It can be a great challenge to successfully diagnose a traumatic brain injury (TBI). In many cases, a brain injury might only manifest symptoms that mimic a germ-borne illness, like nausea or dizziness. In others, the symptoms do not manifest at all until far into the future. This is all quite problematic for doctors and patients alike, since a TBI generally gets worse and worse the longer it goes undiagnosed.
Here are some basic methods of brain injury diagnoses:
- Visual inspection: When a patient has suffered severe trauma to the head or neck, a traumatic brain injury may be obvious. Visual inspections may also reveal lacerations or indentations in the scalp or skull, which could have caused an underlying brain injury.
- Cognitive tests: For more subtle brain injuries, a doctor may attempt to test the cognitive reactions of the patient. Are they capable of responding to stimuli as expected? Can they recall simple facts about themselves? Are they suffering from a strong headache?
- Advanced techniques: If a cognitive test gives the doctor suspicion of a traumatic brain injury, they may move onto advanced technologies and techniques to confirm the diagnosis. CAT scans, X-rays, and the like are all useful methods of getting a better understanding of what has happened to a patient’s brain.
- Monitoring: When it is suspected that a child has a traumatic brain injury, perhaps having been born with it due to a birth injury, a doctor’s most useful diagnostic took might just be careful monitoring, mostly conducted by the parents. It could be weeks, months, or years before a child starts to show more obvious symptoms of a TBI. It might also be ill-advised to conduct diagnoses with medical equipment on a patient so young.
Philadelphia Brain Injury Lawyers with 30+ Years of Total Experience
Have you been diagnosed with a brain injury after suffering in an accident that was not your fault? Did a doctor fail to diagnose your brain injury when an acceptable standard of medical care would have identified it? In either situation, you may be able to file an injury claim for compensation paid by the responsible party.
Dial 215.278.4449 to connect with our Philadelphia brain injury lawyers from Golomb Legaland ask for a free initial consultation to begin.