Traumatic Brain Injury | Georgia Personal Injury Blog - Part 2

NFL Faces More Lawsuits over Long-Term Player Brain Injuries

By Grant Law Office on January 18, 2012

Two more cases have been filed in Atlanta by former National Football League players and their families seeking compensation for serious brain injuries, bringing the total number of players represented in the Atlanta court up to 28, according to a recent article from the Daily Report Online. Over 125 players and their families have filed similar cases nationwide.

The cases claim that the NFL failed to adequately protect players from repeated concussions during football games. Repetitive head trauma, like concussions suffered on top of concussions that haven’t fully healed, is linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. CTE can cause conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and it is also linked to serious changes in personality, mood, and cognitive and emotional functioning. One of the families that filed suit in Atlanta is that of a former NFL player who recently committed suicide after being diagnosed with CTE and suffered severe psychological symptoms.

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In 2012, New Findings Shed Light on Traumatic Brain Injuries

By Grant Law Office on January 11, 2012

Traumatic brain injuries include any injuries to the brain caused by an accident or other event. One of the most talked-about and highly common types of traumatic brain injury is the concussion, in which the brain is bruised from a blow to the head. New research on traumatic brain injuries could lead to new awareness, prevention, and treatment options for these life-altering injuries, according to a recent article in Chicago Magazine.

In 2011, researchers began examining the results of years of studies of the effects of repeated blows to the head on athletes. They found that untreated traumatic brain injuries can lead to chronic conditions and/or serious problems with memory, concentration, chronic headaches, and even personality changes. Repeated concussions are linked to brain disorders like Alzheimer’s and dementia in later years. It seems researchers have little doubt that traumatic brain injuries can have serious, lifelong consequences.

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CDC Study Finds Trends in Traumatic Brain Injury Related Fatalities

By Grant Law Office on June 1, 2011

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as trauma to the brain caused by an external force that alters brain function. Though TBI can range from mild to severe, it is a major cause of death and disability in the U.S.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), an average of 53,014 deaths per year were related to traumatic brain injuries from 1997-2007. This resulted in a total of approximately 580,000 total deaths for that decade.

Various trends were discovered throughout this study. Concerning gender, males suffered TBI-related deaths 3 times more than females. If we add ethnicity to the male trend, non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Natives experienced the highest rate of fatal TBI incidents and Hispanic males experienced the lowest. Age also played a factor in fatal TBI conditions. In order of highest to lowest TBI fatality rate are young children aged 5 years or younger, older adults aged 75 years or older and teenagers between the ages 15 and 19. The leading causes of TBI-related deaths, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or age, involved firearms, motor-vehicle accidents and falls.

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