It can be overwhelming to figure out how to care for an injured loved one after a serious car accident, as well as keep up with everyday responsibilities such as work or child care. Caring for a family member with a brain injury can be even more challenging. Below is a brief overview of things to keep in mind while caring for a loved one with a concussion or other traumatic brain injury. Seeking out a New York personal injury attorney who will zealously pursue your claims will allow you to focus on giving your loved one the care they need to return to full health, while your attorney works to ensure that you receive all the compensation you deserve.
What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is any injury to the brain resulting from a blow to or shaking of the head. There is a wide range of severity of these injuries. The most common is a concussion, considered a mild TBI. Concussions involve the victim being briefly unconscious or in an altered mental state. More serious TBIs often involve longer stints of unconsciousness, even hours, days, or weeks long. TBIs can take the form of penetration injuries, where an object enters the skull; contusions, where a blow to the head leads to bleeding; and diffuse axonal injury, where brain tissue tears and results in damage, which comes from certain car, motorcycle, or bicycle accident injuries. Roughly 2% of the US population has some form of disability resulting from a brain injury.
What to Expect After a Brain Injury
It is not always obvious when someone has suffered a concussion. Even when a TBI is mild, there can be long-term effects where the appropriate rehabilitation or treatment isn’t administered, reemphasizing the importance of seeing a doctor after a crash. TBIs of any severity can result in short- or long-term disability.
If you’re caring for a loved one with a TBI, you may notice certain behavioral or physical changes. Your loved one may have trouble remembering things or exhibit a shorter attention span than before. Some people with brain injuries may suffer from slurred speech. Irritability is common among those with TBIs, especially as they find themselves unable to complete tasks or solve problems that were formerly simple and automatic. You may find that they have greater difficulty in controlling their emotions.
Ensure that your loved one gets a great deal of rest as they recover from their brain injury. Follow a doctor’s recommendations regarding rehabilitation, in order to increase your loved one’s chances of making a full recovery. Speak a bit more slowly and in shorter sentences than you normally would, as a TBI can affect the victim’s ability to understand language, even if they can speak normally. Keep a notepad at hand to allow your loved one to write things down while they are still suffering from memory problems. Try to remember that this recovery period is a challenge for you and your loved one to overcome together, and not to take personally what might be hurtful behavior. Your patience and persistence will pay off.
If you or a loved one have received a brain injury in a car or truck accident in the Hudson Valley, contact the Kingston accident and catastrophic injury law firm Basch & Keegan for a free consultation on your claims, at (845) 251-4545.