Posts Tagged ‘Traumatic’
Traumatic Brain Injury Resulting From Automobile Accident
Nearly one hundred thousand people suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in the United States every year that have a profound effect on their daily lives. Trauma to the head can cause the brain to bruise, bleed, tear and swell. One of the leading causes of traumatic brain injuries are motor vehicle accidents. Trauma to be brain can be the result of the head striking the windshield, airbag, steering wheel or from be ejected from the vehicle and striking the pavement.
The Forces Involved in an Automobile Collision
A head-on <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=http://www.800goldlaw.com/Motor-Vehicle-Accident-Injuries-Compensation.html>automobile collision</a> at forty-five miles per hour can cause the soft tissue of the brain to be forced against the hard bone of the skull. This forceful collision of brain against bone can cause blood vessels to tear, leading to bleeding into the brain. This bleeding into the brain produces an increase in pressure that causes the brain to swell and press against the skull causing impaired brain function or the death of brain cells. The skull does not have to be penetrated or fractured to suffer a serious brain injury.
Symptoms of Traumatic Brain Injury
The symptoms of <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=http://www.800goldlaw.com/traumatic-brain-injury.html>traumatic brain injury</a> vary according to the severity of the injury and the area of the brain injured. Mild traumatic brain injury or concussion symptoms may include:
A brief period of unconsciousness Amnesia for the time immediately before and following the accident Headache Confusion Dizziness and/or loss of balance Blurred vision Tinnitus Difficulty concentrating
The symptoms of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury may include:
Persistent headache Nausea and vomiting Seizures/convulsions Coma Dilation of pupils Profound confusion Loss of coordination and weakness of extremities Paralysis
A traumatic brain injury may have delayed symptoms so there may be a time gap between the accident and when the physical symptoms of the injury appear. An experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer has the expertise to tie the injury to its’ original cause and is a valuable asset in the pursuit of assessing liability for your injuries to the responsible parties.
If you or someone you love has suffered a traumatic brain injury in an automobile accident, please visit the website of the experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. today serving the West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Lake Worth and Port St. Lucie, Florida areas to learn about your legal rights and obtain the financial compensation you are entitled to.
Tags: A mother has decided to take legal action after medical mistakes and oversights caused the death of her stillborn child, it has been revealed.
Louise Davies, 28 had contacted her injury lawyers to investigate the claim against the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust after the death of baby Callum Christopher Davies-Parkinson, believing medics at the Darlington Memorial Hospital had made mistakes.
During her pregnancy, Ms Davies had been to the hospital on various occasions when she was concerned about severe abdominal pains. However, she was given an appointment to attend after two days for a thorough check-up and a scan.
Yet when she had arrived for the check up, the hospital’s medical staff had no idea of the reason why she was attending and carried out a brief check. They claimed it was not serious and she was sent home.
The next day, Louise had contacted the hospital after she had noticed that baby Callum had suddenly stopped moving after he had been active for a short period of time. She was then told to take a bath to awaken him.
Yet when the baby had not made any movement, Louise rushed to hospital for a check up where she was told by the midwife that the baby’s heartbeat was fine.
A while after, a doctor had checked for the heartbeat confirming that the baby had in fact died.
Louise said: “I can’t help but ask questions about what could have been done differently. However, you put your trust in medical staff, as they are the experts.
If they tell you it’s nothing and that you should just have a bath, then that’s what you do.
When it was eventually confirmed to me my baby was dead, they said it would take two days to deliver him. There were no bereavement counsellors available and I was left on the post- natal ward for five days, two of these with Callum, surrounded by other women and babies.
It was extremely distressing.”
Louise is suffering from depression and nervous breakdown while father, Paul Parkinson, 28, has been put on anti-depressant pills.
Both mother and father of baby Callum are expected to make a medical negligence claim.
Julia Cotterill, solicitor and clinical negligence specialist said: “We are investigating a potential claim against the Trust based on possible errors in the management of the later stages of Miss Davies’s pregnancy.
“She had a traumatic first pregnancy, which, we say, should have been taken into consideration by the doctors and midwives at the hospital.
This should have been a joyous occasion for Louise and father Paul Parkinson but it turned into a nightmare.”
The process of becoming a mother involves a certain amount of psychological strain for a pregnant woman. In fact, for some women, childbirth can be as traumatic as life-threatening events such as a natural disaster or a war. During pregnancy, it is important for the to-be mother’s family members and close ones to support her as required.
During childbirth, women are likely to experience a range of emotions, which may include:
• Guilt
• Anxiety and fear that can manifest as intense flashbacks and nightmares
• Helplessness or a feeling of loss of control or feeling incomplete
• Severe depression
• Anger, irritability
• Obsessive talking about their traumatic experiences
• Ambivalent feelings toward the baby
• Hyper-vigilance and hyper-sensitivity to any perceived injustice
• Other symptoms such as drug and alcohol abuse, phobias, fainting spells, eating disorders, suicidal tendencies
• It should be noted that such responses are natural reactions to a scary event, and are not signs of weakness. However, husbands can provide the necessary support to enable their spouses to cope with birth trauma.
During and before childbirth
• Medical care – Ensure that your spouse gets all the medical care she requires. Inform her about the available choices. Involve her in the decision-making process.
• Pain relief – Women experience intense physical and mental pain during childbirth. Use tried and tested techniques that aim to reduce this pain. For example, massages, baths, relaxation techniques may help.
• Emotional support – Often, women complain that people around them dismiss their problems. Sometimes, simply listening to your spouse may act as a solution. Remember that your spouse requires all the emotional support you can give her.
• Additional support – Counseling, antenatal classes, support organizations for birth trauma, etc. can really help.
After childbirth
• Providing care – After childbirth, adequate nutrition, exercise are necessary to ensure that your spouse is healthy.
• Sharing responsibility – Taking care of the newborn can be a difficult and tiring task. For some women, the child can be a reminder of their traumatic experiences. Your spouse needs some time away from her baby. Ensure that you or responsible family members are available to take care of the baby for at least some time.
• Counseling – Contact a health professional immediately if your spouse develops symptoms of a traumatic birth.
Pregnancy can be a challenging phase for your spouse. Maintaining a healthy posture will help her keep many problems away. Sometimes being a dad takes a little wise perspective…… You can exchange advice, tricks, tips, and solutions to common dad problems here.
(PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to one or more terrifying events in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. It is a severe and ongoing emotional reaction to an extreme psychological trauma. This stressor may involve someone’s actual death or a threat to the patient’s or someone else’s life, serious physical injury, or threat to physical and/or psychological integrity, to a degree that usual psychological defenses are incapable of coping. In some cases it can also be from profound psychological and emotional trauma, apart from any actual physical harm. Often, however, the two are combined. PTSD is a condition distinct from traumatic stress, which is of less intensity and duration.
Animals experience traumatic stress, as do humans. In working with traumatized animals there is a fine line to walk between honoring what they went through, and enabling them in keeping alive the experience. Traumatic stress shapes whom they become. Extended stress shapes their behavior.
No other being can fully understand what another has lived through. We can only offer compassion, support, and the gift of seeing beyond the trauma to the being. In seeing them only through their eyes, we get caught up in their beliefs about themselves. Healing from trauma encompasses the entire being. After addressing the animals physical needs, it benefits the animal if we address the mental and emotion levels as well. If the latter are not acknowledged, in whatever way they know how to tell us, the resulting emotions go deeper inside. I first met Wylie, a Black Lab and Hurricane Katrina survivor, when I stopped at an animal shelter near my home in Montana. I had gone to the shelter in search of a cat to add to my family. After having been chosen by a precocious feline named Q, I sat down to fill out the required paper work. It was then that I first noticed, curled under the table, a very withdrawn and traumatized dog. I asked the volunteer who was helping me, who this dog was. She told me his name was Wylie and he lived with her now, then began to tell me his story. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August of 2005 after which many animals were being placed in shelters around the country. Wylie came to Montana. With the open hearts of many humans who adopted these wonderful animals, many let go of their experience, and many did not. Wylie was one of those that did not. He clung tightly to the devastation and death he experienced. He had gone into survival mode, running on adrenaline, trying to flee his own death. He had lost his spirit, along with his will to live. His world was limited, dictated by fear and abandonment. He had lost his humans and the world he knew. He was alone. The stresses of severe trauma to his survival and security had set in, Wylie now experienced the world through a filter of fear. . In healing work with any being, we can only meet them half way. For if we try to “fix what is wrong” we add to their feelings of being powerless over their world. I acknowledged the wisdom of Wylie’s choices to survive. After having his world torn apart, it was up to him to embrace the work we would begin doing. He had to want to care enough to try. All the emotions, Wylie experienced, shaped his world. He slid deeper into depression, not wanting to feel the trauma he lived with inside of himself. He had not grieved his losses. He did not want to live. He died in the only way he knew how, inside. Slowly offering Wylie the possibility of change and seeing him as a dog of courage, gave him the opportunity to see himself differently through the eyes of those around him. It would be up to him to decide to embrace what he saw reflected, and make it his own. Wylie began to change. Slowly.
When dealing with sustained trauma in an animal, there are guidelines, not rules to follow. The way to help these animals trust, and find self-empowerment again, is as individual as the animal. Shifting our focus away from the trauma to seeing from our heart into theirs, begins to feed the animal, not the experience. Wylie, as well as any animal that has sustained trauma, will do the best they can. Our love and support for animals, who has suffered trauma, is not short term or conditional. Our truth and love, unconditionally, are gifts, given to us both.
Of the 1.4 million Americans who sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, half of them will be involved in an automobile or motorcycle accident. The National Institutes of Health cite automobile accidents as the number one cause of traumatic brain injury in people under 75.
Accident-Related Brain Injury: Mechanisms
In an auto-accident-related TBI, the victim is jolted violently, sometimes against an object. This causes the brain to twist within the skull and bump against the skull walls, damaging the brain’s axions, which are the connections between neurons. This disrupts the brain’s internal communications, reducing the patient’s ability to perform basic functions. Patients with more severe axion damage may go into comas or die immediately. Other types of brain injuries that are commonly caused by an auto accident include concussion; contusion, or bruising of the brain tissue; skull fracture; and anoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain.
A closed brain injury, in which the skull is not broken or penetrated, is the most common kind of TBI caused by auto accidents. It is also more difficult to diagnose than a penetrative brain injury, because the symptoms may not be obvious at first. Right after the accident, victims may feel fine, or show only a short loss of consciousness or a mild headache. They may be sent home from the hospital with a clean bill of health. However, more symptoms can appear in the days and weeks after the accident. They include:
* Headaches
* Dizziness and lightheadedness
* Double vision or blurred vision
* Confusion or agitation
* Fatigue
* Memory loss
* Mood or behavior changes
* Trouble concentrating
* Slurred speech
* Dilation of the pupils
* Repeated vomiting or nausea
* Loss of coordination
These secondary symptoms can occur when the brain swells in response to the original trauma. Because the brain is trapped inside the skull, this swelling can cause complications of the original, seemingly mild, injury. About 40 percent of TBI patients develop some of these symptoms, sometimes called post-concussion syndrome, in the days or weeks after an accident. Accident victims who show any of these symptoms should insist on being thoroughly rechecked for a traumatic brain injury, even if doctors originally said they were fine.
Costs of Automobile Accident-Related TBI
The costs, both personal and financial, of a traumatic brain injury can be high. Because brain tissue cannot regenerate the way other body tissues can, brain-damage patients may never fully recover from their injuries. Such patients will live the rest of their lives with disabilities such as trouble seeing or hearing, memory loss, motor skills damage, depression and personality changes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than 5 million Americans need help with daily tasks because of a traumatic brain injury. All of these things take a toll on the lives of the patients and their loved ones, as well as costing millions of dollars to treat.
To minimize the chance of living with a disability, accident victims who think they might have a TBI should insist on a thorough medical evaluation after an accident, so they can begin treatment as soon as possible. If you believe that someone else may be at fault for an auto accident that caused you or a loved one to sustain brain damage, or if you believe you are being unfairly denied treatment or compensation, you may wish to speak to an experienced brain injury attorney.
A recent study noted that nearly half of traumatic brain injury sufferers struggle with depression. As the family member of a person with traumatic brain injury, you take on a condition that can have daily and even life-long effects on quality of life and family routines. How can you best support your family member with TBI? What about family advocacy?
The Family Is A Brain Injury Victim’s Greatest Ally
Though it can be frustrating to see the often mind-boggling aftershocks of traumatic brain injury, it is important to be supportive of your brain-injured family member. Not only do they have to deal with the daily effects of TBI, which may include personality changes, memory loss, or difficulty concentrating or working, but they must navigate their own family relationships as well. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize that frustration and even a feeling of desperation are common amongst family members of TBI survivors. It is normal and expected to feel confused, hurt, angry, even depressed yourself as you struggle to help a loved one who is suffering from brain injury and its effects.
A brain injury may be frustrating, but it is vital that a TBI victim have a supportive family system. Once a brain injured patient is released from intensive medical care, the family becomes his or her primary support system and often takes on medical care roles. Studies have shown that an adaptable family structure is vital to good recovery from traumatic brain injury. This means that a family needs to accept the fact that change is inevitable and adjust to meet the realities of traumatic brain injury on a daily basis. This also means a challenging coming-to-terms with the personality changes, isolation or embarrassment that may be experienced by a brain-damaged family member. As the family member of a TBI survivor, you may sometimes feel powerless to help your loved one. The reality is that your support can be vital to your relative’s quality of life and continued recovery. Speak with your family member’s medical care providers, if possible, to find out how you can be involved in medical care.
Caring For A Relative With Brain Damage: Make Sure You Have Support
Though it is important to show up for your brain-injured family member, recognize your own need for support and care. It may help you to join a support group or seek counseling as you deal with the inevitable family changes that accompany brain injury. The internet can also be a good resource for the family struggling to find support for TBI: online message boards and chat groups can educate and comfort you as you learn more about your role and adjust to your new circumstances. Sometimes it may feel redundant or unnecessary to seek support for yourself; after all, you’re not the family member who is directly suffering from TBI. But in order to be an effective caretaker for your brain-damaged loved one, it is vital that you yourself feel equipped to deal with daily life and approach your family member with a positive, loving and tolerant attitude. Often, a safe place to vent and a network of informed friends can make the difference between daily struggles and a feeling of hope.
Families Are Effective Brain Injury Advocates
Feeling as if your efforts to help your brain-injured loved one aren’t working? Try acting as an advocate on their behalf. With the cognitive changes that come with TBI, it is easy for traumatic brain injury victims to fall victim to those who do not respect their rights or take their medical responsibilities seriously. Luckily, family members are extremely effective advocates for brain-injured patients. You can help your loved one document their medical care, weigh important medical decisions and navigate the often confusing terrain of insurance companies, doctors and social services. An educated and positive attitude is often helpful as you seek to achieve your advocacy goals for your brain-injured loved one.
Sometimes it is necessary to enlist the help of an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney as you seek to make sense of a traumatic brain injury. An effective brain injury lawyer can join forces with a family to ensure a positive outcome and can act on your family’s behalf as you seek dignified treatment or even monetary damages to cover medical expenses, vocational rehabilitation or future medical care. Together, your attorney and your family members can form an effective system of support for the survivor of a traumatic brain injury, ensuring that they will continue to participate in and contribute to a happy family for years to come.
description: When a person is a victim of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), it is not only them who suffers the consequences. Family members who are caring for the patient after they have been released from medical care are also susceptible to adverse affects. It is important that family members caring for the victim are supported as well so that they can uphold a positive support system to aid in a smooth recovery.