Types of Brain Injuries Caused by Car Accidents

Car accidents are terrible and traumatizing for all concerned, but a diagnosis of traumatic brain injury caused by a car accident is uniquely frightening. Brain injuries sometimes result from medical conditions and diseases, but when they occur due to outside trauma—like a car accident—medical professionals refer to it as a traumatic brain injury. Car accidents are the leading cause of traumatic brain injuries with impacts on the injury victim ranging from mild and temporary to life-altering and catastrophic.

Understanding the Impacts of a Brain Injury

Experienced car accident attorneys in Atlanta explain that brain injuries can occur in any type of car accident, including head-on collisions, rear-end collisions, roadway departures, and rollovers. The brain has a cushioning layer of fluid and the protection of a bony skull. Still, the delicate nerves and tissue are vulnerable to serious injury in a car accident from blunt force trauma or the violent jarring or shaking that causes the brain to bump or twist against the inside of the skull. When the brain suffers a significant injury, the bruising, bleeding, and swelling inside the skull cause impaired function and, in some cases, the death of brain cells in the damaged area, resulting in permanent harm.

Common Brain Injuries From Car Accidents

Medical professionals categorize traumatic brain injuries into one of two categories: open or closed brain injuries. Open brain injuries include penetrating wounds and skull fractures. Both can occur from blunt force trauma in a car accident, during which the internal structures of the vehicle collapse inward at high impact. 

Open brain injuries cause serious, life-threatening impacts resulting from damaged brain tissue due to shards of bone, glass, or sharp metal penetrating or puncturing the skull. Personal injury attorneys in Atlanta have seen the impacts of these injuries to be catastrophic, with permanent consequences including impairment or disability.

Closed brain injuries result from swelling, bleeding, and pressure inside the brain. Common brain injuries in car accident victims include the following:

• Concussion: a concussion is typically a mild injury that stems from the brain’s contact with the inside of the skull causing a temporary change in function. Most concussion victims fully recover, but some develop long-concussion syndrome with lasting symptoms such as headaches and changes in mood and concentration. Repeated concussions place the injury victim at risk of a dementia-like brain disease later in life.
• Contusion: a contusion is a bruise, or bleeding from tiny damaged capillaries and other blood vessels. When blood seeps into sensitive brain tissue and cause a bruise or contusion, it has symptoms ranging from mild to severe, depending on the size and location of the contusion.
• Diffuse Axonal Injury: this injury occurs when the brain twists inside the skull causing the tearing or shearing of tiny nerves and other tissue due to the sudden stretching of structures inside the skull that happens during the brain’s rotational force.
• Coup-contrecoup injuries: this type of traumatic brain injury occurs when a violent impact or shaking causes the brain to bump back and forth in the skull, causing injury in one spot and a second injury in the opposite portion of the brain from rebound impact.

Even a mild concussion requires medical treatment and has painful and distressing symptoms such as headaches, ringing in the ears, and problems with memory and focus. More serious brain injuries can have catastrophic impacts on the victim and their family.

What Types of Damages Can I Recover in a Car Accident Traumatic Brain Injury Claim?

When a brain injury occurs due to someone else’s fault in a car accident, the injury victim may recover compensation for their damages whether the damages are a single emergency room bill and a few days of lost pay for a mild concussion or compensation for a life-altering injury with resulting disability. Working with an Atlanta brain injury attorney, some of the common damages recovered in car accident claims for brain injury include the following:

• Medical expenses
• Future medical care costs
• Lost wages
• Future income loss
• Diminished future earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• PTSD, loss of enjoyment of life, or diminished quality of life

In the worst cases, the family members of a car accident victim who dies from a traumatic brain injury can recover additional compensation such as funeral expenses and the loss of a provider’s income, services, and consortium.

Although compensation cannot erase the harm of an injury, it relieves financial hardship and gives brain injury victims a sense of justice and accountability.