Brain Injury Lawyers - Futerman Partners LLP

Brain injury occurs when there is a sudden physical trauma to the head which causes damage to the brain. A closed head injury is suffered when the head suddenly and violently strikes an object, but that object does not penetrate the skull. A penetrating brain injury occurs when the object actually pierces the skull and enters and damages the brain tissue.

Other common injuries which result from a sudden physical assault to the head, include: a skull fracture where the bones of the skull actually crack or break; a depressed skull fracture where pieces of the broken skull actually press into the various tissue of the brain; and, a brain contusion can sometimes occur due to the trauma of the brain shaking and striking the bone within the confines of the skull.

The most serious brain injuries occur when the head trauma results in damage to the major blood vessels in the head, which form a hematoma and sometimes bleeding into or around the brain. These very serious traumatic brain injuries resulting in a hematoma or bleed can affect the intra-cranial pressure within the skull, which can result in permanent cell death. The pressure changes within the space between the brain tissue and the skull can affect the flow of blood and oxygen supply to the brain, causing further death of brain tissue.

The symptoms of a traumatic brain injury will vary, depending on the specific areas of the brain that suffer damage. A localized brain injury (focal damage) will usually occur at the location where an object strikes the head or penetrates into the brain. Brain injuries can also be spread over a wider portion of the brain (diffuse damage).

Often the area of damage is in the frontal lobe of the brain, which has many devastating and long-term consequences for the individual. These include impairments with memory, concentration, multi-tasking, speech and higher executive functions like planning and initiation and abstract reasoning.