It\u2019s been well over a decade since the shocking death of healthy, vibrant, 45-year-old actress Natasha Richardson brought international attention to the genuine danger of a head injury that at first seems like no big deal.<\/p>\n
A mild topple on a beginner ski slope resulted in a tragic brain injury when Richardson\u2019s head hit hard-packed snow. Feeling fine at first, she declined medical help. Within hours, however, confusion and headache sent her to the hospital. Though she initially seemed stable, her condition deteriorated rapidly. Two days later, surrounded by family, Richardson was removed from life support.<\/p>\n
Every year, several million Americans, adults, and children are treated in emergency rooms or admitted to the hospital for concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Sadly, according to CDC statistics,166 people die every day from complications related to TBI.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s essential to be evaluated after a blow to the head, even if there\u2019s no visible injury or at first it seems like nothing is wrong. It\u2019s also crucial to know the warning signs and stay vigilant as symptoms can develop slowly\u2014in the case of concussion, the effects may not be apparent for hours or days.<\/p>\n
A concussion is a mild form of traumatic brain injury (mTBI)\u2014and the most common, accounting for approximately 3\/4 of all TBI\u2014from which most people fully recover. A concussion happens when the brain is bruised by moving inside the skull, and it may occur due to blunt-force trauma or a severe jolt, even if the incident itself does not seem particularly dramatic. Though a concussion is rarely fatal, it can produce serious complications, and repeated concussions can be life-threatening, especially before the brain has fully healed (second-impact syndrome).<\/p>\n
A moderate to severe traumatic brain injury is very serious, a medical emergency requiring immediate attention. TBI may be caused by a powerful blow to the head or an injury that fractures or penetrates the skull. In some cases, including Richardson\u2019s, complications\u2014such as compression caused by blood accumulating between brain and skull (epidural hematoma)\u2014can result in coma or even death.<\/p>\n
There are many causes of head injury. Some of the most common include:<\/p>\n
What to look for after an accident:<\/strong><\/p>\n First, it\u2019s essential to know that concussion, and TBI symptoms vary greatly person-to-person. Symptoms can be easy to miss, and the injured individual may not acknowledge or even realize they are having problems. Consult a physician after a head injury. Although medical intervention cannot always change the outcome, getting evaluated and treated right away may be critical.<\/p>\n Signs and Symptoms:<\/strong><\/p>\n Concussion:<\/u><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/u>Traumatic Brain Injury:<\/u><\/p>\n Danger signs – Call 911 immediately<\/p>\n In an adult:<\/p>\n In a child:<\/p>\n After a head injury, a doctor will examine vision, coordination, balance, reflexes, memory, thinking, etc., and may order a CT or MRI to determine the type of injury and course of treatment.<\/p>\n Healing from a concussion requires time for the brain to rest, and the patient will need to modify activities for a while. That includes refraining from physical exercise or anything that involves the risk of another bump to the head. The patient will also want to minimize screen time, reading, and so forth.<\/p>\n Severe TBI may require medication, surgery to repair the skull or remove blood clots, or even a medically induced coma to rest the brain. Recovery from TBI can be long and slow, and unfortunately, some survivors experience lifelong complications.<\/p>\n The Orange County brain injury lawyers<\/a> at Aitken * Aitken * Cohn has successfully represented numerous traumatic brain injury victims in Orange County, California, and Nationwide. Our law firm has the compassion, resources, and experience to consult brain injury victims. Our results include a $23 million jury verdict on behalf of a 13-year-old boy who sustained severe brain damage in a car collision. We also obtained a $20 million settlement (and estimated over $100,000,000 payout) for an 8-year-old boy who suffered a brain injury after falling from a soft-contained playground at a prominent fast-food chain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been well over a decade since the shocking death of healthy, vibrant, 45-year-old actress Natasha Richardson brought international attention to the genuine danger of a head injury that at first seems like no big deal. A mild topple on a beginner ski slope resulted in a tragic brain injury when Richardson\u2019s head hit hard-packed… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aitkenlaw.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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