How Common are Brain Injuries Caused by Truck Accidents?

Newport Beach Truck Accident Lawyer

Video Transcript:

Michelle West: 

The frustration, anxiety and depression of people who've suffered these brain injuries, where again, you don't see the physical symptoms, you don't see them, that's why they're described some time as invisible injuries, but it has affected this person so completely that they are a changed person.

Molly Hendrickson: 

How common are brain injuries resulting from a truck crashed and are symptoms always obvious right away? We're gonna find out right now in this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest is Attorney Michelle West. I wanna remind you if you wanna ask Michelle questions about your situation, it's easy. Go to askthelawyers.com, click the button up top that says Ask A Lawyer, or you can always call the phone number you'll see at the top of the screen. Michelle, thanks for joining us today.

Michelle West: 

Oh, thanks for having me.

Molly Hendrickson: 

So tell me a little bit about what your experience is representing clients who have sustained a brain injury after an 18-wheeler truck accident.

Michelle West: 

Sure. So typically, when there's a brain injury in an 18-wheeler truck accident, unfortunately, that's gonna be a pretty serious brain injury in my experience, just because of the differential and the size of the vehicle that usually my clients are in versus the size of the... A large tractor trailer vehicle. So these are gonna be, unfortunately, a several come to mind, loss of consciousness for several days, just a traumatic brain injury with loss of function and complete loss of ability to do the types of things that these people were able to do before the incidence. So they are typically pretty catastrophic brain injury with obvious physical symptoms and mental symptoms, so you're gonna have loss of memory, loss of consciousness, coma for several days. Those are obvious ones. Then there are also sort of less obvious physical symptom brain injury cases, and I have several of those I'm handling right now, and one, in fact, on behalf of a tractor trailer driver who was rear-ended by a passenger bus. I forget how many passengers were on the bus. So this tractor trailer driver was injured, although the trailer took most of the brunt of the impact, he had headaches, dizziness, loss of memory, and is still suffering the consequences of that collision now.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Yeah, you mentioned that these can really be life-changing for the rest of somebody's life, and they can also be a little bit tricky to diagnose. Are brain injuries always diagnosed right away after an accident, and why or why not?

Michelle West: 

Absolutely not. So if there is an obvious physical symptom like we talked about, like someone who has a catastrophic brain injury where they have to have a part of their skull removed, that's very obvious. That is a different situation. You'll be in the hospital for months, potentially you may have to have part of your skull removed to allow the pressure to release. But in a lot of cases, these people who are injured and have a brain injury will go to the emergency room, and at the emergency room, they're not really set up to diagnose and treat brain injury, so they may be able to treat... They may say concussion, but they basically will release you unless it's... They need to keep you in there for emergency... Because it's a life-threatening situation at that moment. So we see repeatedly people who go to the emergency room and then are sent home even the same day, and they're told to follow up.

Well, they may have headaches and concussion and sometimes it will resolve, but oftentimes the symptoms, not only do they not resolve, but they actually start to show up after they've left the emergency room and after a couple of days have passed, so that's when the headaches, the memory problems and other things start surfacing. It can be very difficult to diagnose that sometimes for the ER department, like I said, they're not equipped, and that's why it's critical for people who've been injured and had a head injury to go to their doctor and to demand that they get treated and be seen for all of their symptoms. And it's tough because they're not feeling well, they've just been in an accident, but they need to go and see the doctor and let them know about all the symptoms, so keeping a diary or a log book of all the symptoms. It could be that you feel fatigued, foggy-headed.

You have ringing in your ears, you may have some confusion, any of those might be some of the symptoms that you would have after suffering a brain injury with no visible symptoms on the outside, but that you're experiencing these things that potentially can't be diagnosed at the emergency room level.

Molly Hendrickson: 

And I think you bring up a really good point because I think a misconception is, if you're released from the emergency room, you're okay, but really, you might not be. What are some of the challenges your clients with brain injuries have experienced and how has this affected them long-term, and their families?

Michelle West: 

Sure, it's really tough. And one thing that I have dealt with a lot is the frustration, anxiety and depression of people who've suffered these brain injuries where, again, you don't see the physical symptoms, you don't see them, that's why they're described some time as invisible injuries, but it has affected this person so completely that they are a changed person, they have bad mood swings and they can't control them, sometimes their personality even changes and other people around them, loved ones have a very hard time interacting with them after the brain injury. And again, because you can't see the injury on the outside, it's very difficult to deal with. So making sure that you get into treatment and have an understanding that you have been injured, you can't see it, but you can do things to work on it and help try to improve it or come up with strategies to deal with it. And if the family members then can get some education and understanding about the brain injury, that will help them understand what's needed for their loved one, and it will help them emotionally deal with this potentially almost a new person who is now in their life. And typically, if you can get the medical care and attention to help the person come up with strategies to deal with it, then that helps everyone in the household and helps the loved ones.

Molly Hendrickson: 

Yeah, I'm sure that you've personally seen how this impacts entire families. How can a lawsuit help not just the individual, but also the family?

Michelle West: 

Sure, so a lawsuit really can help because... I'll just tell you an example, in our cases and some I'm handling now, we will make sure that the plaintiff who's injured goes to the best specialists and those specialists will then put together a plan for what medical care is needed, including whether it's neuro-psych testing and evaluation, and then follow-up testing, whether it's additional scans, MRIs, or other things that are needed not only for now, but in the future, to see how that person is progressing. Also a big part of it is counseling and therapy, and skills and education and training for the plaintiff, the injured person to deal with the brain injury. And then the family and caregivers are alleviated of the burden of thinking, what can we do, because the lawsuit will help get the experts and pay for it, so that the injured party can then get better and get back to, as close as possible, being the best family member.

Molly Hendrickson: 

I can imagine how overwhelming it can be for families going through this, not just with the medical component, but also with the legal component. So what should they look for when choosing a lawyer?

Michelle West: 

Sure, there's lots of great lawyers, and I'm... It's such an honor to be in this profession. I would say the most important thing to me is obviously, you've got to find a competent and qualified lawyer who has dealt with people who've suffered traumatic brain injury. And second, because this really is an important part of life, you really have to find a lawyer that you trust and that you believe really cares about your loved one or about your case, so that you can have that peace of mind knowing you did the best for your... Either for yourself or for your loved one, in getting a lawyer who really cares and is really gonna go the distance. There are so many different personality types, there really are great lawyers, and it really just has to be a good fit. Do you like this person? Do you trust them, and do you have a relationship with them that you feel like this is gonna be the person who's really gonna look out for your best interest?

Molly Hendrickson: 

It was nice to talk to you today. Thank you for joining us.

Michelle West: 

Thank you for having me.

Molly Hendrickson: 

That's gonna do it for this episode of Ask the Lawyer. My guest has been Lawyer Michelle West. I wanna remind you, if you'd like to ask Michelle questions about your situation, go to askthelawyers.com, click the button at the top of the page that says, Ask A Lawyer, and it'll walk you through the very simple process. Thanks for watching. I'm Molly Hendrickson for Ask The Lawyers.

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