Why Do Car Crashes Cause Brain Injuries?

In California, vehicle collisions are the leading cause of non-combat-related brain injuries. Head injuries are always permanent because dead brain cells do not regenerate. At best, doctors can manage the symptoms, such as severe headaches, radical personality changes, and severe loss of sensory and/or cognitive issues, with a combination of surgery and therapy.

Since brain injuries are permanent, these victims need and deserve substantial compensation for the long-term financial and other costs. A San Marcos personal injury lawyer diligently builds a negligence case from the ground up. This slow and steady approach usually results in maximum compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Trauma

Today’s cars and trucks have many advanced safety features. But all the safety features in the world cannot possibly absorb all the force in a high-speed wreck. Striking an airbag-padded steering wheel at 60mph is like running into a pillow-covered steel wall at 60mph.

These trauma injuries usually cause severe traumatic brain injuries (sTBIs). These injuries kill over 50,000 Americans every year, mostly because they’re difficult to diagnose and treat.

Severe trauma impact usually causes brain bleeding and swelling. These severe injuries have almost no visible symptoms, except the disorientation and confusion that’s common among all accident victims, regardless of the extent of their injuries.

Because these victims don’t get the treatment they need, their physical conditions deteriorate. The mild soreness becomes severe headaches and the disorientation becomes mood swings and permanent personality changes.

A San Marcos personal injury lawyer connects accident victims with doctors who focus on injury-related conditions and know how to diagnose and treat sTBIs.

Motion

Motion-related TBIs are a bit more common in low-speed collisions. The sudden, jarring motion knocks the cervical spine out of alignment. More importantly in terms of brain injuries, the motion causes the brain to slam against the skull.

This violent motion could cause an sTBI or an mTBI (moderate traumatic brain injury). An mTBI is basically a concussion.

A concussion is more than a headache. The damaged brain must re-route functions to uninjured parts of the brain, and this process takes time. Additionally, the cumulative effects of several concussions causes CTE, a degenerative brain disease that’s usually fatal.

Generally, maximum compensation is available in accident cases even if a pre-existing condition contributed to the risk and/or severity of a collision-related injury, such as CTE.

Stress

Car crashes don’t only cause external and internal impact-related injuries. They also cause chemical change related head injuries.

Extreme stress enlarges the amygdala (emotional responses) and shrinks the hippocampus (logical responses). The resulting imbalance causes hypervigilance, depression, anger, flashbacks, and other Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms.

Many researchers believe that a chemical condition like PTSD has a chemical solution. But that safe solution, if it’s out there, is still unavailable. So, for the foreseeable future, doctors can only manage the symptoms. PTSD symptom management is a difficult process that combines anti-anxiety medications and various kinds of therapy.

This hit-and-miss process eventually controls PTSD symptoms, but in most cases, “eventually” is a very long time.

Work With a Thorough San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in San Marcos, contact the Pursley Law Firm. Virtual, home, and hospital visits are available.

Source:

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6082169/