Posted in News on March 1, 2018
March is Brain Injury Awareness Month, which began as a way to highlight the government’s commitment to traumatic brain injury awareness and research. It has since expanded to include an outreach to ensure most people understand what brain injury is and how they can avoid it. If you or a loved one has suffered from a traumatic brain injury, your symptoms may be severe. Contact our Billings brain injury attorneys if you feel that you deserve compensation for your injuries.
Understanding TBI
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is something that interrupts the usual workings of the brain. They develop from intense blows or hits to the head, a jolt that shakes your brain, or countless other incidents. Around 2.5 million TBIs happened in 2010 from isolated situations or grouped with other injuries. Around 30% of all injury deaths are due to TBIs. In the United States, 153 people die each day from injuries that include a traumatic brain injury.
Some of the most common causes of TBI are electric shock, disease, oxygen deprivation, stroke, seizure disorder, substance abuse, toxic exposure, or tumor. In the United States, one out of every 60 people is living with a disability related to a traumatic brain injury. Fatal traumatic brain injury-related deaths in 2013 were highest amongst people who are 75 or older. Falls were the most common cause of death for people over the age of 65. Intentional self-harm was the most prominent reason for people between the ages of 25 and 64 with TBI. Car crashes were the leading reasons for TBI fatalities for people between the ages of 5 and 24.
Of the non-fatal traumatic brain injury-related injuries in 2013, people aged 75 and older were the largest group who needed hospitalization after a TBI. Falls were the most prominent reason that people age 14 and younger and above the age of 45 went to the hospital with TBI-related injuries. Car crashes were the leading cause of hospitalizations for people between 15 and 44. Elderly people and children between the ages of 0 and 4 were the most common ages for ED visits. Falling was the most prominent cause of traumatic brain injury-related ED visits for all ages except for one group. People between the ages of 15 and 24 who visited the ED had injuries caused mostly by an object hitting the head or hitting the head against an object.
March for Brain Injury Awareness
Though the victims of TBI are always aware of the challenge of life after a traumatic brain injury, March is a reminder to others of these difficulties, as well as a way teach methods of avoiding TBIs themselves. The statistics illustrate clearly that TBIs have affected most people in the United States in some way. On March 20th, there will be a national event on Capitol Hill for brain injury awareness where people will meet from all across the country. There will be a brain injury awareness day fair, congressional briefing, and a reception. The event takes place every March so that people can come together and recognize and acknowledge the pain and damage of TBIs and the impact that the injuries have across the country.
Help After a Brain Injury | Billings Brain Injury Attorney
Traumatic brain injuries of any kind are a serious problem. Sometimes, they can be the thing that changes your life forever. If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury because of someone else’s negligence or apathy, you need a Billings personal injury attorney at Heenan & Cook, PLLC who understands the gravity and pain of a traumatic brain injury. An attorney can help you get the compensation that you need to be able to begin to recover from this tragic incident.