devices placed on the fetus’ head. Or it may come as a result of prolonged time and pressure sustained in the birth canal, which may produce dangerously depressed heart rates and big problems for the fetus, the child. When this happens, permanent brain damage can result. Physicians will frequently diagnose “cerebral palsy” in these profoundly brain damaged children, and parents rarely suspect that this disease they have heard about so often may be the result of negligence by nurses or doctors during the labor and delivery. If your child has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, please call us. We may be able to help.

Any time a person’s head is subjected to physical trauma, injury to the brain can occur. Repetitive minor to moderate forces and trauma such as that suffered by those engaged in certain sporting activities can be particularly devastating over time. Multiple concussions, which may seem relatively minor at the time, can produce a cumulative effect with permanent consequences. Or one single blow to the head can change a person’s life forever. We sometimes see this sort of injury when a driver or passenger in a car hits a window or windshield with their head. Falls also commonly produce severe brain injuries.

Brain injuries can produce a variety of problems. Minor problems that may still indicate a significant problem include dizziness, headaches, and fainting. More significant and troubling symptoms would include difficulty finding or comprehending words, forgetfulness, and changes in personality, loss of inhibitions, difficulty speaking, difficulty in abstract thoughts, hearing or sight impairment, difficulty in concentration, etc. Brain injuries can also produce an inability or difficulty in walking or other physical activities, or may present difficulties on just one side of the body. In summary, brain injuries can affect just about every function of your body, and frequently, these injuries are permanent and forever life changing.

At some point following your symptoms described above, your doctors will likely order one or more of many different tests – CT (or CAT) scan, MRI’s, EEG, SPECT scan, PET scan, or others. However, even with these tests, sometimes it is very difficult to determine precisely what the problem is, particularly in cases in which the injury itself is difficult to describe, such as when the change is primarily one in personality or slight difficulties in finding words, or the like.

Whatever the case may be, if you or someone you love has suffered a brain injury, you need help in understanding what legal rights may be available to you, and you need lawyers experienced in this difficult area of medicine and law. We can help. Please call us.