Your Prognosis for Traumatic Brain Injury & How it Affects the Case of Your Tampa Automobile Accidents Attorney

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that at least 5.3 million Americans currently will need daily assistance for the rest of their lives because they suffer from a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. This is a sobering statistic for traumatic brain injury patients and their loved ones, leading many TBI patients to wonder about their long-term prognosis and whether they can ever expect to feel "normal" again. For better or worse, medical science still has a lot to learn about the brain and its ability to heal. The best TBI patients can do, therefore, is hope for the best prognosis while preparing for the worst.

Tampa automobile accidents attorney Dale Appell, P.A. has facilitated claims and settlements for many traumatic brain injury patients. One of the key issues of these settlements is the prognosis, or the medical prediction of how a patient will improve and what the chances are for a full recovery. Since much of the brain remains a mystery, physicians will often rely on documented cases and their own personal experience to arrive at a prognosis for traumatic brain injury cases.

A prognosis is never a guarantee. There is always hope for a recovery that is better than the prognosis. At the same time, it is important for TBI patients to receive a settlement that will cover the expenses of their prognosis. A prognosis, therefore, is the report that your personal injury attorney will rely upon to explain why you need a certain amount of money to pay for your medical care, lost wages, and so on.

The prognosis for traumatic brain injury patients depends upon a few factors, most importantly the parts of the brain injured, the severity of the injuries, and the amount of nerve damage. It is important to note that nerve damage can occur at the initial time of injury as well as later if brain tissue swells or if fluid accumulates in the skull.

Right after the automobile accident (or other event that caused your injury), physicians will look at several predictors of your injury and recovery. These predictors provide physicians with clues to your future prognosis, but are by no means 100 percent accurate:

• The duration and severity of a coma, often rated on the Glasgow Coma Scale
• The extent and duration of amnesia after the injury
• The existence and location of hemorrhages and contusions on the brain
• The existence of diffuse axonal injury (injury to the nerve endings in your brain)
• The incidence of secondary traumatic brain injury caused by blood loss, oxygen loss, swelling in the brain, and fluid accumulation in the brain

Typically, the more severe a traumatic brain injury is, the longer it will take to heal and the more impairment the patient will experience. However, even a “mild” traumatic brain injury can cause disability in a person's ability to think, reason, work, speak, concentrate, remember, and handle emotions. All traumatic brain injury patients are also at increased risk for brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

The good news is, the majority of people with TBI, even severe TBI, recover to the point that they can return to their previous levels of function or are at least be capable of self-care. To achieve this prognosis, TBI patients require extensive rehabilitation that is targeted to their specific disabilities.

Anyone in the greater Tampa Bay, Florida area who has been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after a car accident should contact Tampa automobile accidents attorney Dale Appell, P.A. for a free legal opinion of your case. Our law firm aggressively fights for the right of traumatic brain injury patients to receive the very best medical care and rehabilitation technologies. We proudly serve auto accident victims here in Tampa, Florida as well as all surrounding counties and communities such as Riverview, Tarpon Springs, St Petersburg, Odessa, Largo, Clearwater, Pinellas Park, Hudson, Temple Terrace, and Hillsborough.