Each year within the United States, nearly two million Americans experience a traumatic brain injury. This form of head injury is caused by an external force directly impacting the brain or through acceleration. The traumatic brain injury is a result of motor vehicle accidents including (SUV accidents, Car Accidents and Truck Accidents), gunshot wounds or other assault type injuries, trip and falls and sports-related injuries.
Every highly skilled New York Brain Injury Lawyer on our team has found that an individual suffering from a traumatic brain injury may have varying levels of serious symptoms and injuries. With some traumatic brain injuries, an individual may suffer from a brain contusion. A brain contusion is a bruise of the brain tissue. As with other bruise, a brain contusion occurs when blood vessels leak. Brain contusions are more serious than brain concussion as a contusion has structural brain damage. Often medical and health professionals fail to properly diagnose this injury. As a result, the condition worsens permanent injury ensues and you are left with a medical malpractice case.
A brain contusion can be minor with only a few symptoms and with little or possibly no damage to the brain. On the other hand, a brain contusion can be a severe injury. Individuals with a severe brain contusion may suffer from a longer period of unconsciousness following the injury. When the injured person wakes up, they are often tired, confused, easily agitated and emotional. The more severe brain contusions can lead to brain swelling or cerebral edema, which may result in further brain damage. Other symptoms of a brain contusion may include loss of memory, emotional problems, lack of motor coordination, numbness, problems paying attention, and the inability to understand or talk.
The diagnosis for a full recovery from a brain contusion depends on the severity of the brain injury. Although with any brain injury or skull injury, you should immediately seek emergency medical attention, some minor brain contusions are able to heal on their own with no medical intervention. However, severe brain contusions can cause severe injury and may result in a coma or possibly a wrongful death.
If you have suffered from the catastrophic effects of a brain contusion or other traumatic brain injury, contact our experienced New York Brain Contusion Injury Attorney to discuss your legal options. In many cases, the accident that caused the physical injuries is a result of someone’s act of negligence or recklessness. Whether it is a car accident, truck accident we can help. For example, if you are suffering from a brain injury as a result of a construction accident and were not provided safety gear such as a helmet, you may be able to file a workers compensation claim against your employer in addition to other possible claims of negligence.
If the injury was caused as a result of negligence, there are four elements that must be present. There must have been a duty of reasonable care owed to the plaintiff. This duty must have been breached in some way, either by an action or failure to act. There must also be causation, or in other words, the breach of the duty caused the injury to the plaintiff. Lastly, there must be damages as a result of the breach.
New York is one of 13 states that recognizes pure comparative negligence. This law is set out in New York Civil Practice L & R 1411. It states that the plaintiff’s damages will be reduced by their own liability but not barred completely. This means that for if for instance the brain injury was caused by a car accident, and the plaintiff was hit while speeding, the plaintiff will be able to still recover damages.
Contact Stephen Bilkis & Associates, PLLC at 800.696.9529 to schedule a free consultation with one of our New York Brain Injury Lawyers. Whether you the injury is traumatic brain damage, brain concussion, brain contusion, skull fracture or skull injury or any other type of head injury, we are here to help you. Call us or contact us online or visit one of our office locations in throughout the New York or Long Island area. We have offices in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island, Suffolk County, Nassau County and Westchester County. Again, whether your injury is an epidural hematoma, concussion, blowout fracture, occipital fracture, brain swell, cerebral edema, subdural hematoma or any eye injury including an eye orbital fracture call us for a free consultation.