Traumatic brain injuries account for more than 1 million emergency room visits annually in the USA.
One million head trauma cases in the USA every year is a sign that something needs to be done to reduce the occurrence of this type of injury. Something also needs to be done to speed up the diagnosis of a brain injury, other than by visual signs so the victim does not wind dead.
There is some exciting news out of Cleveland about a new test that could indicate the presence of concussion, and if it lives up to its potential, military personnel may benefit from it too. Far too many of our young men and women are returning from various wars and victims of head traumas and concussions from IEDs. Since it is an unseen injury, cognitive behavior is often attributed to post traumatic stress or other things. If there was a way to confirm what was going on inside their brain, it may help them get the proper treatment faster.
Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are running blood tests on local college football players for a protein that indicates a concussion. This new test screens samples to find out if they have a protein that is known to leak into the blood after a head injury. Should the study confirm the predictive value of that protein, it could mean just a simple blood test to confirm concussions, instead of a very expensive trip to the ER and an entire battery of tests.
While this test has the potential to revolutionize a traumatic brain injury diagnosis, it does not address how the players got a concussion in the first place. There are certain risks inherent in playing sports, but those risks should be revealed and discussed with players. Although players are becoming more aware of what concussions mean, there is still a long way to go to educate coaches, owners, players and parents about the real risks of multiple blows to the head.
Until the sports world as a whole decides to banish the macho image of athletes, players will continue to get hurt, sustain concussions and end up with cognitive difficulties at some point in their life. They may even commit suicide as recent events in the NHL have shown. Will education win the day? That is a hard question to answer, as there will always be those who think that fighting, tackling and head shots are cool, and that nothing will ever happen to them.
But when it does happen to them, they will need the expert advice of a seasoned Austin personal injury lawyer about how to file a lawsuit. If a player has been hurt and put back into play, it is time to discuss the situation with legal counsel.
Same goes for military veterans who deserve to know about their injuries. It is better to know where you stand before the trauma takes its toll. Making a call to an Austin personal injury lawyer will update you on the latest in this area of personal injury law. It is a call well worth making.
Brooks Schuelke is an Austin personal injury attorney with Perlmutter & Schuelke LLP. Contact an Austin injury lawyer at Civtrial.com or (512) 476-4944.
