by People can slip and fall without serious injury and just a hit to their pride. But, for some, a slip and fall incident can result in a TBI or traumatic brain injury that will affect the rest of their lives. When a person slips and falls they can sustain several different injuries including broken bones, bruises, sprain, strains, or an injury to their head or brain. Sometimes the head injury is more than a bruise or a simple concussion, it is a traumatic brain injury caused by the brain pressing against the skull.
What Do You Do When You Suspect Your Fall Caused a TBI?
It is not easy for an injured person dealing with a brain injury, to represent themselves and ask for damages from the responsible property owner. Making things more confusing is the fact that a TBI injury can appear less serious than it really is. Getting immediate medical attention is important. Then if the injury is serious enough to cause a person to have large medical bills and to miss work, getting financial compensation from a reluctant property owner can be difficult without legal help. Seeking assistance or what AZ slip & Fall Accident attorney can do to help with this situation is important. Know what a lawyer can do to help you and seek legal advice as soon after the accident as possible.
What Are the Symptoms of TBI?
knowing the symptoms of a TBI injury can be helpful when deciding whether to seek immediate medical help. There are different symptoms for mild, moderate, and more serious TBI.
Mild TBI Symptoms:
- Headaches
- Vomiting or nausea
- Short loss of consciousness, being dazed or disoriented
- Disturbances of sleep, drowsiness or fatigue
- Sensory issues including ringing in the ears
- Abnormal sensitivity to sound or light
- Blurred vision
- Not being able to concentrate
Moderate to Serious TBI Symptoms
- Headaches that are serious and don’t go away with time
- Confusion
- Seizures
- Slurred speech or other problems talking
- Convulsions
- Inability to wake up from sleep or difficulty sleeping
- Unusual behavior such as combativeness or mood swings
- Fingers and toes becoming numb
- Dizziness or the loss of balance
What Can Cause a TBI?
Traumatic brain injuries can be caused by accidents causing head injuries.
Closed head injuries
- Falls
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Sports injuries
- Child abuse
- Explosions or blast injuries
- Being hit by an object
Penetrating head injuries
- Any head injury that will cause a bone fragment to enter the skull
- Being hit by shrapnel or a bullet
- Being hit by a weapon like a hammer, fist, baseball bat, Rock, or another hard object
Once a person has sustained a TBI, it is important to seek medical treatment to determine the seriousness of the injury and to begin appropriate treatment. The medical professional will determine the seriousness of the TBI injury and then start to stabilize the patient and treat the injury with rest, checking the pressure within the skull, making sure the brain is receiving blood and oxygen as it should, performing surgery if needed, and treating symptoms with medications depending on the symptoms.
These medical treatments can come at a high cost and if someone’s negligence caused the fall, they should be paying these costs and compensating the injured person for their pain, expenses, and lost days at work. It takes an injury lawyer to determine if there is anyone who is liable for the injury. Some accidents are just accidents with no one to blame. If a person is careless themselves or on the property without permission, there may not be a claim. A lawyer can decide liability for the fall.
