Tbilaw.com has been at the cornerstone of the web advocacy of the Brain Injury Law Group since it went online in 1996.For a full treatment of the topic of brain injury, and recovering adequate compensation for those who have survived such injury, please visit our other pages.
Waiting.com, a page designed to assist those with issues regarding coma, especially in the acute phase when the doctors are saying "I just don't know."
Vestibulardisorder.com addresses vertigo and dizziness resulting from trauma as well as information and resources for vestibular disorders.
Subtlebraininjury.com focuses on all aspects of concussion and non-coma injuries.

Developed by the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee of the Head Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine.
J Head Trauma Rehabil 1993:8(3):86-87

Definition

A patient with mild traumatic brain injury is a person who has had a traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function, as manifested by a least one of the following:

1. any period of loss of consciousness;

2. any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the accident;

3. any alteration in mental state at the time of the accident (eg, feeling dazed, disoriented, or confused); and

4. focal neurological deficit(s) that may or may not be transient;

 but where the severity of the injury does not exceed the following:

- posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) not greater than 24 hours.
- after 30 minutes, an initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 13-15; and
- loss of consciousness of approximately 30 minutes or less;

Comments

This definition includes: 1) the head being struck, 2) the head striking an object, and 3) the brain undergoing an acceleration/deceleration movement (ie, whiplash) without direct external trauma to the head. It excludes stroke, anoxia, tumor, encephalitis, etc. Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalogram, or routine neurological evaluations may be normal. Due to the lack of medical emergency, or the realities of certain medical systems, some patients may not have the above factors medically documented in the acute stage. In such cases, it is appropriate to consider symptomatology that, when linked to a traumatic head injury, can suggest the existence of a mild traumatic brain injury.

Symptomatology

The above criteria define the event of a mild traumatic brain injury. Symptoms of brain injury may or may not persist, for varying lengths of time, after such a neurological event. It should be recognized that patients with mild traumatic brain injury can exhibit persistent emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physical symptoms, alone or in combination, which may produce a functional disability. These symptoms generally fall into one the following categories, and are additional evidence that a mild traumatic brain injury has occurred:

1. physical symptoms of brain injury (eg, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headache, blurred vision, sleep disturbance, quickness to fatigue, lethargy, or other sensory loss) that cannot be accounted for by peripheral injury or other causes;

2. cognitive deficits (eg, involving attention, concentration, perception, memory, speech/language, or executive functions) that cannot be completely accounted for by emotional state or other causes; and

3. behavioral change(s) and/or alterations in degree of emotional responsivity (eg, irritability, quickness to anger, disinhibition, or emotional lability) that cannot be accounted for by a psychological reaction to physical or emotional stress or other causes.

Comments

Some patients may not become aware of, or admit, the extent of their symptoms until they attempt to return to normal functioning. In such cases, the evidence for mild traumatic brain injury must be reconstructed. Mild traumatic brain injury may also be overlooked in the face of more dramatic physical injury (eg, orthopedic or spinal cord injury). The constellation of symptoms has previously been referred to as minor head injury, post-concussive syndrome, traumatic head syndrome, traumatic dephalgia, postbrain injury syndrome and posttraumatic syndrome.

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"No head injury is too severe to despair of, nor too trivial to ignore."- Hippocrates

 

Understanding Subtle Brain Injury

The concussions that disable, are almost always more symptomatic at 24 hours, than at the 2-4 hour time frame when injured persons are evaluated in the emergency room. Brain injury symptoms escalate over the first 24 hours, because brain injury involves a cascade of events. It is critical that if you are still symptomatic the day after your injury, go back to the same Emergency Room, don’t wait for a doctors appointment. It is critical that the Emergency Room personnel see that the symptoms still persist or have gotten worse.

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This site is brought to you by the advocates of the Brain Injury Law Group, a community of plaintiff's trial lawyers across the United States united by a common interest in serving the rights of persons with traumatic brain injuries and a common commitment to fully understanding the anatomic, medical and psychological aspects of TBI.

The Brain Injury Law Group is involved with a network of plaintiff's trial lawyers across the United States united by a common interest in serving the rights of persons with traumatic brain injuries and a common commitment to fully understanding the anatomic, medical and psychological aspects of TBI, so we may be of better service to the survivors of brain injury. This network of lawyers are not part of a national law firm. We have separate law practices and are licensed to practice only in our home states.

The Brain Injury Law Group is here to listen and for that reason we maintain an 800 number and a staff willing to discuss your case and legal information where appropriate. There is no charge to call. We only represent people on a contingent fee basis and charge a fee only when we recover for the client. For more on Attorney Gordon Johnson, click here.