The human brain is complex. Every brain injury is unique. But nearly every person who suffers a brain injury experiences that frightening feeling of “I am not myself anymore.” In mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) cases, specifically, this feeling may recede over a period of weeks or months. But for others, it does not.
Whether the symptoms are permanent, improve, or get worse, the reasons for these differences are constantly researched—looking for ways to explain, prevent, and/or heal traumatic brain injuries. Several new studies on mild brain injury are examining factors ranging from genetic differences to differences in emotional make-up in order to understand why these differences exist. New research is leading to new approaches in treatment and rehabilitation, as well as prevention.
Evidence of permanent brain damage resulting from concussion in sports is driving nationwide changes in policy. While over 4000 formerNational Football League players have filed lawsuits against the NFL for failing to take appropriate steps to protect them from permanent brain damage caused by multiple concussions, it’s not just a professional affair. An estimated 300,000 amateur sport-related traumatic brain injuries, predominantly concussions, occur annually in the United States.
Sports are second only to motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of traumatic brain injury among people aged 15 to 24 years. At least one player sustains a mild concussion in nearly every American football game! Read More
When you or a close family member suffers a traumatic brain injury, your first priority is to obtain the best medical care. But once the injury is stabilized you’ll need to find the funds to pay for not only initial treatment but also for future treatment, recovery and rehabilitation. Read More
We live in a world of “show me” juries, programmed to believe that most people bringing personal injury claims to trial are trying to get something for nothing. They want to be convincingly shown that a real injury exists—that the injured person can prove a brain injury or other debilitating condition.
Proving a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury to a Jury
For example, some brain injuries produce bleeding in the brain that clearly shows up on conventional diagnostic images like CT scans—computerized tomography that combines a series of X-ray views taken from many different angles and processed by a computer to create cross-sectional images of the bones and soft tissues inside your body—and/or MRIs—magnetic resonance imaging that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create detailed images of the organs and tissues within your body—or, that produce visible neurological signs like seizures, visual problems, speech problems, or motor problems.
Proving a brain injury to a jury where visible evidence is available is not difficult. However, we know that many mild traumatic brain injuries are “invisible” to these standard tests, yet are serious enough to greatly impact quality of life. In these cases, the challenge is to help the jury understand those long-term consequences, even when the injury is not visible.
The “BRAIN” initiative, which stands for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, is already underway at the National Institute of Health (NIH). And, on April 2, 2013 President Obama announced that his 2014 budget will include $110 million in funding to advance the initiative, which supports human brain research that could be used to treat a range of neurological conditions, including traumatic brain injury (TBI).
I expect the additional funds to elevate the project’s urgency, as it would be a joint effort of the National Institutes of Health, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Science Foundation along with other private and public entities. If this initiative goes forward, it also promises to augment work already underway at other research centers throughout the country.
