Modern automobiles contain many safety features that are designed and manufactured to provide drivers and passengers with fewer chances of sustaining injuries in the event their vehicles are involved in crashes. While seatbelts can help stop Louisiana residents from flying out of their seats and through windshields, air bags provide motor vehicle accident victims with inflatable padding that can help cushion the blows their bodies may sustain if their vehicles are collided into by other vehicles.
At present, though, no vehicle manufacturer can guarantee with complete certainty that a rider within the cab of one of its automobiles will walk away from an accident injury free and without any harm. Despite the many advances in safety that automobile makers have embraced, individuals are harmed in car, truck and sport utility vehicle crashes each and every day.
Although some motor vehicle accident injuries are minor, others can be very severe. One significant type of injury that a person may sustain in a vehicle accident is a brain injury. Brain injuries can be open or closed, may result in serious medical complications and can even lead to the victims’ deaths.
An open brain injury is one in which the victim’s skull breaks and often occurs when the victim’s head impacted with a surface. Such an injury may result if a victim’s head hit a dashboard or steering column in a crash; there are other ways a car accident victim may sustain an open brain injury as well. A closed brain injury happens when the victim’s skull remains intact but the brain swells, bruises, or otherwise suffers trauma.
A brain injury can result in a victim suffering memory loss, problems with coordination, headaches, nausea, and more serious complications. They may not be able to work after suffering a car accident-related brain injury and may not be able to care for themselves as they once were able to do. Like other types of motor vehicle accident injuries brain injuries can be compensable under negligence theories of law.
