Your Severe Head Injury Lawyer Is a Click Away!

Do you suffer from vision loss, loss of peripheral vision, hearing loss, dizziness or loss of balance? Do you have difficulty with your memory due to a traumatic brain injury? If so, you need a head injury lawyer.

Injuries involving some type of blow to the head are common and can range from relatively minor damage to the scalp and face such as lacerations, abrasions and bruising to more serious damage to the brain.

Not all head injuries are brain injuries. For example, one of my clients fell off of a ladder and hit his face on the ground. This caused him multiple facial fractures. Click the links to see professional medical drawings of his facial injuries, the surgical repairs to his facial fractures or his nose.

Head injury is a general term used to describe any trauma to the head, and most specifically to the brain itself. The injuries can range from a minor bump on the skull to serious brain injury.

Head injury is classified as either closed or open (penetrating). A closed head injury means you received a hard blow to the head from striking an object, but the object did not break the skull.

An open, or penetrating, head injury means you were hit with an object that broke the skull and entered the brain. This usually happens when you move at high speed, such as going through the windshield during a car accident. It can also happen from a bullet, knife, hammer, etc. to the head. Brain injuries may be diffuse, occurring over a wide area, or focal, located in a small, specific area.

Most head injuries include brain injuries. But not all. Without a doubt, however, the most serious head injuries are those that affect the brain, which is the center of our consciousness.

Brain injury can be at the site of impact, but can also be at the opposite side of the skull due to a “contrecoup (or countercoup) effect” (the impact to the head can cause the brain to move within the skull, causing the brain to impact the interior of the skull opposite the head-impact).

If the impact causes the head to move, the injury may be worsened, because the brain may ricochet inside the skull causing additional impacts, or the brain may stay relatively still (due to inertia) but be hit by the moving skull (both are contrecoup injuries).

Every year, millions of people have a head injury. Most of these injuries are minor because the skull provides the brain with considerable protection. The symptoms of minor head injuries usually go away on their own. More than half a million head injuries a year, however, are severe enough to require hospitalization.

Learning to recognize a serious head injury, and implementing basic first aid, can make the difference in saving someone's life.

All types of head injuries can be caused by trauma. In adults in the United States such injuries commonly result from motor vehicle accidents, assaults, work or construction site accidents, and slip/trip and fall accidents. In accidents involving children, falls are the most common cause followed by recreational activities such as biking, skating, or skateboarding. A small but significant number of head injuries in children are from violence and abuse.

Specific problems after head injury can include:

• Skull fracture;
• Lacerations to the scalp and resulting hemorrhage of the skin;
• Traumatic subdural hematoma, a bleeding below the dura mater which may develop slowly;
• Traumatic extradural, or epidural hematoma, bleeding between the dura mater and the skull;
• Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage;
• Cerebral contusion, a bruise of the brain;
• Concussion, a temporary loss of function due to trauma;
• Dementia pugilistica, or "punch-drunk syndrome," caused by repetitive head injuries, for example in boxing or other contact sports;
• A severe injury may lead to a coma or death;
• Shaken Baby Syndrome - a form of child abuse.

Prevention of head injuries.

• Always use safety equipment during activities that could result in head injury. These include seat belts, bicycle or motorcycle helmets, and construction hard hats.
• Obey traffic signals when riding a bicycle. Be predictable so that other drivers will be able to determine your course.
• Be visible. Do NOT ride a bicycle at night unless you wear bright, reflective clothing and have proper headlamps and flashers.
• Use age-appropriate car seats or boosters for babies and young children.
• Make sure that children have a safe area in which to play.
• Supervise children of any age.
• Do NOT drink and drive, and do NOT allow yourself to be driven by someone whom you know or suspect has been drinking alcohol or is otherwise impaired.

Most brain injuries are a result of bruising, bleeding, twisting, or tearing of brain tissue. If you have suffered traumatic brain injury in an accident and have vision loss, loss of peripheral vision or other impairments due to head injury or brain injury, you need experienced legal representation.

Click the links for more information about brain injury accidents and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

For your serious personal injury, you need legal representation from a qualified Queens County personal injury attorney that understands the medical and neurological issues and can provide you or a loved one with smart, aggressive representation for your severe head injury case. Contact us for your free consultation.

Gary E. Rosenberg, P.C.

(718) 520-8787