A Head Injury in a Car Accident Can Cause Structural Damage to the Brain or Disruption of Neurotransmitter Systems
As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who has handled a multitude of closed head trauma and brain injury cases since 1979, I have worked with many neuro-psychiatrists, neurologists, and cognitive specialists to investigate and evaluate cognitive dysfunctions resulting from head trauma.
Concussions and resulting neuropsychological symptoms have been increasingly in the public eye due to injuries caused by IED’s in Iraqi and other military situations. In most cases, concussion symptoms will occur within the first 7 to 10 days after an accident and generally will gradually diminish over a 3 to 4 month period. However, approximately 20% maintain symptoms that last beyond a year or more. Most concussion symptoms include headaches, dizziness, fatigue, irritability, argumentativeness, stubbornness, paranoia, anxiety, insomnia, loss of concentration and memory, nausea, light sensitivity, and emotional outbursts.
Recently a California neuro-pathologist discovered damage to the brains of former professional football players as a result of impacts and also found similar pathological damage in the brains of deceased Vietnam veterans. This is a potentially groundbreaking finding that suggests that combat troops who suffer head trauma might be susceptible to degenerative brain disease. Autopsies have revealed an abnormal buildup of powerful proteins in combat victims’ brains who had suffered concussions with the same proteins linked to repetitive concussions in boxers and football players. This may suggest what has been previously diagnosed as a post-traumatic stress disorder and psychological disorders may have actually been a brain disease caused by concussions.
Links are now being studied between concussions, incapacitated brain function, and PTSD by military researchers. If this science is applied to the victim of a car accident who sustains a head trauma following a severe blow to the head and a closed head trauma, this could possibly lead to long-term brain damage. One specialist investigated that every time your brain receives a jolt and moves back and forth at a high rate of speed, similar to that which occurs in a high velocity collision, irreversible brain damage may occur. The brain does not heal itself and even in a concussion situation where a person does not lose consciousness or recovers quickly, there may be brain damage and whether head trauma is solely responsible for the triggering of buildup of harmful proteins within brain cells is not known as of this time.
Doctors are researching to see if steroid and drug use or genetic augmentation can stifle development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. This condition can mimic Alzheimer’s disease and its symptoms include dementia, memory loss, and depression.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a car accident or have sustained a head trauma, you should contact medical specialists and experienced closed head trauma and brain injury lawyers to fully investigate your case and to hold the wrongdoers accountable for the damages you may have sustained. Of course, in this experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney’s opinion, the best brain injury lawyers will offer a free no obligation consultation. If you would like more information, please contact us at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.
