Traumatic Brain Injury Patients face Chronic Neuropsychiatric Impairments

Share on social:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common occurrence with multiple neuropsychiatric sequelae, including problems with cognition, emotion, and behavior. While many individuals experience significant improvement over the first months following mild TBI, a nontrivial minority will develop persistent, function-impairing post-TBI symptoms. Depression and cognitive impairment are among the most common of such symptoms, and they may respond to a combination of rehabilitative and pharmacologic treatments.  These treatments can be costly, but a San Antonio personal injury lawyer can help you obtain the deserved financial compensation you need to get the necessary treatment.  It is important to ensure that you receive this care during the crucial time period for maximal recovery.

Each year in the U.S., between one and two million people sustain a traumatic brain injury, some 80% of which are mild. Post-TBI neuropsychiatric impairments become a chronic problem for an estimated 3.17 million Americans. These may include cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, and psychosocial problems. Although many people with mild TBI do not go to a hospital at the time of injury, for those that do, emergency room records fail to document TBI in well over 50% of cases meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention case definition for mild TBI. This may be due to several reasons, but the most common reason is normal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A normal MRI of the brain after mild TBI does not suggest the absence of injury but instead indicates only that any changes in the brain caused by the TBI are below the detection threshold of conventional clinical MRI. Contrast MRIs that may be more successful at finding abnormalities are available but come at a higher price, a price that many insurance companies will not pay. Contacting a San Antonio injury lawyer early on can help ensure that you are able to afford all of the appropriate care during such a crucial time in your recovery.