Just as treating doctors commonly misdiagnose brain injuries in patients, attorneys frequently are not even aware that their clients may have suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in a motor vehicle accident. Many motor vehicle accidents involve significant orthopedic injuries and a common misconception is that behavioral irregularities, emotional irregularities and other psychological abnormalities are secondary to the physical injury, when in fact they may be related to TBI from a coup contracoup injury or even from a direct blow to the head during a motor vehicle accident.

Thus, it is imperative that attorneys screen every case involving more than nominal property damage for a potential traumatic brain injury. As a starting point, it is important to note that if the forces involved in a car accident are significant enough to cause soft tissue injuries, disc herniation, bone fractures, etc. then those same forces will likely be significant enough to cause traumatic brain injury.