Why loss of consciousness is difficult to spot and why it's so important to your legal case.

Part of diagnosing a traumatic brain injury depends on whether a person lost consciousness and for how long. While loss of consciousness is not required to suffer or diagnose a concussion or traumatic brain injury, it matters for determining the severity of the TBI. Thus, loss of consciousness is typically a highly fought over matter in brain injury litigation.

The problem with loss of consciousness as a measure of TBI severity is that the injured person may not be aware they lost consciousness because during unconsciousness, the brain cannot form and retrieve memories, and therefore an injured person may incorrectly deny loss of consciousness because they do not remember what happened immediately before, during or after the incident. Obtaining a reliable history from a brain injured person can be further complicated by other factors like intoxication, language barriers, or pain from other injuries may mask brain injury signs and symptoms. These confounding factors can lead to missed diagnosis of concussions and TBIs.

Traumatic events happen with little warning and are often chaotic. A brief loss of consciousness of a few seconds may be too short to notice or bystanders are unaware of the signs. Knowing the signs of unconsciousness and reporting those to the paramedics and doctors may be the difference in getting a proper diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury early rather than weeks or months later.

So, what can be done to help identify loss of consciousness so concussions and TBIs are more accurately diagnosed?

Signs of unconsciousness to look for may include:

• the injured person taking no protective action when falling after injury,
• lying motionless and unresponsive, or
• repeatedly asking what happened.

If you suspect that you or someone you know may have suffered a concussion or TBI, it is important to not guess when a medical professional asks if loss of consciousness occurred. If you are not 100% certain, the best response is to say that you don’t know rather than deny loss of consciousness or saying you don't think loss of consciousness occurred. This could be the difference in early diagnosis of concussion and TBI necessary for proper medical treatment and any future claim for damages that may be pursued by a lawyer.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our legal services and how Attorney Dan D'Angelo's focus in brain injury and bicycle injury cases matters, please get in touch with us.

If you found this post helpful, you may also like to explore the other topics in our Insights and Guide about other common bicycle and brain injury legal topics and tips that may help you know what legal and medical help you need after you or someone you know may have suffered serious injuries in a bicycle accident or another injury incident.

Have a question about your case?

Attorney Dan D'Angelo offers free consultations for brain injury and cycling accident victims throughout Colorado.

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