Car accidents can give you a headache — literally — but fight back
You wake up to chaos as people surround you, asking if you are okay. Apparently, another motorist struck your car, thus causing you to hit your head against the steering wheel and lose consciousness.
Unfortunately, car accidents can easily cause brain injuries, and these types of injuries can negatively impact your movement, sensation, emotions and consciousness. Fortunately, if another driver’s negligence caused you to suffer injuries to the head, it is within your rights to seek compensation for your injuries. Here is a glimpse at a few types of brain injuries that may occur as a result of a car accident in Texas.
Concussions
A concussion, which can occur if the brain hits a hard surface directly, is a relatively common kind of brain injury. In some cases, car accident victims suffer concussions and whiplash at the same time.
Signs that you have experienced a concussion include not only losing consciousness but also feeling mentally foggy and feeling dizzy and confused. Severe concussions have the potential to cause permanent damage, so it is generally a good idea to have a doctor examine you if your head has suffered trauma in an accident.
Diffuse axonal injuries
Severe shaking and rotational forces can cause tears in your brain’s structures, thus leading to diffuse axonal injuries. Unfortunately, with these kinds of injuries, your brain ends up experiencing chemical disruptions, and these may cause a coma or permanent brain damage. You may have suffered these injuries if you begin to suddenly have memory issues or experience motor sensation/function disruptions.
Contusions
A contusion is basically bleeding in a certain area of your brain. These traumatic brain injuries may also happen in car collisions. Similar to a concussion, a contusion occurs if the brain hits a hard object directly. You may have to undergo surgery if you develop this type of injury; otherwise, you might develop a blood clot in the brain, which can have a fatal outcome.
Your rights if injured in a car collision
If another motorist’s carelessness on the road has caused you to suffer a traumatic brain injury, you may file a personal injury claim against this motorist, seeking the reimbursement of monetary damages. If you are successful in your claim, based upon a showing of negligence, you may receive an award of monetary damages that might help you to cover your medical bills and even lost wages if your brain injury prevents you from returning to work in a timely fashion.