Leading Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, leaves thousands of people devastated each year. Permanent disability due to loss of mobility or cognitive function, and even death are common results of such injuries. Moreover, families and their financial prospects are often significantly damaged as well. Fortunately a New York brain injury lawyer may be able to help the victim gain compensation for his or her losses.

Closed and Penetrating TBI

The medical community distinguishes two types of severe traumatic brain injury-closed and penetrating. The more common form seen by New York brain injury lawyers, closed injury, occurs when a force causes the brain to move within the skull. Delicate brain tissues are damaged as the brain is jarred from within. Generally fall accidents and motor vehicle crashes are the culprit of a closed brain injury, but an object struck against the head that does not penetrate the skull can be the cause as well.
A penetrating injury is less common, but in many cases causes even more damage to the brain, since inner brain tissues are damaged or destroyed. A penetrating injury occurs as the term suggests—when a foreign object strikes the head and penetrates the skull. Gun shots to the head or another object forced against the skull generally causes such a penetrating injury.

Common Accidents Associated with TBI

According to the Centers for Disease Control, fully a third of all accidents which cause traumatic brain injury involve a fall—often from a stair, but also from hitting an object on the way down in a slip-and-fall or trip-and-fall accident, or even by the head hitting the ground on a surface level fall.
Motor vehicle accidents account for approximately 17% of TBIs. Brain injury victims in such accidents often suffer other injuries as well, which further complicates their ability to recuperate. Among other common accidents associated with TBI are:

  • Struck-by incidents
  • Assaults
  • Collision with a stationary object
  • Drownings
  • Sports

Because legal representatives for the defendant often try to mitigate their client’s liability by claiming that the injury victim was at least partly at fault for the accident, it is generally better to hire an experienced and dedicated New York brain injury lawyer who will fight for your rights.

We Can Help

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident causing TBI, the experienced New York personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of Kenneth A. Wilhelm can help you better understand your legal rights and options. One of our clients received a $43,940,000 verdict in a birth injury case where brain damage was involved. Please contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800 WORK-4-YOU (1-800-967-5496). We can also help with personal injury cases in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida. If you have been seriously injured in any of the 50 U.S. states, please call us and we will try to help you with your case.
Other phone numbers for us are:
1-800-RADIO-LAW, 1-888-WYPADEK, OR 1-800- LAS-LEYES
Please visit us at Work4YouLaw.com