Brain Injury Lawyers Can Already Utilize New TBI Testing
March 31st, 2012
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can either lead to a short period where the victim experiences concussive symptoms and a normal recovery, or he or she suffers serious physical and neurological difficulties and must endure long term care with a poor prognosis. Knowing the extent of a TBI shortly after it occurs, however, will radically affect treatment and have legal implications as well.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are improving an MRI scan that has the potential to specifically identify a brain injury and assess the nature and magnitude of the damage. This could lead to prompt medical care that could minimize any permanent damage as well as proving or clarifying that a serious injury has occurred for medical/legal purposes.
The military is also using a powerful CT scan that can detect blood flow changes in the brain that could signal an abnormality that needs to be explored further and treated. Injured veterans of the Afghan and Iraq conflicts are being tested to demonstrate the reliability of the technology, though it could take years.
Proving the Injury
Nearly any injury can cause head trauma, from a car accident to a slip and fall. A TBI occurs in about 1.7 million people in the US each year, with most injuries minor in nature and not leading to any long lasting or permanent cognitive or physical damage. Many, however, do lead to serious problems but proving that the injury was caused by a particular accident may not be so easy.
Showing or proving causation is an element of negligence or tort law, so attorneys need to show a connection, or nexus, between the accident and the alleged injury. A broken limb or severe lacerations are obvious, but not brain injuries in many cases. Even if a brain scan shows swelling, there is no real proof that it could lead to a particular neurological or physical impairment. If you can demonstrate and see the injury, though, and what areas of the body it can affect, then the causation element may be proved.
An MRI scan called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), is able to map major fiber tracts in the brain, likened to roadways with millions of connections. Brain cells travel along these fiber tracts, also known as the brain’s white matter. The scan detects breaks in the fibers that can affect normal function of limbs or fingers, or even cognition like memory, learning, or recognition.
If the CT scan now being tested is able to demonstrate blood flow changes that only a TBI could produce or cause, then an additional arsenal for plaintiff attorneys could be at hand in an injury claim.
Rehabilitation for TBI Victims
The goal of any injury victim is to return to their pre-injury condition. Immediately recognizing that an injury has occurred, where it has occurred, its extent, and what it could affect, could substantially affect a victim’s prognosis. Prompt treatment often minimizes the extent of an injury, whether it is a stroke, heart attack, broken bone, internal injuries, or a brain injury. If the imaging and CT scan technology can immediately tell physicians that a serious disruption in a victim’s brain fiber tract has occurred, or that person’s blood flow has been affected, then treatment can be directed to decreasing any damage followed by more effective rehabilitation.
Also, participants in contact sports who have sustained head trauma can be assessed and advised to refrain from further play if the scans uncover damage in the brain’s fiber tracts or in blood flow.
Compensation Implications
While the major goal for any TBI victim is recovery, the other goal in an injury case is the amount of compensation. If proof of the injury is an issue, then the value of a case may be diminished since the defense may feel that it is more likely to prevail at trial. However, with objective evidence of an injury, and knowing its extent and what the consequences of the injury are, then the value of a claim can be more accurately ascertained to everyone’s satisfaction and possibly lead to a prompt settlement.
For example, if a TBI is detected by a scan that can locate the damage and its affect on the victim’s ability to move or control a limb, then experts can testify as to causation, the affect on the victim’s life, and the cost and nature of treatment. The scan may also reveal if an injury is permanent so that treatment can be directed toward having the victim adapt to it, rather than wasting time and money on ineffective treatments that may not be proven as necessary in proving damages. It can also greatly increase the claim’s value if certain nerve fiber tracts are shown to be permanently damaged.
With this technology, a plaintiff’s attorney may have a valuable tool to more easily prove what damages were sustained and that the treatment rendered and its cost were necessary and reasonable, and bolster the claim’s credibility by arguing that the technology may have minimized the damage to the client.
All brain injury attorneys should follow these new technologies over the next few years as developers improve the results and what they can definitively conclude about injuries. If so, TBI victims could greatly benefit in their recovery from serious injuries along with receiving the appropriate compensation if they have a personal injury claim.
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can either lead to a short period where the victim experiences concussive symptoms and a normal recovery, or he or she suffers serious physical and neurological difficulties and must endure long term care with a poor prognosis. Knowing the extent of a TBI shortly after it occurs, however, will radically affect treatment and have legal implications as well.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh are improving an MRI scan that has the potential to specifically identify a brain injury and assess the nature and magnitude of the damage. This could lead to prompt medical care that could minimize any permanent damage as well as proving or clarifying that a serious injury has occurred for medical/legal purposes.
The military is also using a powerful CT scan that can detect blood flow changes in the brain that could signal an abnormality that needs to be explored further and treated. Injured veterans of the Afghan and Iraq conflicts are being tested to demonstrate the reliability of the technology, though it could take years.
Proving the Injury
Nearly any injury can cause head trauma, from a car accident to a slip and fall. A TBI occurs in about 1.7 million people in the US each year, with most injuries minor in nature and not leading to any long lasting or permanent cognitive or physical damage. Many, however, do lead to serious problems but proving that the injury was caused by a particular accident may not be so easy.
Showing or proving causation is an element of negligence or tort law, so attorneys need to show a connection, or nexus, between the accident and the alleged injury. A broken limb or severe lacerations are obvious, but not brain injuries in many cases. Even if a brain scan shows swelling, there is no real proof that it could lead to a particular neurological or physical impairment. If you can demonstrate and see the injury, though, and what areas of the body it can affect, then the causation element may be proved.
An MRI scan called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), is able to map major fiber tracts in the brain, likened to roadways with millions of connections. Brain cells travel along these fiber tracts, also known as the brain’s white matter. The scan detects breaks in the fibers that can affect normal function of limbs or fingers, or even cognition like memory, learning, or recognition.
If the CT scan now being tested is able to demonstrate blood flow changes that only a TBI could produce or cause, then an additional arsenal for plaintiff attorneys could be at hand in an injury claim.
Rehabilitation for TBI Victims
The goal of any injury victim is to return to their pre-injury condition. Immediately recognizing that an injury has occurred, where it has occurred, its extent, and what it could affect, could substantially affect a victim’s prognosis. Prompt treatment often minimizes the extent of an injury, whether it is a stroke, heart attack, broken bone, internal injuries, or a brain injury. If the imaging and CT scan technology can immediately tell physicians that a serious disruption in a victim’s brain fiber tract has occurred, or that person’s blood flow has been affected, then treatment can be directed to decreasing any damage followed by more effective rehabilitation.
Also, participants in contact sports who have sustained head trauma can be assessed and advised to refrain from further play if the scans uncover damage in the brain’s fiber tracts or in blood flow.
Compensation Implications
While the major goal for any TBI victim is recovery, the other goal in an injury case is the amount of compensation. If proof of the injury is an issue, then the value of a case may be diminished since the defense may feel that it is more likely to prevail at trial. However, with objective evidence of an injury, and knowing its extent and what the consequences of the injury are, then the value of a claim can be more accurately ascertained to everyone’s satisfaction and possibly lead to a prompt settlement.
For example, if a TBI is detected by a scan that can locate the damage and its affect on the victim’s ability to move or control a limb, then experts can testify as to causation, the affect on the victim’s life, and the cost and nature of treatment. The scan may also reveal if an injury is permanent so that treatment can be directed toward having the victim adapt to it, rather than wasting time and money on ineffective treatments that may not be proven as necessary in proving damages. It can also greatly increase the claim’s value if certain nerve fiber tracts are shown to be permanently damaged.
With this technology, a plaintiff’s attorney may have a valuable tool to more easily prove what damages were sustained and that the treatment rendered and its cost were necessary and reasonable, and bolster the claim’s credibility by arguing that the technology may have minimized the damage to the client.
All brain injury attorneys should follow these new technologies over the next few years as developers improve the results and what they can definitively conclude about injuries. If so, TBI victims could greatly benefit in their recovery from serious injuries along with receiving the appropriate compensation if they have a personal injury claim.
