March Is Brain Injury Awareness Month

The month of March is recognized as a time to promote awareness of brain injuries. Why do we focus on brain injuries?

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) cases are different than other injuries. TBI victims often go undiagnosed and untreated. Emergency rooms are good at saving lives. However, they often ignore the signs and symptoms of a mild TBI. Later physicians may lack the experience or training to diagnose or treat a mild TBI. TBI victims are left to suffer in silence.

Many TBI victims also look “normal.” No scars. No casts. No assistive devices like wheelchairs. When you couple the often “normal” appearance with the lack of diagnosis, many of these patients are doubted or questioned about their symptoms. Yet, almost one-third of patients with a mild-TBI suffer long-term problems working and living.

Many TBI cases go unreported. Many TBI victims go without help. Early diagnosis and early treatment could help rehabilitate many of these patients. This is why Brain Injury Awareness Month is so important.

At our firm, we spend considerable time writing and advocating for issues like brain injuries and distracted driving. I mention distracted driving because April is traditionally the month dedicated to that issue. Why do we focus on awareness for these two issues. The answer is simple — Awareness and education can make a huge difference on both of these issues.

Here are a few articles I’ve written about TBI issues in the past couple years:

• Are Traumatic Brain Injury Victims Receiving Needed Medical Care?
• Is Traumatic Brain Injury Linked To Dementia?
• New Study:  Almost One-Third Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Suffer Long-Term Problems
• Do Emergency Rooms Fail To Diagnose Traumatic Brain Injury Victims?
• Traumatic Brain Injury And Hormonal Dysfunction
• Brain Injury:  A Recovery Story Reveals Several Truths
• Three Major Brain Injury Myths
• Can Traumatic Brain Injury Victims Suffer Lasting Problems With Decision-Making And Judgment?
• New Study Asks:  How Do Emergency Rooms Evaluate Traumatic Brain Injury?
• Traumatic Brain Injury:  Four Reasons Cases Are Not Diagnosed
• Traumatic Brain Injury — Understanding The Leading Causes
• Traumatic Brain Injury And The Impact On Daily Activities

TBI cases are different than other personal injury cases. These cases can be complex. These cases involve treatment and issues that are unique. We frequently deal with these unique issues in our TBI cases. We also deal with cognitive issues in some of our damage cases related to decision-making capacity. These damage cases, include breach of trust cases.

March is a great time to raise awareness of this frequently misunderstood injury. We are fortunate in Alabama to have several local brain injury groups. If you have questions about a TBI topic, let us know. We enjoy discussing this important issue.

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From its office in Huntsville, the Blackwell Law Firm helps people with personal injury claims across Alabama. Our approach is based on hard work and preparation.