Jeff Marion | November 27, 2023 | Personal Injury
Concussions, otherwise known as mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs), are extremely common after car accidents. The sudden jolt of a car crash can easily cause your brain to slam the inside of your skull. You don’t have to hit your head on the dashboard or steering wheel. You don’t even have to lose consciousness.
It gets worse. Number one, the early signs of a mild traumatic brain injury can be really subtle. You might not realize at first that you’ve been concussed. The emergency room doctors might even miss the warning signs. And number two, while many people make a complete recovery from their mTBI within a few weeks to months, others suffer from long-term or even permanent post-concussion syndrome. And it’s not always easy to know at first which category you’ll be in.
If you’ve been in a wreck, it’s important to determine as soon as possible whether you might have a concussion, and seek medical attention as soon as you can. Not just because it gives you a better chance at a good medical outcome, although that’s certainly true. But also, because it could give you a much better chance at a fair outcome in any personal injury claim you decide to make.
Top 5 Symptoms of a TBI
If you’ve been in a car accident recently, even if you already received immediate medical attention, be on the lookout for these potential warning signs of a traumatic brain injury:
- Nausea and dizziness. This one’s pretty straightforward. If you’re dizzy or sick to your stomach, there’s a good chance you might have a concussion injury. Symptoms tend to be worst right after the accident, but might return with certain activities. For example, walking or watching TV might re-trigger nausea symptoms.
- Blurry vision. Another pretty straightforward sign. If you find that you’re having a harder time reading or performing activities that require close focus, make sure you talk to your doctor.
- Fatigue. This one might have a bit of a later onset than other symptoms. You might notice that just getting up and walking around the house for a few minutes is inexplicably exhausting. Or, you might find yourself nodding off and unable to focus due to both physical and mental fatigue, even if you’re getting plenty of sleep.
- Headaches. Chronic headaches are one of the most classic signs of head injury. Depending on your situation, you might experience mild, dull aches or debilitating migraines (or anything in between). These headaches are also commonly associated with sensitivity to light or sound.
- Loss of cognitive function. One of the most common examples of this is memory loss. You might have totally forgotten everything about the crash. But you also might find that you’re forgetting things more frequently in the days and weeks following. And beyond memory loss, you might also notice that you’re having a harder time completing work tasks that used to be easy for you. Or, you might be having a hard time understanding what people are saying when they speak to you.
How a Loved One Can Help
With loss of cognitive function especially, it’s not always easy for the person dealing with concussion symptoms to fully comprehend what’s happening to them. If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard plenty of stories of players who were very clearly suffering from head injuries try to get right back in the game.
If someone you love has been in a car crash and seems to be acting strangely—for example, experiencing mood swings for no discernible reason—don’t brush it aside. Sometimes a spouse, other family member, or friend can recognize the warning signs and symptoms of a concussion quicker than the actual injury victim. If you suspect they may be suffering from a traumatic brain injury, encourage them to seek medical attention right away.
Why Do So Many People Get a Concussion After a Car Accident?
So now that you understand some of the warning signs, let’s jump back and talk about why concussions are such a common car accident injury.
I want you to picture something here. Imagine an egg inside a jar. If you shake that jar, the egg is going to smack up against the side of the glass. It may even crack and shatter. But probably the jar won’t be damaged at all. You don’t even have to hit the jar—just shaking it hard enough will do the trick.
It’s the same with your brain and your skull. Your brain usually doesn’t actually touch the inside of your skull. It sits inside it, surrounded by a protective layer of fluid. During a car crash, there’s usually a sudden acceleration or deceleration (or both). This can cause the brain to move back and forth, and slam into the inside of the skull. And that impact can cause actual physical damage to the brain.
Why Didn’t the ER Doctor Diagnose My Brain Injury?
If you went to the doctor right after an accident, even if you’re already suffering some of the classic signs of a concussion, that’s not a guarantee you’ll get a traumatic brain injury diagnosis right away.
ER doctors are trained to save your life and get you medically stable so that you can go home. If you suffered a broken leg, are in a lot of physical pain, or have any other obvious physical injuries, they’re going to focus on those things. They’re not necessarily worried about your headaches, or dizziness, or disorientation.
My point is not to say anything disparaging about ER doctors. They’re great at what they do! Just that they have a lot on their plates, and diagnosing TBIs is not necessarily going to be a priority for them. So don’t assume you don’t have a TBI because none of your doctors mentioned it to you. TBIs frequently get missed and go undiagnosed.
Why Prompt Treatment Is So Important After a Brain Injury
As mentioned above, if you think you might have a brain injury, you should seek help as soon as you possibly can. There are a couple of big reasons for this.
One is the risk of reinjury. Brains that have suffered physical damage can take a very long time to heal. And during this critical healing period, your brain is especially vulnerable to additional damage. And if you re-aggravate your brain injury, the symptoms are likely to be worse, and potentially longer-lasting.
The second is about any potential personal injury case you wish to pursue. Brain injuries are notoriously difficult to prove to an insurance company, or in court. Basic brain imaging tests can turn up nothing, or very little. And there’s no “objective” way to test for symptoms like headaches or dizziness—it’s all based on self-reporting and clinical assessments.
In short, traumatic brain injuries are the classic “invisible injury.” No matter how obvious it is to you and your loved ones that your life has been drastically changed for the worse, it can be extremely difficult to prove it to a skeptical insurance company or jury.
By seeking treatment right away and keeping up with your medical treatment plan, it’s harder for the insurance company to argue that you’re lying about your brain injury symptoms. An experienced attorney can also help you compile additional evidence.
What Should I Do Next?
1. Get Medical Help
On the medical side, the main thing I would recommend is to see a neurologist as soon as you can.
One thing that might help right now is to see a sports medicine doctor near where you live. For example, local high schools may have official team physicians for their athletes. Doctors who work with athletes are typically very used to assessing their patients for concussions. If you can find out who that local team doctor is, schedule an appointment with them and go over your symptoms. It’s likely they will be able to diagnose you and refer you to a neurologist or other brain injury specialist for follow-up care.
2. Get Legal Help
On the legal side, talk to a car accident lawyer as soon as you can. Ideally try to find one that has experience litigating traumatic brain injury cases.
Getting fair compensation for a brain injury is rarely simple or easy. A lot of things have to go right:
- One, you need to prove that someone else was responsible for the car accident that caused your injury.
- Two, you need to prove that the accident really did cause a TBI.
- Three, even if you do prove that you have a crash-related TBI, you need to convince the insurance company (or jury) that your symptoms are as bad as they really are, and are deserving of significant compensation.
That last point especially is where a skilled, tenacious brain injury lawyer can make a huge difference. Your attorney can help you gather the evidence you’ll need. They may need to go beyond medical records and clinical assessments, but also gather testimony from friends and loved ones and work colleagues. They’ll also talk to specialists who understand how your post-concussive syndrome will affect your future earning potential, whether you’ll need long-term care or household services, and how much they’ll cost. And they should be willing and prepared to take your case to trial if that’s the only way to get the compensation you really deserve.
Schedule Your Free Consultation Today
If you or someone you love has been hurt in a car crash in Western New York, and you think you might have suffered a TBI, give me a call and schedule a free case review.
I’ve been representing people injured in car accidents for over 25 years. I know how devastating a TBI can be for crash victims and their loved ones, and I’m passionate about helping them recover as best as they possibly can. I’d love to hear about your situation and let you know if I can help. Give me a call at (716) 589-6655 or use the contact form on this website to get started.
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