What Is A Brain Injury? What You Should Know

A brain injury is an injury that affects how the brain works. While that sounds simple enough, its picture is in fact much more complex with respect to how it affects the injured person’s function as a whole, the person’s interactions with others, and even others’ understanding of it.  

Types of Brain Injuries

Brain injuries can be traumatic or non-traumatic. A non-traumatic brain injury is caused by internal factors, such as lack of oxygen or exposure to toxins. On the other hand, a traumatic brain injury is caused by an external force which could either cause blunt trauma to the head or involve inertial forces which affect the brain. To understand how a brain injury could be caused without blunt force trauma to the head itself, consider being in a rear-end motor vehicle collision: a vehicle strikes the back of your vehicle and, while your body is restrained by the seatbelt, your head whips forward and backward. In the process, your brain is rattling inside your skull, potentially resulting in coup (injury to site of impact) and contrecoup (injury to opposite side of impact) lesions. This means that serious brain trauma can occur even without any visible injury to the head. 

Because of the “invisible” nature of a brain injury, there can be a stigma associated with having a brain injury that some organizations, like the Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA) and the Brain Injury Society of Toronto (BIST), aim to reduce. Unfortunately, other organizations – particularly large insurance companies – will often try to capitalize on it. At Singer Kwinter, we have decades of experience dealing with insurers dismissing or underappreciating brain injury diagnoses because they are based on “subjective” reporting, especially when the brain injury cannot be captured on diagnostic imaging. We have also been met with insurers relying on public ignorance and stigma when it comes to brain injuries to argue that a jury of the injured person’s peers will not award damages for something they cannot see.  

Singer Kwinter recognizes that even a mild brain injury can be life-altering. We aim to advocate and educate, using tools such as OBIA and BIST resources, medical expert opinions, and even the evidence of family and friends as to the difference in the injured person’s functioning. Most importantly, we do not give credence to arguments made by insurance companies predicated on prejudice or ignorance.  

Seeking Medical Attention

If you are involved in a traumatic event and subsequently experience symptoms of a brain injury, such as headache, confusion or disorientation, affected vision, nausea and vomiting, or fatigue, seek medical attention immediately and contact Singer Kwinter for a free consultation.