Brain injuries are a common cause of long-term or permanent disability among car accident victims in Pennsylvania. A traumatic brain injury suffered in a car accident can impair an individual’s ability to think. Depending on where the brain damage is, different kinds of cognitive problems may occur.
Issues with communication
Brain injuries can cause the following cognitive problems:
- The inability to express and comprehend information
- Inability to select or memorize appropriate words
- Conversations are difficult to start, follow and understand
- An inability to organize thoughts before they are expressed
- Rambling on about another subject after losing focus of the topic
Attention, focus, and concentration problems
Focus and concentration might be difficult for TBI victims, and their attention spans may be short. The following may also become an issue:
- Impaired focus causes distractions
- Having difficulty concentrating leads to restlessness
- Difficulty managing multiple tasks at the same time
- Problems completing individual projects
- Having trouble sitting still during long conversations.
Organizing and planning skills are impaired
Day-to-day activities usually require planning and scheduling. Living with TBI could further cause the following hardships:
- Planning and executing daily tasks and appointments
- Cooking, doing laundry, driving and balancing the checkbook typically involve multiple steps and are often difficult to complete
Foggy brain
TBI slows down thinking speed and the ability of the individual to process information and understand it quickly enough to follow conversations and more. Examples of mental fogginess include needing more time than before to read magazines, books and newspapers. Processing the information the individual just read, and remembering that information often proves to be too much. That type of brain damage also makes following and understanding television shows, theatre and movies impossible.
Living with traumatic brain injuries and ongoing therapy could put significant strains on a family’s financial stability. Imagine the impact this could have on a family if the primary income provider suffers TBI due to another person’s negligence. Fortunately, the Pennsylvania civil justice system allows TBI victims to pursue financial relief by filing personal injury lawsuits in appropriate circumstances.