Are Traumatic Brain Injuries Common In The United States?

On behalf of Lovett Law Firm posted in Brain Injury on Wednesday, November 25, 2015.

Traumatic brain injuries take place in the United States more commonly than you may expect. In fact, they contribute to about 30 percent of deaths caused by injuries, with around 138 people dying in the United States each day due to these injuries and others they’ve suffered.

When you suffer a traumatic brain injury, you could be looking at a few days of symptoms up to a lifetime. It can be hard for doctors to tell you exactly what to expect, because everyone heals differently. Typical TBIs may cause you to suffer from problems thinking or remembering, trouble moving, or damage your vision or hearing. These injuries can also cause personality changes and depression.

The number of TBIs affecting Americans today is high; a 2010 report stated that of all emergency department visits, around 2.5 million, including hospitalizations and deaths, were related to TBIs. Over 50,000 people died in 2010, and that’s just in one year.

The number of TBIs being reported is on the rise, partially due to better understanding the injury. Between 2001 and 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that injuries for children that resulted in a TBI rose by 57 percent.

There are many causes of TBIs, not all of which include traffic accidents. Motor vehicle accidents make up around 14 percent of the cause, but falls, assaults, and being struck by or against an object accounted for over 65 percent of all TBIs.

Whether you were hurt in a car accident, during a botched operation, or by slipping and falling, it’s important that your head injury is treated. If your injury is the result of negligence, your attorney may be able to help you obtain compensation.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Fact Sheet,” accessed Nov. 25, 2015