Common Causes of Brain Injury

The five most common causes of brain injury are falls, auto and truck accidents, blows to the head area, a physical assault and then a fifth category which are just other types of rather rare causes of traumatic brain injury, including illnesses, sport-related brain trauma, asphyxiation and birth trauma.

Based upon the statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), falls are the most common causes of brain injury in the United States and in Illinois. As may be expected, the elderly are more at risk for falls and head and brain injuries than the rest of the population. Brain injury from a fall in the United States account for 35% of all other causes of brain injury. Falls happen to people of all ages at all kinds of times and places. Sometimes just doing routine acts of daily living leads to an unexpected fall. For example, falling out of bed, slipping in the bath or shower, falling down stairs on the way to work, falling from a ladder, tripping over a rug or a rise in a sidewalk are common.

In one of our cases an elderly woman fell while being hospitalized for a non-life threatening illness. When she fell she struck her forehead on the tile floor in her hospital room. The trauma to her brain left her without short-term memory, loss of use of her left side including her left arm and hand and some speech loss. She never recovered her motor skills.

In another case, a man residing in a nursing home, suffering an early form of Alzheimer’s disease, fell, struck his head and sustained a traumatic brain injury. He unfortunately remained in a near vegetative or comatose state for several years until his passing.

The second leading cause of brain injury in the United States is car accidents, which are also the leader in deaths from a brain injury. Of course, car accidents, truck accidents, bicycle accidents and motorcycle accidents happen all too often. Even in some rather low impact collisions, passengers of cars, trucks and other motor vehicles are known to sustain life-altering brain injuries because of the head striking an interior part of the vehicle. The brain is a very sensitive organ. It is encased for its protection in a hard bony structure—the skull. When a passenger is in a moving vehicle and abruptly is halted because of a crash, the spongy brain keeps moving until it too is abruptly halted by the skull. That sudden impact is a significant cause of brain trauma and resulting injury.

Making up about 10% of all brain injuries in the United States are physical assaults on individuals. This can be by a blow to the head.

CDC provides data that 21% of all other types of brain injuries in the United States are from other causes. Some of those causes are related to medical negligence and other injury cases that fall outside of car accidents and falls.

It has been reported that on an annual basis, 1.7 million individuals suffer a brain injury. 275,000 of those are required to be hospitalized with 52,000 individuals dying each year from a brain injury. The two groups that suffer the most brain injury are young children and the elderly over 65 years old.

Brain injuries can be a devastating injury to an individual. The effects of a brain injury are long-lasting and require expensive medical attention in many cases.

If you or someone you know has been injured or died as a result of a brain injury accident, please call us for an immediate free consultation.

Robert Kreisman of Kreisman Law Offices has been handling Chicago and Illinois brain injury cases for more than 40 years. Kreisman Law Offices has prevailed in trials and settlements in Chicago, Illinois and surrounding communities and has successfully resolved catastrophic injury cases for those injured in brain injury cases for these many years.

With our years of experience in trying and settling brain injury cases, Kreisman Law Offices provides the best possible services to our clients and have achieved unsurpassed results. Our service is unmatched. Please call us 24 hours a day at 312.346.0045 or toll free 800.583.8002 for a free and immediate consultation, or complete a contact form online. There is no charge for a consultation that will include an evaluation of your case, assessment of your damages such as lost income, lost wages, medical and hospital bills, past and future pain and suffering, loss of normal life and wrongful death.

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