One of the injuries that doctors and researchers understand the least is the brain injury. Despite its complex and seemingly mysterious nature, a traumatic brain injury can happen to anyone. All it takes to receive such an injury is a sudden change in the speed that someone’s body is traveling at. The change in momentum can cause the brain to hit the inside of the skull.
This means that a brain injury can happen in any environment where such a momentum shift is possible: at work when falling from a ladder, on the way home in a car accident, or when playing a contact sport. If you’re in the right field, each of these could call for a workers’ compensation claim or a lawsuit against your employer.
Slipping on a wet floor or tripping on something and then knocking your head could cause a concussion, a form of brain injury. If you’re traveling in a company car or work as a freight transport driver and are involved in an accident, a workers’ compensation claim will likely be successful, especially if you are not at fault in the crash.
And then there is the controversy surrounding the thousands of former National Football League players — some of whom played for teams in Ohio — who have filed a lawsuit against the NFL, alleging that the league failed to inform the players of the dangers they faced when playing the game.
The players are referring to brain injuries and the increased likelihood that they were cause for certain ailments. According to a study published in the journal Neurology, veteran NFL players are three to four times more likely than non-players to die from brain diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
Source: New York Times, “Dying to Play,” Kevin Cook, Sept. 11, 2012