Brain Injuries

A brain injury is one of the most devastating injuries you can endure. Often, victims and their families are forced to deal with the physical limitations a brain injury imposes as well as serious emotional, cognitive, and behavioral deficits.

A brain injury occurs when the brain is forced against the skull, or an object impacts the skull, causing it to injure delicate brain tissue. While the skull protects your brain to a certain extent, it cannot keep your brain safe from heavy impact or acceleration/deceleration trauma.

Causes of Brain Injuries

Brain injuries are commonly caused by:

• Auto accidents
• Direct blows to the head
• Sports injuries
• Slip and fall accidents
• Construction accidents
• Physical violence

Brain injuries resulting from lack of oxygen may occur in situations of near drowning, choking, strangulation, electric shock, toxic exposure, and use of illegal drugs.

Closed head injury

Closed head injuries are injuries to your brain without cracking or piercing your skull. These internal head injuries cause swelling, which quickly increases the pressure inside your skull (called intracranial pressure). This pressure often causes more damage to your brain, resulting in more swelling. This pressure can damage your central nervous system by decreasing blood flow to your brain, or by causing your brain to herniate (push through) the opening in the back of your skull that attaches to your spinal cord.

There are several kinds of closed head injuries, including:

• Concussion: When your head is struck by an object, you may be come concussed. Concussions often produce bleeding in or around your brain.
• Subdural hematoma: This develops when the blood veins located between the membranes covering your brain leak blood in the aftermath of a head injury. The increase in intracranial pressure can cause serious damage to your brain tissue and possibly a loss of brain function.
• Epidural hematoma: This happens when your blood vessel (usually an artery) becomes ruptured and bleeds into the space in between your “dura mater” and your skull. If not treated immediately, this severe type of closed head injury will continue to worsen, resulting in death.  

Experienced Brain Injury Lawyers

The lawyers at Jacoby & Meyers understand how a brain injury can impact your life. From paralysis to coma, memory loss, and death, we've witnessed far too many good people suffer serious consequences due to brain injuries caused by negligent people. Often, the most disturbing aspect of a brain injury is the waiting – it can take months, or even years to accurately assess how brain damage has affected a victim. Let us take some of the burden off of your family while you care for your loved one. We will handle all of the legal details and fight to get you the compensation you deserve.

Please contact our brain injury lawyers today to schedule your free initial consultation. Jacoby & Meyers has offices nationwide.