A Chico traumatic brain injury lawyer is someone who is well-acquainted with the legal procedure involved in a traumatic brain injury case. Since brain injuries are some of the most severe injuries that a person can suffer, every victim needs strong representation to attain the compensation that they deserve. If you live in Chico and know someone in Chico who has had a traumatic injury to their brain, you need to immediately talk to a Chico personal injury lawyer.
What is a traumatic brain injury?
Types of traumatic brain injury
What are the symptoms of a traumatic brain injury?
The symptoms of a traumatic brain injury can be physical, emotional, and psychological. Since the number of traumatic brain injury cases is rising at the moment, both federal and state laws have been put in place to prevent such injuries. Several traumatic brain injury symptoms could appear immediately while others might take a longer time to appear.
Mild traumatic brain injury symptoms
A range of symptoms may come to the surface when there is mild trauma to the brain. Physical symptoms are constant headaches, nausea and vomiting, drowsiness and fatigue, speech problems, poor balance, and issues with sleeping. Cognitive symptoms associated with traumatic brain injury are anxiety, depression, mood swings, and trouble with focusing. Other sensory symptoms might include sensitivity to light and sound, blurred vision, ringing in ears, changes in taste/smell.
Moderate and severe traumatic brain injury symptoms
Injuries that are moderate and more severe in nature show another set of symptoms. If you or someone you know has been experiencing any of these symptoms, it is best to seek medical care immediately.
Cognitively, a person might experience confusion, slurred speech, agitation, combativeness and other behaviors. Physical symptoms could be persistent nausea and vomiting, convulsions, seizures, loss of coordination and balance, inability to wake up from sleep, numbness. Other symptoms include loss of consciousness, persistent headaches, dilation of pupils, and weakness in toes.
Other effects of traumatic brain injury in a person might present itself in the following ways:
Steps to take in the aftermath of a traumatic brain injury
Some cases involving injuries to the head do not need hospitalization or immediate treatment. On the other hand, minor injuries could also aggravate symptoms which are reflective of traumatic brain injury. Seeking medical care as early as possible is the right option for such cases.
The following are some steps that you should take if you or someone you know is suffering from brain trauma:
Filing a claim for a brain injury
If someone’s negligence caused your brain injury, then you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible party. Brain injury lawsuits usually of two kinds: negligence and defective products.
According to law, negligence is when a person fails to act in a reasonable way when they were legally bound to do so. It is a wrongful act committed by a group or an individual which brought harm to another person. In order to be successful in a traumatic brain injury lawsuit, the victim has to prove that the defendant:
California is a comparative negligence state where a brain injury victim might be able to recover some of their losses even if they were partially responsible for their injuries. Damages available to such a victim will be reduced by their degree of fault.
In addition, in cases involving defective products, usually it is a company that manufactures a product which results in brain injuries in a person. Product liability law states that the company and any person involved in the distribution chain can be held liable for the injuries.