Brain Injury

When considering the consequences of a brain injury, specifically money damages arising from a negligence-based lawsuit, it is not hard to imagine the award of a sum of money when the injury to the brain manifests itself physically. For example, if the brain injury results in a disability, such as temporary or permanent blindness, or paralysis, or impaired motor skills, these are injuries that can have a direct impact on one's ability to earn a...

The city of Oakland, California, will pay $4.5 million to a protester who was injured during a demonstration in 2011. The victim, an Iraq War veteran, suffered a skull fracture when he was shot with a beanbag round that was fired during the protest. That impact led to traumatic brain injuries that included hemorrhaging, and the 26-year-old man also suffered a broken vertebrae. News reports show that the man, who had served overseas as a...

A man who now lives in Seattle, Washington, returned to his family home in California because he wanted to murder his entire family, according to police. He could face the death penalty for his charges since the police are saying that the whole incident was premeditated. They have not yet found a motive for the crime, however, but it is fairly clear what the man did due to the retrieval of the murder weapon. The...

We have discussed here on multiple occasions the long-term effects of concussions and other brain injuries. A number of former professional football players have come forward recently with their own stories of memory loss, depression and host of neurological conditions. Concussions and brain injuries are increasingly common in members of the military as well. Most brain injuries to military members who have served in war zones in recent years are caused by bomb blasts. Some...

We've discussed the increasing evidence that concussions and other head trauma suffered by athletes can have lifelong consequences on the brain. Although numerous former players have come forward to report neurological and memory problems, depression and other mood disorders they believe were caused by years of hard knocks to the head, the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) could only definitively be made after death. Some players like Junior Seau allowed their brains to be...