Kentucky Brain Injury Claims: Causes, Symptoms, and Legal Options
Your brain is an incredible part of your body. It controls your thoughts, feelings, movements, emotions, and memories. It can be injured by a physical event like a vehicle crash or fall and by chemical exposure. If a severe injury occurs, your life and the lives of your family members may dramatically change. An insurance claim or lawsuit may provide you with compensation to help you adapt to these changes.
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC attorneys in Louisville get results. We have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements for injured clients throughout Kentucky. If you have questions about how you can obtain compensation for a brain injury or the death of a family member caused by one, call us at (855) 385-9532 or (502) 589-5600 today.
What Is the Brain?
The brain is a complex organ inside your skull. It controls your thoughts, memories, emotions, touch, movements, vision, breathing, and body temperature. The average adult brain weighs about three pounds. It’s mostly fat, water, protein, carbohydrates, and salts. Two kinds of tissue dominate the brain:
- Gray matter processes and interprets information
- White matter carries messages to other parts of the body
The brain has three main parts, each with the following functions:
- The cerebrum, the largest part, controls your movement, speech, thinking, and how you sense your surroundings. It regulates your temperature and is involved with problem-solving and learning
- The brainstem connects your brain to the spinal cord and controls basic functions that enable you to live, like breathing and heart rhythm. It plays a role in hearing, movement, coordination, and responding to your environment
- The cerebellum, a small part at the back of the brain, helps you balance and move smoothly and safely
Protective layers around the brain are the meninges.
How Does the Brain Work?
The brain sends and receives signals through billions of nerve cells called neurons. These signals travel as electrical and chemical messages. Neurons pass messages to each other at connection points called synapses, where neurotransmitters carry the signal from one cell to the next. When the brain works well, this system runs almost instantly.
How Can the Brain Be Injured?
Brain injuries fall into the following types:
- Traumatic brain injury: A hit or impact to the head, or an object piercing the skull, damages the brain
- Acquired brain injury: This happens internally and can result from toxic chemical exposure or pressure on the brain caused by a tumor or a stroke
Traumatic brain injuries can be due to vehicle accidents, falls, blows to the head, sports injuries, and violence.
A brain injury may be mild, moderate, or severe. A mild injury can cause lasting problems. About fifteen percent of people with a mild brain injury still have problems a year later. Symptoms of a moderate injury may be more pronounced. Most patients in these situations make a good recovery.
A severe brain injury may cause life-changing and debilitating problems. Those with these injuries may have chronic cognitive, behavioral, and physical disabilities.
What Chemicals Harm the Brain?
Not all brain injuries result from a physical, violent impact to the head. Some are caused by harmful chemical exposure, a condition known as neurotoxicity. It happens when a toxic substance changes how the brain, spinal cord, or nerves work. Effects may be temporary or chronic.
Common chemicals that can be neurotoxic include:
- Heavy metals, like lead and mercury
- Carbon monoxide
- Mycotoxins from some types of mold
- Pesticides, like organophosphates
- Industrial solvents used in factories and cleaning products
- Substances that people abuse, including alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, inhalants, and opioids
These substances enter the body through inhalation, eating, drinking, or skin contact. Symptoms can appear quickly or develop slowly.
How Do Brain Injuries Affect a Person?
A brain injury can impact nearly every part of daily life in the short term, including the following:
- Thought processes, including difficulty solving problems
- Movement
- Behavior
- Memory loss
- Inability to pay attention
- Dizziness
- Lost balance
- Feeling weak
- Mood changes, including depression or easily becoming upset
Lasting effects can include:
- Trouble with memory, attention, and problem solving
- Changes in behavior and emotions, such as depression, anxiety, or anger
- Physical problems, like weakness or poor balance
- Changes in vision, hearing, taste, or touch
- A higher risk of seizures and diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s
These changes do not only affect the injured person. A parent or spouse may go from supporting their family to needing ongoing care themselves.
When Can a Brain Injury Lead to a Lawsuit in Kentucky?
If another party’s negligence caused your brain injury, or it’s the result of an unreasonably dangerous chemical or substance being produced and sold, Kentucky law may allow you to make a claim against the other party’s insurance coverage or file a personal injury lawsuit for compensation.
Victims of vehicle accidents or falls causing brain injuries may be able to collect compensation for what they’ve endured. Neurotoxic chemical exposure often occurs in the workplace. Those injuries may be the basis of a workers’ compensation claim against the employer plus legal claims against those who manufacture, distribute, and sell the chemical.
If a brain injury is fatal, surviving family members may consider filing a wrongful death lawsuit to compensate them for their losses.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the different types of brain injuries?
A traumatic brain injury comes from an outside force, like a car accident or a fall. An acquired brain injury happens inside the body, often from chemical exposure, a stroke or a tumor.
Can chemicals really cause brain damage?
Chemicals like lead, mercury, certain pesticides, and carbon monoxide can damage the brain and nervous system, a condition called neurotoxicity.
How long do the effects of a brain injury last?
It depends on the injury. Some people recover fully, while others live with lasting changes in memory, movement, mood, behavior, or ability to think.
Can I be compensated for a brain injury caused by someone else?
If another party’s negligence or a dangerously defective product caused your brain injury, Kentucky law may allow you to seek compensation for lost pay, medical bills, lost income, pain, and suffering.
Do I need an attorney if I suffer from a brain injury?
An experienced brain injury lawyer can investigate what happened, determine who may be responsible, deal with insurance companies, and obtain the full compensation you deserve for what you and your family are going through.
Speak To a Kentucky Brain Injury Lawyer Today
Satterley & Kelley, PLLC helps injured Kentucky residents obtain the compensation they deserve. If you or a loved one has a traumatic brain injury or a chemical exposure injury, contact our firm for a free consultation. We can discuss your situation, how Kentucky law may apply, and your best options for compensation. Call us at (855) 385-9532, locally at (502) 589-5600, or contact us online.