Traumatic Brain Injuries

Washington DC Traumatic Brain Injury Can Cause Depression and Sleep Problems

May 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

About 1.5 million people in the US sustain traumatic brain injuries each year. Depending on the severity of a TBI, brain injury symptoms can include headaches, fatigue, memory loss, visual disturbances, sleep disorders, dizziness, concentration problems, irritability, seizures, feelings of depression, nausea, sensitivity to sounds and light, loss of smell, mood changes, language problems, delays in mental processing, speech problems, difficulties reading or writing, vision loss, photophobia, hearing loss, tinnitus, nystagmus, seizures, paralysis, spasticity, chronic pain, bowel problems, social-emotional issues, and coma. 80% of TBI patients will be left with permanent, major disabilities.

Now, researchers are shedding more light on the links between TBIs and depression and sleeping problems, respectively. According to a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, about 50% of traumatic brain injury survivors have a nearly eight times greater risk of suffering from clinical depression than do members of the general population.

559 TBI patients participated in the study. Within the first year after sustaining their brain injuries, approximately 53% of participants were diagnosed with major depression. Less than 50% of these patients received any treatment for their depression during the first year. Also, TBI patients who were depressed reported a poorer quality of life and experienced greater difficulties functioning.

While sleep problems have long been linked to TBIs, a new study explains why. According to Shantha Rajaratnam, PhD, from Monash University in Australia, brain injury patients don’t produce as much melatonin as do people who aren’t suffering from a TBI. Melatonin regulates sleep. Rajaratnam says that the findings suggest that a TBI may disrupt the structures of the brain that regulate sleep.

Also, brain injury patients that took part in the study spent less time sleeping and woke up more often after initially falling asleep than their counterparts that weren’t suffering from TBIs. Brain injury patients experienced more non-REM sleep.

Washington DC traumatic brain injuries can occur during fall accidents, motor vehicle accidents, accidents involving the victim’s head striking or being struck by a hard object, as a result of medical malpractice, or because of other injury accidents that resulted in a direct blow to the head.

Study: Brain injuries tied to trouble sleeping, Physorg.com, May 24, 2010
Traumatic brain injuries linked to depression, Los Angeles TImes, May 24, 2010
Brain Injuries May Lead to Sleep Problems, Web MD, May 24, 2010
Related Web Resource:

Journal of the American Medical Association

Brain Injury Association of America

$30 Million Washington DC Bus Crash Lawsuit Filed Against Metro by Injured Congressional Staffer

January 11, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Amanda Mahnke, Representative Rick Larsen’s communications director who was seriously injured when an empty bus struck her on September 3, is suing Metro for Washington DC personal injury. She is seeking $30 million in damages.

According to Mahnke’s DC bus accident lawsuit, she sustained permanent injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, a broken clavicle, a fractured skull, fractured ribs, a collapsed long, an epidural hematoma, a pelvis fracture, and other personal injuries when she was struck by the Metro bus while she crossing an intersection on Florida Avenue, NW. She is accusing Metro of negligence for allowing bus driver Carla A. Proctor to keep driving its buses even though she had been sued in the past for causing other collisions.

Proctor was involved in a multi-vehicle crash involving another bus and seven autos in March 2003 when she got out of the bus to examine a faulty door. According to lawsuits against Metro and Proctor, because she allegedly failed to set the brake the bus rolled down a hill. After Proctor struck a parked vehicle in December 2004, an elderly bus passenger filed a Washington DC bus crash lawsuit against Metro.

Washington DC Traumatic Brain Injuries Can Cause Emotional Processing Problems for Victim, Says New Study

January 5, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to studies conducted by Professor Roger Wood, a head injury specialist, and Claire Williams from Swansea University, many traumatic brain injury patients experience personality changes as well as suffer from emotional processing issues. A loss of emotional attachment, which family members have described as lack of love or warmth, as well as a decreased ability to experience empathy, are some of the problems that can arise. These emotional processing issues not only cause relationship difficulties between TBI patients and their families, but they can make recovery more challenging.

In one of the studies conducted by Wood and Williams, they discovered TBI patients had a hard time recognizing the emotions that people on video and in pictures were exhibiting. This impairment did not appear to be related to general cognitive deficits, the seriousness of the TBI, or the time that had lapsed since the head injury occurred.

Williams and Wood say that alexithymia, a personality trait that makes it hard for people to describe their own feelings, appears to be more common in TBI patients.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries can occur as a result of car accidents, truck crashes, pedestrian accidents, motorcycle collisions, medical malpractice, birthing malpractice, serious fall accidents, drowning accidents, choking accidents, or other kinds of Washington DC injury accidents.

Living with a TBI can seriously impair a person’s ability to live a normal life. In many serious traumatic brain injury cases, the annual medical costs for taking care of a TBI patient can be astronomical. The lives and well-being of family members and close friends are also seriously affected.

Traumatic Brain Injury leads to problems with emotional processing, Psychology Today, January 3, 2010
Related Web Resources:

The Balanced Emotional Empathy Test (BEES) and Optional Software

Traumatic Brain Injury, Mayo Clinic

Woman Sustains Fatal Injury in Washington DC Fall Accident From Moving Car

August 15, 2009 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A 24-year-old woman has died from fatal injuries she sustained after falling off the top of the trunk area of a moving car. Dianne Grainger, who is from the Baltimore area, was seated on the vehicle that was leaving a private lot when she fell and she struck her head on the pavement.

The fall accident occurred around 12:30am on August 4. Grainger died on August 5 at Suburban hospital.

Head Injuries

Head injuries can be internal or external. Internal injuries may involve the brain or the skull, or vessels in the skull. Striking one’s head on the pavement, especially from great heights, at a fast speed, and/or with no protection to pad the impact upon contact can lead to serious traumatic brain injuries. TBIs, when severe, can lead to coma, permanent brain damage, and death.

Fall accidents, motor vehicle crashes, and sports accidents are the leading causes of traumatic brain injuries.

Signs that a person may be suffering from a brain injury:
• Loss of consciousness
• Concussion
• Post traumatic amnesia
• Encephalopathy (may include confusion, problems paying attention, memory loss, aggression, confusion, or stupor)
• Seizures
• Coma
• Unreactive or unequal pupils

If someone you loved was seriously injured in a fall accident and you believe that the incident happened because another party was reckless or careless, you may have grounds for filing a Washington DC personal injury lawsuit.

Woman Fatally Injured in Fall From Car in NW, Washington Post, August 15, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Head Injury, MedlinePlus
Traumatic Brain Injury, CDC