First Things To Do After a TBI Accident in Maryland
A traumatic brain injury can be a devastating and life changing injury. If you suffered a traumatic brain injury, you may be rendered unconscious or in an altered mental state, amongst other things you might not be able to walk on your own.
Most likely, you’ll be in an emergency facility or with EMS or first aid responders, and so the first thing to do after any kind of event that causes traumatic brain injury is to make sure that you receive proper medical care and treatment. Read below to learn more about the important first steps you should take after a TBI injury, before calling and scheduling a free consultation with a Maryland TBI lawyer to discuss the strength of your claim.
What Causes a Traumatic Brain Injury?
There are several causes for a traumatic brain injury. A traumatic brain injury is just like it sounds. It’s an injury or bleeding or some kind of destruction to the brain or the surrounding nerves or tissues.
Some of the common causes could be:
- A fall, and that could be falling out of bed or slipping in a bathtub or down a flight of stairs or any kind of fall from a height where your head impacts a hard surface.
- A motor vehicle collision, especially where your head hits the windshield or any part of the inside of a car due to a violent car crash.
- A sports-related injury. This is most likely to happen from a football related injury but these injuries can also occur in semi contact sports such as baseball or basketball, especially from blows to the head.
- This may happen to people who work with flammable or combustible materials. Anything that causes significant traumatic impact to your neck, brain or skull area could result in a traumatic brain injury.
Where Can You Seek Medical Attention for a TBI?
If you have suffered a traumatic brain injury you would hopefully be examined by doctors in a hospital who will then refer you to specialists following the event that caused your traumatic brain injury. After the emergency room you will likely be given a referral to a neurologist, neuro-psychologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist and other specialists as needed. If you suspect you have a traumatic brain injury, and you have not received any medical care, then you should immediately proceed to an emergency room at your nearest hospital and tell them that you believe you sustained a head injury and describe for them in as much detail as possible all of the symptoms that you are experiencing so that they can get you the medical attention that you need.
If you believe you have sustained a head or brain injury than the most important thing you can do is follow up with your suggested medical treatment so that you can heal properly. These types of injuries are the most serious injuries and could cause devastating consequences if not monitored and attended to properly.
How Is A Traumatic Brain Injury Diagnosed?
There are several ways you can diagnose a traumatic brain injury. The first and most important one is a Glasgow coma scale and that’s given to someone usually at the scene of accident or in the hospital, that test is administered if someone is experiencing or making complaints of dizziness or appears woozy, or out of it.
The purpose of the test is to determine a person’s level of consciousness. The test is scored on a level of 1-15, meaning that, they check alertness and awareness to your surroundings and any reading or score below a 10 can cause for concern for a traumatic brain injury.
Seeking Medical Attention Is Always Important After a TBI
Just because you feel fine at the moment doesn’t mean you’re going to feel fine an hour later or two hours later, or a day later. Sometimes when people are involved in highly traumatic events, their bodies go into shock or they produce a strong amount of adrenaline that can mask symptoms from any internal injuries such as brain injury and so if you’re feeling any discomfort, wooziness, dizziness, loss of memory or general fogginess, then you should have that checked out and evaluated by a medical professional.
Consult With An Attorney To Learn More About Your Options
A client should look for attorneys who have experience in handling traumatic brain injury cases. They should look for an attorney who has experience in reviewing medical records and someone that is able to spot warning signs for the symptoms of potential or latent traumatic brain injuries.
A client should look for someone who knows how to contact or line up the right doctors to prove and document a traumatic brain injury, and all of the after-effects. Things like avocational rehab doctor or a neuropsychologist, because that will help you prove the extent, duration and severity of any cognitive deficits, such as memory loss, loss of intelligence, loss of functioning in daily activities and then loss of thinking that all result as symptoms or after effects of a traumatic brain injury .
Document Everything That’s Different After Your TBI
One of the most important things a client can do is document everything that’s different about their life following their traumatic brain injury. Things like an inability to follow conversation, an inability to respond to people’s questions, an inability to remember certain things, an inability to solve problems, forgetfulness, any difficulties they’re having cognitively, an inability to process information or follow conversations or answer simple questions. Those are all things that need to be documented so that you can show how your life has been affected as a result of a potential traumatic brain injury.
