Closed Head Injury Lawyer

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When a person receives an impact to the head from an outside force, but the skull does not fracture or displace, this condition is termed closed head injury.

With a closed head injury, when the brain swells, the brain has no place to expand. This can cause an increase in intracranial pressure or the pressure within the skull.

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If the brain swells and has no place to expand, this can cause brain tissues to compress, causing further acute brain injury. As the brain swells, it may expand through any available opening in the skull, including the eye sockets. When the brain expands through the eye sockets, it can compress and impair the functions of the eye nerves.

Here are the different types of skull fractures that can occur with open head injuries:

Depressed Skull Fracture-The broken piece of skull bone moves in towards the brain

Compound Skull Fracture-The scalp is cut and the skull is fractured

Basilar Skull Fracture-The skull fracture is located at the base of the skull (neck area) and may include the opening at the base of the skull and can cause damage to the nerves and blood vessels that pass through the opening at the base of the skull

Battle's Sign-This produces a large black and blue mark below the ear on the neck and jaw. Blood or cerebral spinal fluid may leak out of the ear.

Racoon Eyes-Black and blue mark around the eyes and cerebral spinal fluid may leak into the sinuses; sight and sense of smell may be damaged.

Diastatic Skull Fracture-Separates the cranial sutures in children prior to the closing of the cranial fissures (jigsaw-like segments).

Cribiform Plate Fracture-The cribform plate is located behind the nose area; when fractured cerebral spinal fluid can leak from the brain area out of the nose.

A brain hemorrhage is a condition caused by a sudden stroke after blood leaks out from the blood vessels in the brain. A brain hemorrhage occurs due to the break in the wall of blood vessel, the blood spills out of the blood vessel and enters the area where vital tissues and cells of brain reside, killing those tissues and cells; this causes the patient to become seriously ill needing immediate medication/treatment.

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Although in many cases brain hemorrhage occurs without a warning, some symptoms are considered to be warning bells for the condition. A sudden and very intense headache and vomiting and nausea are most common symptoms of brain hemorrhage. If sometimes you experience that your body parts are not responding or you feel paralyzed or you feel sudden numbness in body organs, then you should see a doctor quickly.

Sometimes, the leakage of blood starts slowly and a very small quantity of blood spills out of the vessel in the sensitive area of the brain, although a stroke may not happen, a person could lose consciousness or may feel dizzy.

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People who work under pressure, who have a family history of brain hemorrhage or weak blood vessels, who have high blood pressure, and who often drink or smoke can be at risk for a brain hemorrhage. Research has shown that people who take anticoagulant therapy have a greater chance of getting brain hemorrhage. Conditions such as aneurysm, some type of brain tumors, improper use of drugs, formation of some substances in the blood vessels which are carried along with blood to the brain, brain functional malformation etc. are prime causes of brain hemorrhage.

Attempts have also been made to predict the outcome for people who have suffered a head injury and to assess the stages in recovery following their emergence from coma. The Glasgow Coma Scale is one of the most widely used scales for describing the severity of head injury and predicting the person's likelihood of recovery. This scale rates the severity of person's injury based on his ability to open his eyes, move and speak. The more severe the injury the lower is the performance as reflected in the score on the scale. A very low score suggests a very severe injury and little likelihood of total recovery.

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