Head Injuries Car Accident

Head injuries are a sobering reality of car accidents. One in every head injury is caused by car accidents, and the head is very vulnerable not only to the hard interior surfaces of the car, or damage as a body is flung from a car, but even just from the momentum and direction changes that occur during a car collision. While this should mean that everyone takes head injuries seriously after an accident, this is far from true. Head injuries are some of the most immediately neglected injuries occurring to people in car accidents because most people assume they are simply sore from having a slight bruise on the head, or that they have a mere headache from the stress of the accident.

Head Injuries: The Walking Wounded
Head injuries are notorious for being difficult or sometimes impossible to diagnose from exterior, clinical exams. The first responders on the scene, often ambulance personnel, will exam victims; however, many victims refuse to be examined thinking their injuries to be minor. Even if they are examined, the first responder personnel are not really set up to make full diagnoses of head injuries or even rule them out. They more often make sure that a victim’s concussion is recognized. Often, head injuries aren’t even recognized until the victim is examined in a hospital or specialist type setting because doing so requires special training and equipment that can look past the hard, protective surface of the skull into its interior.

Sometimes victims assume that it is not possible for them to have brain or head injuries because their head didn’t hit a surface at all. However, coup/contrecoup (or coup/countercoup) injuries can occur without hitting the head. In this type of injury, the brain hits the inside of the skull with the momentum of a collision and then in turn hits the opposite side of the interior of the skull as the head rebounds in the opposite direction.

The Consequences of Head Injuries
All head injuries can be problematic to the brain, which has the consistency of a pudding. Closed-head injuries are common and occur when the skull is neither fractured nor breached. When the brain hits the interior of the skull, the delicate membranes and vessels of the brain can be torn, causing bleeding and leakage of fluid into the spaces of the brain and between the brain and the skull. As fluids continue to leak, the brain experiences pressure with no natural outlet for the pressure. This pressure on the cells of the brain can cause brain cells to die. Brain cells are nerve cells, and nerve cells (unlike many other tissues of the body) do not divide and replicate; their repair depends on portions of living cells expanding to allow function of whatever portion of the body to which they supply control. If the damage isn’t immediately stopped and the fluid build-up arrested, damage and possible cell death continues and worsens. As damage continues, the probabilities of permanent damage increase.

Open-head injuries from car accidents are those that include a fracture or break to the skull. They include all of the possibilities of closed head injuries (the brain damage, seriousness, level of danger) and also include aspects of usual lacerations and wounds, including the increased likelihood of infection and scarring. While they are more easily recognized, one should never assume that the damage seen is only external but always evaluate all of the head to rule out brain injuries.

Head Injuries Have Serious Consequences on a Victim’s Life
Head and brain injuries can have long term implications, but physical and mental. Often a person with brain injuries is debilitated and requires rehabilitation and counseling in an attempt to function normally again. Loss of memory, loss of bodily functions, and other problems often occur. The brain is the center of mention function. Head injuries affect every aspect of the victim’s life, including the family, the job, and social interactions as well as mental health.

What Recourse Does a Head Injury Victim Have?
If you or your loved one is the victim of a head injury due to a car accident, likely you are facing a long and difficult path of not only healing, but also making sure that all of the bills resulting from the damages are paid. If the injuries were caused by another’s negligence, the victim and/or their family has the right to seek recompense and assistance with all of the losses associated with the accident. A personal injury attorney who specializes in head injuries car accident injuries, caused by car accidents can file a claim for the victim against the negligent parties. A claim can help protect the rights of the victim as well as make sure that the costs of the accident are paid to help retain the stability of the victim and their family financially.

Michael Ehline of Ehline Law Firm has a great deal of experience assisting the victims of head injuries from car accidents to pursue their claim successful and return, as fully as possible, to a normal life. While brain injuries are tragic, the negligence of another should not be allowed to destroy a victim or their family. Ehline Law Firm PC is the personal injury lawyer Los Angeles, who is conveniently located in many areas of California, including Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange County. If you or your loved one needs help today, please call 1-888-400-9721.



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