Traumatic Brain Injuries

Serious motor vehicle accidents can cause severe injury or death, regardless whether or not the person was wearing a seatbelt, had been drinking, or was distractedly driving. One of the most common injuries that can occur in a severe car crash is a traumatic brain injury, which, according to Center for Disease Control (CDC), is “a major cause of death and disability in the United States, contributing to about 30 percent of all injury deaths.”

Traumatic brain injuries are caused by a blunt force strike to the head, or by the penetration of a foreign object into the skull. The CDC notes that not all blunt force trauma to the head results in a traumatic brain injury, though traumatic brain injuries can range from mild to severe. Temporary amnesia, for example, is a mild traumatic brain injury, while extended loss of consciousness, brain function, or long-term memory loss are examples of severe traumatic brain injury.

Motor vehicle accidents resulted in 14.3 percent of all recorded traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. between 2006 and 2010, according to the CDC. When considering only fatal traumatic brain injuries, however, motor vehicle accidents were the second leading cause of brain injury-related deaths in the same time period. Closed head injuries are more common in car accidents than penetrating injuries.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association reports that an example of a closed head traumatic brain injury caused by a motor vehicle crash would be when the head slams against the windshield after the car is struck. The vehicle does not to be traveling at a high speed for an individual to sustain a traumatic brain injury from a car accident Several incidents involving this type of injury can be high asset court cases if the injured person was not at fault. Some of these settlements can reach amounts over $1 million.

If you or someone you know has sustained a traumatic brain injury in an Illinois motor vehicle accident in which you were not at fault, you may be eligible for compensation. Contact the law offices of Salvi & Maher, LLP today.