Any successful Chicago Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer representing a Child must develop a firm understanding of the medicine involved and impact a traumatic brain injury can have on children their family.
What is Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also called acquired brain injury or simply head injury, is caused by a sudden blow or trauma to the head causing damage to the brain. Symptoms of a TBI can be mild, moderate, or severe depending on the extent of the damage to the brain.
Traumatic Brain Injury Involving Children
Head injuries are common with children and account for several hundred thousand hospitalizations annually. TBI in children, like adults, may be caused by motor vehicle accidents, falls, or other source of traumatic force to the head.
Certain aspects of traumatic brain injury are unique to children. For example, it is more difficult to determine the measure the loss of brain function in a child because of a lack of historical data concerning the child’s academic records, I.Q. scores, and job histories.
Children have brains that are still developing. Whereas, previously it was assumed that children were more resistant to brain trauma than adults because their developing brains could rewire over time, more recent evidence suggests just the opposite. In fact, recent studies suggest that children’s skulls are only one-eights as strong as that of adults. Thus, children are much more vulnerable to traumatic brain injury.
Accordingly, parents and family members of children who sustain traumatic brain injuries must ensure the child receives immediate and continued medical treatment and undergo appropriate brain testing (including a CT “CAT Scan”, MRI, EEG, PET, or ENG and Vestibular Testing).
When a child suffers a traumatic brain injury, it can have long-term devastating effects of the child and his or her family. Where the child’s brain injury, whether mild, moderate or severe, is caused by someone’s negligence, it is critical to contact a lawyer experienced in handling traumatic brain injury cases involving a child.
Consequences of Traumatic Head Injury to Children
Neurological deficits in children following TBI or head trauma may take many years to manifest. For example, frontal lobe functions develop relatively late in a child’s growth, so that such injuries may not become apparent until later in a child’s life. Additionally, impact to a child’s reading and writing abilities, as a result of TBI, may not become apparent until the child reaches adolescence.
Children suffering from TBI may often exhibit normal or above average IQ following injury. However, such children may still have profound problems. For example, in one study (Shallice T. 1991), child victims of TBI who maintained a normal IQ testing results continued to have severe problems with the organizational skills of daily life activities.
Children often require rehabilitation programs to help them recover from their brain injury, which take into account the unique needs of children. Still, traumatic brain injuries often inflict permanent damage on children and their families.
