A traumatic brain injury is the injury people around the victim understand least. There is often no cast, no scar and no abnormal CT scan. What there is, is a person who cannot hold a thought long enough to finish a task, who loses their temper at their kids for no reason, who cannot tolerate a noisy restaurant, and who is quietly terrified that this is permanent.
Brain injuries arise in Santa Clarita from collisions on I-5 and SR-14, falls at commercial properties and apartment complexes, construction site incidents, bicycle and motorcycle crashes, and recreational activity in the surrounding canyons. Djougourian Law Corp builds these cases with the objective evidence they require.
Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury
The CDC reports there were over 69,000 TBI-related deaths in the United States in 2021, roughly 190 every day, and approximately 214,000 TBI-related hospitalizations in 2020. Those figures exclude the far larger number of people treated and released or never seen at all.
TBI is classified by severity:
Mild TBI, or concussion. Brief alteration of consciousness or none at all, with headaches, dizziness, confusion, memory and concentration problems, light and noise sensitivity, nausea, irritability and sleep disturbance. A meaningful minority of patients develop persistent post-concussive symptoms lasting months or years.
Moderate TBI. Loss of consciousness from minutes to hours, with confusion lasting days to weeks and lasting cognitive deficits.
Severe TBI. Extended unconsciousness, profound impairment and lifelong care requirements.
Types of Brain Injury
Concussion. Functional disruption of brain activity without visible structural damage on routine imaging. Diffuse axonal injury. Rotational forces shear axonal connections throughout the white matter. Frequently invisible on CT and often devastating. Contusion. Bruising where the brain strikes the interior of the skull, including coup and contrecoup patterns. Hematoma. Epidural, subdural and intracerebral bleeding, sometimes requiring emergency decompression. Skull fracture, including depressed fractures driving bone into brain tissue. Second impact syndrome, where a second injury before the first has resolved produces catastrophic swelling.
Why “The CT Was Normal” Proves Nothing
This is the defense argument in almost every TBI case, and it reflects a misunderstanding of what a CT scan does. A head CT is designed to detect bleeding and fractures requiring emergency intervention. It is not designed to detect diffuse axonal injury or the functional disruption of a concussion. A normal CT means the patient does not need emergency neurosurgery. It does not mean the brain was not injured.
What does establish a brain injury:
Neuropsychological testing. A battery of standardized, validated instruments measuring memory, attention, processing speed, executive function and language, with embedded validity measures that address any suggestion of exaggeration. This is the objective evidence.
Advanced imaging. Where indicated, MRI with susceptibility-weighted sequences and diffusion tensor imaging can reveal what CT cannot.
Clinical course. Emergency records, symptom documentation, referral history and treatment response.
Before-and-after witnesses. Spouses, coworkers, supervisors and friends who can describe concretely what this person could do before and cannot do now. In practice this testimony is enormously persuasive, because it is specific and it is not paid for.
Long-Term Consequences
Cognitive. Memory, attention, processing speed, executive function, word finding and problem solving. Physical. Headaches, dizziness, balance problems, fatigue, vision and hearing changes, post-traumatic seizures. Emotional and behavioral. Depression, anxiety, irritability, disinhibition, emotional lability and personality change. Functional. Loss of the ability to work at a prior level, loss of independence, and severe strain on marriages and families.
Building the Damages Case
Life care planning for severe injuries, projecting attendant care, therapy, supervision, medication and equipment across a lifetime. Vocational assessment of residual work capacity and realistic employability. Economic analysis reducing lifetime earning loss and care costs to present value. Medical expert testimony from neurologists, neuropsychologists, physiatrists and life care planners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can people recover from a brain injury?
Many concussion patients recover substantially within weeks to months. Some do not. Moderate and severe TBI generally involves permanent change, because destroyed brain tissue does not regenerate. Rehabilitation focuses on compensation and adaptation.
I never lost consciousness. Can I still have a TBI?
Yes. Loss of consciousness is not required for a concussion diagnosis, and a large share of concussions occur without it.
My symptoms started days later. Does that hurt my case?
No. Delayed symptom onset is well documented, particularly for cognitive and emotional symptoms that only become apparent once the person returns to work or school.
How do we prove cognitive impairment objectively?
Neuropsychological testing with validity measures. It is the standard tool and it is designed for exactly this purpose.
What compensation is available?
Past and future medical and rehabilitation expenses, attendant care, lost income, complete loss of earning capacity where applicable, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium.
What if my family member cannot make their own decisions?
A conservatorship or guardian ad litem allows a family member to bring the claim. We handle that.
Contact a Santa Clarita Brain Injury Attorney
If people keep telling you that you seem fine and you know you are not, that is exactly the case we know how to prove. Call 818-530-0000 or contact us for a free consultation.
