Closed Head Injuries: More Serious Than Skull Fractures

Our personal injury lawyers have seen closed head injuries in every locale surrounding metropolitan Atlanta whether it be Austell, Snellville, Roswell, Alpharetta, Jonesboro, Sandy Springs or the other numerous locales near the city. Victims of closed head injuries oftentimes have the most serious injuries we confront due to swelling of the brain caused by the trauma. What we have learned from taking numerous medical depositions and researching these claims is that a serious head injury can have profound consequences for the victim in situation where there is no skull fracture, per se, but rather merely “a closed head injury.” A closed head injury occurs when the brain is shaken within the skull itself. The brain is subjected to trauma when the bicyclist falls off the bike onto the pavement and strikes his head or when the pedestrian is hit by the car and lands on the road, again striking their head. However an accident occurs, when a victim’s head is injured, if the skull is not fractured, all of the trauma is contained within the skull. This is why it is called a closed head injury, because there is no open wound or opening of the skull via a fracture. If the trauma to the head and skull are severe enough, the brain can swell inside the skull (with no place to go) which can cause permanent brain damage sometimes leading to a coma, a stroke or paralysis.
We have seen innumerable closed head injury cases which have had life altering consequences for the victims of such injuries. Sometimes these injuries are difficult to initially diagnose because there is no skull fracture or other obvious injury. However, if the victim begins manifesting problems with memory, speech and/or cognitive abilities, the medical profession then begins to investigate the cause of these problems which typically leads to an MRI of the brain. Sometimes the MRI will show the swelling and sometimes it will not. Sometimes a neuropsychological evaluation is necessary to make a proper diagnosis. The fact remains that head injuries can lead to serious brain injuries, which in turn, can lead to life altering consequences for the victims of “closed head injuries.”
If you or any loved one has been subjected to trauma due to the negligence of a third party and you have sustained a closed head injury, it is obviously imperative that you be seen by a doctor who has considerable experience in dealing with such cases. The same is true for any attorney employed to investigate and represent the victim of a negligent act which caused such an injury. If there is to be an adequate financial recovery in such cases, there must be an adequate understanding of the significance of the injury and the difficulty in treating it. In short, closed head injuries are usually very serious and must be investigated promptly and handled with the utmost care and diligence. Not only does one need competent medical assistance in these cases, if there is a claim to be brought against a negligent third party, competent legal counsel is also imperative for the victims of such injuries.