Traumatic Brain Injury - Causes

Connecticut Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys

The law firm of Casper & de Toledo is committed to representing the best interests of its Connecticut clients suffering from the devastating effects of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). We offer a history of dedication, experience and success in helping to ensure they find justice through the legal system.

Whether you or a family member have suffered a severe head injury due to an auto crash, fall, medical mistake, poisoning or cause, our Connecticut traumatic brain injury lawyers group is skilled at addressing mild to severe cases of traumatic brain injury. Contact Casper & de Toledo for a free initial consultation with an experienced Connecticut Brain Injury Attorney (C.B.I.A.).

Causes of Brain Injury

Brain injury may be caused by a loss of consciousness or even an altered state of consciousness; therefore, trauma may cause brain injury even if someone has not completely lost consciousness.

Car accidents are the number one cause of traumatic brain injury (i.e. a severe shaking of the head caused by a crash can cause brain damage), followed by falls, violence, and sports injuries. Brain injuries can also occur during the birth process (expanded on below).

Objective testing in a hospital setting may also reveal other causes. However, often when patients are evaluated in Connecticut hospital settings, their exams (such as physical exams, neurological-- or mini mental status-- exams, x-rays, and even CAT SCANs) are reported as normal. Unfortunately, these findings are insufficient to exclude the possibility of a traumatic brain injury. The lawyers of Connecticut's Casper & de Toledo can help you seek more effective testing if you believe that you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury.

Birth-Related Traumatic Brain Injury

Brain injury can also occur as a result of birth trauma through the negligence of an obstetrician, midwife, nurse, or other hospital staff. When a baby is deprived of oxygen, severe brain damage may result. This can occur because a baby is not taken by a timely Cesarean section in the face of distress that either was known or should have been identified had the appropriate standard of care been followed. This is often referred to a hypoxic injury or a hypoxic brain injury. Serious infant injuries of this type may lead to seizures, mental retardation, or cerebral palsy, with a life-long emotional and economic impact on an entire family.

The Connecticut birth injury lawyers of Casper and de Toledo aim to help families devastated after a baby's birth-related brain injury threatens a normal way of life through detailed investigation and determined legal advocacy.

Mechanisms of Traumatic Brain Injury

It is not necessary to strike your head to suffer a traumatic brain injury. Many motor vehicle impacts that cause vigorous shaking of the head and neck, such as rear end collisions, may be sufficient to cause the brain to be shaken within the skull. This results in damage to brain tissue as the brain bounces against the bony ridges which make up the interior of the skull. Regardless of whether or not striking of the head has occurred, the resulting damage may be referred to as a diffuse axonal shearing, which can be responsible for disrupting the pathways within the brain. Even stretching of the axonal fibers constitutes brain injury.

Brain Injury is Not Just an Event; it is an Evolving Process

There is a common misconception that a traumatic brain injury occurs only at the time of an accident. That is not the case. We know that the force of blunt trauma to the head or sudden shaking of the head in a vehicle crash can produce damage to brain tissue. This damage can stem from direct contact, or from when the brain bounces within the hard skull, including damage to the axons (wire-like structures) and the neurons that are connected to each other by the axons. In addition, there may be gross bleeding or subtle microscopic bleeding in the brain from damage to blood vessels. Like other parts of the body that can be injured, there is a chemical response to the brain injury.

Much of the science behind the chemical reaction to brain injury is not yet understood. Some of the research in this area has been performed on rats and pigs. But it is becoming increasingly evident that the release of chemicals, enzymes, immunoregulattorney proteins and amino acids within the brain can cause a cascade of changes in the brain. These changes create an imbalance and can cause cellular damage and destruction which progresses over time. In turn, the enhanced damage can cause increasing cognitive deficits that make a patient's condition worse. This is not a recently discovered phenomenon; it was documented in the 1990s and was reported in the National Institute of Health's Consensus Statement on Rehabilitation of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury. There has been further discussion of this phenomenon in other peer reviewed literature including in the Textbook of Traumatic Brain Injury edited by Jonathan Silver, M.D. et al which was published in 2005 by American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.

In cases involving subtle brain injury, mild traumatic brain injury, or post-concussion syndrome, the battle in making a fair recovery for the injured patient often boils down to satisfying an insurance company or a jury. This involves convincing them that it is normal for symptoms to worsen over time. These neurochemical changes are often combined with the effects of cognitive changes and consequent psychological changes; patients struggle to cope with lives that seem like they will never be the same. This is all normal for a traumatic brain injury. As you can see, the subject matter is complicated and should be entrusted to an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney.

Another Cause: Brain Toxicity

The most common type of toxic exposure that we see in our brain injury practice is lead paint poisoning. Often the result of economically deprived families living in older homes or poorly maintained homes (usually rentals), young children are exposed to paint dust and/or paint chips that are ingested. Old paint contains lead, which once ingested by eating or breathing, gets into the blood stream and damages the brain. It has been widely accepted since 1991 that lead levels of 10 µg/dL (micrograms per deciliter) can cause brain injury in children. A study published in the November 5, 2007 issue of the journal Pediatrics confirms the long held suspicion that blood lead levels substantially below 10 µg/dL can cause serious neurological problems. Depending upon the severity of the lead poisoning, different treatments will be prescribed to reduce the child's lead level, but the damage may be done. The organ most vulnerable to lead poisoning is the brain. A young child who experiences lead poisoning may develop a variety of neurological disorders including attention deficit disorder ("ADD"); attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ("HDAD"), behavioral problems, delayed motor, speech or other functions. The child may also experience cognitive deficits that can be identified through neuropsychological testing but sometimes the child is too young to be tested.

Casper & de Toledo has a distinguished record of successful advocacy on behalf of families whose children have suffered severe brain damage resulting from lead poisoning.

We Have the Background to Assist You

Our brain injury attorneys are members of a select group of nationwide lawyers attending advanced seminars on TBI specifics for lawyers, such as medicine, brain imaging, neuropsychology, life care planning, and more. Senior Partner Stewart Casper has attended and also taught at these advanced educational programs.  Most recently he lectured at the annual convention of the American Association for Justice in Philadelphia in July 2008. The lecture was entitled "Cross-Examination of the Defense Expert in a Traumatic Brain Injury Case - No Perry Mason Moments". In September 2008 Mr. Casper was privileged to be one of only twenty lawyers in the United States to attend a two day workshop on neuroscience conducted by internationally renowned neuropsychologist and brain imaging specialist Erin D. Bigler, Ph.D. of the University of Utah. No other Connecticut law firm handling brain injury cases resulting from car crashes, falls and other accidents has our background.