How Do I Know If I've Had a Head Injury From a Car Accident?
If you’ve suffered a head injury from a car accident, you likely have a long road to recovery. Head injuries can have long-lasting effects that sometimes develop long after the injury. Knowing what kind of head injury you have and whether it’s mild or severe can help you know where to start. However, don’t face it alone. Cordisco & Saile, LLC can get the compensation you need to recover physically, mentally, and emotionally.
A car accident happens in seconds, but it can change your life forever. Head injuries are common in car accidents and can lead to long-term pain, suffering, and disability.
Driving responsibly can reduce your chances of a painful injury, but what about when someone else is at fault? If another person’s negligence has caused you or someone you love to suffer a head injury, you may be due compensation.
When you or a loved one suffers a head injury from a car accident, time is of the essence. The skilled car accident lawyers at Cordisco & Saile, LLC have extensive experience working with brain injury patients and can recover the damages you deserve.
Types of Head Injuries From Car Accidents
Car accidents are one of the most common causes of brain injury. Depending on how the accident happened, you might develop one of the following types of head injuries:
- Contusion: A bruising of the brain tissue, leading to bleeding and swelling in the affected area
- Concussion: A temporary loss of normal brain function, usually caused by a sudden movement or impact. The head shifts rapidly back and forth, causing the brain to bounce or twist in the skull.
- Intracranial hematoma: A blood clot in or around the brain caused by a tear in the veins or arteries surrounding the brain
- Skull fracture: A skull bone break, possibly requiring surgery or medical observation, depending on severity. Some skull fractures, particularly those in the base of the skull may cause a tearing of the brain covering
- Diffuse axonal injury: Severe damage to the brain’s nerve fibers, often leading to profound deficits in brain function and even coma and death
Patients with a diffuse axonal injury often spend prolonged periods in a coma and may face long-term disability with ongoing care needs. Therefore, it’s essential to understand your or your loved one’s prognosis so you can seek appropriate compensation.
How To Know If a Head Injury Is Severe
Many injured patients know they don’t feel right, but they can’t tell if their symptoms are severe. Others minimize their symptoms or don’t recognize how those problems affect them.
Common symptoms of a mild head injury after a car accident include:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Blurry vision
- Confusion
- Difficulty thinking or concentrating
- Anxiety or irritability
- Sleep changes
The more your symptoms affect your awareness, perception, and behavior after a car accident, the more likely they are to be severe. Moderate to severe brain injuries often cause the following symptoms:
- Personality changes
- Increased feelings of anger or aggression
- Difficulty regulating behavior or impulses
- Challenges with communication
- Trouble learning, understanding, or remembering
- Changes in hearing, vision, or other senses
- Prolonged depression or anxiety
Extremely severe head injuries can cause unconsciousness, coma, or even death. If a patient loses consciousness, seek medical attention immediately.
How long after a head injury can symptoms occur?
Some symptoms appear immediately after the injury, while others develop hours or days later. These delayed symptoms may be life-threatening if a brain bleed causes clotting under the skull. Symptoms of this type of event include:
- Worsening severe headache
- Weakness, numbness, or coordination problems
- Convulsions or seizures
- Repeated vomiting
- Slurred speech
- Confusion, disorientation, or agitation
- One enlarged pupil
- Severe drowsiness
Non-life-threatening symptoms may also appear months after injury. For example, in one study, 57 percent of patients with no initial complaints had developed symptoms three, six, or 12 months after the event.
Patients with lingering complaints are more likely to have poorer long-term outcomes, including higher levels of anxiety and depression.
What To Do After a Head Injury
If you’ve experienced a head injury, the most important first step is to seek medical attention. Head injury symptoms may develop over time or seem less severe than they are. It’s essential to see an experienced physician who can evaluate you and help you create a recovery plan.
Your next step is to talk with an experienced car accident lawyer. The experienced attorneys at Cordisco & Saile, LLC have assisted clients with car accident injuries in Bucks County, Montgomery County, and throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A skilled attorney can explain your options and secure the compensation you deserve. The money you receive can make it easier to pay for care, recover lost wages, and move on with your life.
Can an old head injury cause problems years later?
Consider talking to a lawyer even if your head injury symptoms initially seem mild. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people with severe brain injuries often face long-term health problems. For instance:
- 57 percent are moderately to severely disabled
- 55 percent are no longer employed
- 50 percent need additional hospital care
- 33 percent rely on others for daily assistance
- 12 percent reside in long-term care institutions
Traumatic brain injury also increases your risk of early death from many different causes, including:
- Seizures: 50 times higher risk
- Infections: 9 times higher risk
- Pneumonia: 6 times higher risk
- Drug poisoning: 11 times higher risk
Overall, brain injury reduces your lifespan by an average of nine years.
It’s impossible to predict whether your head injury will cause long-term problems. You may be less or more at risk for complications, but there are no guarantees.
What is the statute of limitations for car accident head injuries Pennsylvania?
The statute of limitations for an injury claim is two years in Pennsylvania. For instance, assume you have a car accident in Lehigh Valley on March 1, 2023. You would have until the same date in 2025 to file your claim.
If you develop long-term complications such as memory issues or seizures after the statute of limitations has expired, you can no longer seek legal compensation for your injuries. Consider seeking a Pennsylvania brain injury lawyer as soon as possible to avoid this frustration.
Why Hire an Experienced Car Accident Lawyer
Recovering from a car accident is difficult, especially when you’ve had a head injury. However, a skilled lawyer can make the road ahead easier by guiding you to the compensation you deserve.
Only an experienced car accident lawyer can identify the full extent of that compensation. That may include medical expenses, disability, pain and suffering, wage loss, and more. Without a knowledgeable lawyer, you could end up accepting much less than you have the right to collect.
Cordisco & Saile, LLC represents clients in head injury cases throughout Philadelphia and beyond. We’ve recovered millions for accident victims, as evidenced by the following case results:
- $1.37 million settlement for a car accident victim in Bucks County
- $2.9 million settlement for a motorcycle accident victim with traumatic brain injury
- $1.07 million settlement for a pedestrian involved in a van accident
Our grateful clients have submitted dozens of testimonials and accolades. We’re proud of our five-star Google review average and A+ Better Business Bureau rating and the many awards our attorneys have received. For example:
- Founding partner John Cordisco & Managing attorney Michael L. Saile, LLC, Jr. named National Trial Lawyers – Brain Injury Top 25 in 2023
- John Cordisco is one of the American Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 100 Lawyers.
- Michael L. Saile, LLC, Jr. is one of the National Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 40 Under 40 and a repeat nominee for the Rising Star Super Lawyer award.
- Attorney Steven J. DeBonis has earned a feature mention in Suburban Life Magazine.
These awards testify to Cordisco & Saile, LLC’s commitment to our clients and dedication to earning their trust.
Contact Cordisco & Saile, LLC for a Free Consultation
You don’t have to face head injury recovery alone. The brain injury and car accident attorneys at Cordisco & Saile, LLC are ready and waiting to win the compensation you deserve.
Contact Cordisco & Saile, LLC for a free consultation today. We’ll listen to your story, explain your rights, and develop a plan to seek compensation.
Head injuries are tough. We’re on your side.
