Nothing happens in your body without your brain sensing or controlling it. Thus, if you injure your brain, it can suffer damage that causes temporary or permanent symptoms that affect you physically, mentally, and emotionally.
You may need serious medical treatment, along with mental health and physical therapy, to recover. You may even need a caretaker to help you shop, cook, and dress during that process.
All of these services, however, cost money, and brain damage can easily prevent anyone from returning to their usual work. With that said, a lawyer from Malone Law in Atlanta, GA, can help you understand your right to pursue compensation that can support you after sustaining such injuries and their devastating consequences.
Contact our Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys for a free initial consultation by calling (770) 390-7550 to discuss your legal options.
How Malone Law Can Help With a Brain Damage Claim in Atlanta, GA
Established in 1965, Malone Law is a family-run law firm that provides medical malpractice legal services in Atlanta, Georgia. Our office carries on our founder’s tradition of excellence by providing high-quality representation to injured victims to pursue life-changing compensation.
If you are injured in an accident, our Atlanta brain injury lawyers will do the following for you:
- Evaluate your case and explain your options for pursuing compensation
- Determine how your brain damage happened, such as by a surgical error or accident
- Collect evidence and build a strong claim for damages
- File your insurance claim and negotiate with insurers to settle your claim
- Fight at-fault parties and their insurers in court if they refuse to settle
Brain injuries are some of the most catastrophic injuries you can suffer. Do not hesitate to contact Malone Law to discuss your brain damage symptoms and the compensation you may be entitled to pursue for them under Georgia law.
How Many Brain Injuries Happen in Georgia?
Brain injuries are more common than you may realize. Nearly 30% of Americans report having suffered a concussion, which doctors rate as a mild brain injury, at some point during their lives. Based on Georgia’s population of 10.9 million residents, it can be estimated that over three million individuals in the state have suffered a concussion sometime during their lifetime.
These injuries rarely cause death and typically cause no lasting symptoms, but more serious brain injuries can produce permanent brain damage. According to one study, about 30,000 people in Georgia suffered traumatic brain injuries serious enough to require medical treatment in 2019. Over 21,000 people required an emergency room visit, and over 8,000 injuries were serious enough to require hospital admission.
How Do Brain Injuries and Brain Damage Happen?
Your brain has billions of cells that communicate with each other using a complicated combination of electrical and chemical signals.
These cells can be damaged in two main ways:
Physical Injury
Physical trauma that damages brain cells takes several forms.
For one, penetrating injuries happen when an object pierces the brain and tears the brain tissue. A nail, for instance, could penetrate your brain in a construction accident, but the object of the damage can also come from inside your body. As such, a skull fracture could cause a bone fragment to pierce your brain.
Blunt trauma also causes brain damage. These kinds of injuries happen when your head impacts something with such force that it causes your brain to shift inside your skull.
If the meninges and cerebrospinal fluid surrounding your brain stop it from slamming into your skull, you suffer a concussion. But you can suffer a much more serious injury, called a cerebral contusion, if your brain hits your skull.
A cerebral contusion is a bruise of your brain tissue. The impact against the skull breaks the small blood vessels in your brain, causing it to suffer permanent damage from blood loss and pressure as the blood pools. Cerebral contusions can cause comas or even lead to death.
You do not need to suffer head trauma to injure your brain. A sudden acceleration or deceleration can cause your brain to whip back and forth in your skull during a truck or car wreck, causing tears in its tissue.
These whipping forces can cause two types of injuries: Diffuse axonal injuries (DAIs), which happen when the brain cells tear apart, and subdural hematomas, which happen when the blood vessels in the brain tear. Brain cells die from a lack of blood and pressure as fluid fills your skull.
Anoxic Injury
Your brain cells need a lot of oxygen to survive and properly function. Between 20% and 25% of the blood circulating in your body goes to your brain, and you suffer what is known as an anoxic injury when your brain does not get enough oxygen.
Your brain experiences permanent brain damage within four minutes of being deprived of any oxygen.
Some causes of these outcomes include the following:
- Drowning
- Asphyxiation
- Severe bleeding
- Anesthesia errors and other surgical errors
Brain damage does not heal. Once you lose brain cells, they will never heal or regrow. As a result, any damage to your brain could produce permanent disabilities such as confusion, amnesia, and a loss of coordination.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Experienced Atlanta Brain Injury Attorneys
A brain injury can cause severe symptoms or even death. Do not delay in contacting Malone Law by calling 770) 390-7550 for a free consultation to learn how you can pursue compensation for yourself or your loved one after suffering brain damage. Contact us; our Atlanta medical malpractice lawyers are here to assist when you need us most.