Workplace Head Injuries in Louisiana: A Closer Look

Since 2006, the number of head injury victims in Louisiana has increased 53 percent. Other workplace injuries, such as broken bones, usually heal, given sufficient time and proper treatment. But head injuries are always permanent. Once brain cells die, they never regenerate.

The good news is that brain injuries are usually treatable. A combination of surgery and physical therapy usually reduces the symptoms. Frequently, these treatments work so well that the symptoms become almost unnoticeable. That’s assuming doctors promptly diagnose and properly treat these injuries.

This process sounds long and expensive, and it is long and expensive. So, a New Orleans workers’ compensation attorney can obtain medical bill payment. This benefit includes all necessary expenses, from the first moment of emergency care through the final physical therapy session. Wage replacement is available as well.

What Causes Head Injuries?

Traumatic Brain Injuries are quite common at busy construction sites. Workers at such places are at risk from all three major head injury causes, which are:

• Trauma: Falls are one of the leading causes of trauma-induced head injuries. These injuries often include brain swelling and bleeding. Prompt surgery is necessary to contain this damage.
• Noise: Sudden loud noises, like the ones that are common at construction sites, create shock waves that disrupt brain functions. These shockwaves are the reason Traumatic Brain Injuries are often called the “signature injuries” of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• Motion: The brain does not fit inside the skull like a hand in a glove. There is lots of space. So, when people land after falls, their brains slam against the insides of their skulls.

The medical bills alone after a head injury often exceed $100,000. As mentioned, compensation is available for these expenses. Additionally, attorneys usually arrange for job injury victims to obtain this treatment at no upfront costs.

Diagnosis

Head injuries are among the most commonly misdiagnosed injuries in Louisiana. Frequently, victims do not adequately convey their symptoms to their doctors. The brain is very adept at concealing its own injuries. As a result, these individuals tell their doctors they “feel fine.”

Moreover, many head injury victims do not experience signature symptoms, such as unconsciousness and vomiting.

Therefore, many victims do not get the treatment they need when they need it. By the time these victims develop more advanced symptoms, such as trouble sleeping and personality changes, their injuries are more advanced and more difficult to treat.

Treatment

Brain surgery to reduce swelling sounds delicate, and it is delicate. Not all surgeons are qualified to perform brain surgery. This added expense is one reason head injury medical bills are so high.

Additionally, brain injury physical therapy is completely unlike broken bone physical therapy. Most therapists must strengthen muscles which have atrophied. But brain injury physical therapists must train uninjured areas of the victim’s brain to assume lost functions. This process is long, and progress is uneven.

Attorneys connect victims with top surgeons and experienced physical therapists. Therefore, victims get the treatment they need, as opposed to the treatment the insurance company is willing to pay for. 

Count on an Aggressive Attorney

Job-related brain injuries are quite serious. For a free consultation with an experienced New Orleans workers’ compensation attorney, contact Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe, PLLC. We do not charge upfront legal fees in these matters.

Resource:

cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html

https://www.lunsfordbaskin.com/does-workers-compensation-pay-lost-wages-in-louisiana/