Suffering trauma to the brain can have a wide range of consequences for injury victims. This type of physical injury is typically called Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Patients may suffer nothing more than temporary symptoms in cases of relatively mild TBI. They generally last no more than a few days. Serious cases of TBI, however, can cause permanent or even life-threatening damage. Classifying traumatic brain injuries enables you to understand how badly your loved one got hurt.
In light of the range of outcomes that TBI can have for injury victims, multiple classification systems have been devised to help classify TBI in terms of severity. The following briefly explains some of these classification systems to help individuals who have suffered from TBI. And help their families understand how badly they may have been injured.
Classifying traumatic brain Injuries by types of consequences that may be expected as a result of the injury:
- Loss of consciousness – one of the simplest classification systems for TBI. This system classifies TBI based on the time injury victims were unconscious. For any time less than 30 minutes, the injury is considered mild. Loss of consciousness lasting between 30 minutes and 24 hours indicates a moderate TBI. While anything longer than 24 hours is usually considered a sign of severe TBI.
- Post-traumatic Amnesia – another method for classifying TBI involves examining the extent to which TBI victims suffer amnesia. Post-traumatic amnesia lasting less than one day can generally be considered a sign of mild TBI. Amnesia lasting between one and seven days is considered a sign of moderate TBI. Anything longer than seven days indicates severe TBI.
- Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) – the most comprehensive system for classifying TBI is the Glasgow Coma Scale. This scale combines verbal, motor, and optical responses to simple tests performed by medical professionals to determine the extent to which TBI may have occurred. The GCS assigns scores ranging from 3 to 15 for TBI victims. With 15 being the least damaging and 3 representing the most serious damage. The best method for determining TBI is generally considered a combination of all three methods.
Depending on the nature of your injury, a TBI can have extremely serious consequences for injury victims and their families. Unfortunately, in many cases, those who have been the victims of TBI cannot afford to pay for the costs and treatments associated with their injuries. Therefore, victims may need to take legal action to pursue compensation for these costs from those responsible for causing their injuries.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys
At Hach & Rose, LLP, our personal injury attorneys are committed to providing traumatic brain injury victims with the representation they need to fight for justice effectively. Contact our firm by calling (212) 779-0057 today to learn more about what our traumatic brain injury lawyers can do for you.