Some minor brain injuries, such as a concussion, generally just have a short-term impact on a person’s health and well-being. They still need to be taken seriously, of course, and medical attention may be necessary. But people will typically recover in a few days to a few weeks.
However, with other types of traumatic brain injuries, there could actually be long-term changes in the way that a person lives their life, affecting their health moving forward. In some cases, there are permanent symptoms. Someone who suffers a brain injury may always have memory issues or personality changes, even after some of their initial symptoms, such as sensitivity to lights and sounds, have faded.
Why does this happen?
The first reason why this happens is that the brain is a very fragile organ. Injuries can have a wide-ranging array of symptoms, depending on the severity of the injury and the part of the brain that was hurt. Different portions of the brain control speech, vision, mobility, balance, memory, emotions and much more.
In conjunction with the brain being fragile, it often cannot generate new neurons or brain cells as it tries to heal. With other types of injuries, the body can regenerate blood cells, skin cells or bone tissue. But since the brain typically cannot do this, it means that full healing may not be possible – if the brain cannot find all of the new neural pathways it needs to make the appropriate connections.
If you or a loved one have suffered a brain injury due to someone else’s negligence, then you may deserve compensation for these long-term changes.