Brain injuries can also be caused by medical conditions such as infections (eg encephalitis) or by events such as cardiac arrest depriving the brain of oxygen. Aneurisms and brain haemorrhages are also potential causes of acquired brain injury.
Working with clients who have an acquired brain injury requires experience and understanding of the many effects and problems which can arise. Brain function is complex, directing movement, behaviour, communication and thinking.
The brain continues to recover from injury for up to two to three years following trauma. While there are nearly always some long term problems, the level of recovery can vary greatly. Brain injuries occurring in childhood sometimes resolve more favourably, whilst a brain injury sustained in adulthood may be harder to recover from. Although recovery is very rarely complete, some more minor brain injuries result in residual symptoms that are often difficult to spot and may be overlooked if the professional dealing with a client is not experienced in what to look for.
Brain injury can result in some or all of the following issues:
Frontal lobe brain injuries are very common. Damage to the frontal lobes can cause:
All clients with brain injury present differently to one another. It is important that clients with brain injuries and their families are given sufficient time by their professional advisors in order to establish exactly how their brain injuries are affecting them in terms of daily living, education, work and family life.
The approach to each brain injury claim should ensure that the brain injured person is at the centre of a personalised approach designed to ensure that their individual needs are met and that compensation recovered reflects the effects of brain injury on that individual in all aspects of their life.
Assessing a brain injury claim requires a substantial amount of expert evidence, but also requires very careful assessment of the individual client on a face to face basis and detailed conversations with family, who will also be aware of the way in which a brain injury has changed their relative.
People who have suffered acquired brain injury may well also be eligible for welfare benefits during the course of their claim or after settlement. The following benefits should be considered:
Further information about brain injury can be obtained from the following organisations: