A scary freeway accident or a serious fall can leave you with a real headache. But sometimes a head injury goes further than just getting your bell rung. You can suffer a traumatic brain injury and even have your skull cracked.
Victims with a fractured skull can lose consciousness and even suffer internal bleeding. Patients will need the best medical care available immediately. And if someone’s negligence caused their accident and contributes to a head injury, those parties must be held accountable for hospital bills and everything expense that follows.
Contact a California Skull Fracture Injury Lawyer for a Free Case Consultation
After suffering a skull fracture in a car crash or any other personal injury accident, you may have real doubts that the at-fault party will provide what you’ll need in recovery. Insurance companies might fight you over every medical bill you collect as you heal.
This battle is why you’ll need to ensure you’re getting the most out of your skull fracture injury claim from the very beginning. You might not know how to do that, but you can take advantage of a fantastic legal resource by contacting Maison Law of California for a free case evaluation.
The consultation comes with no obligation to you. It’s a chance to learn about every benefit available to you and your family after suffering a skull injury. You’ll also get help in determining how to secure maximum compensation from unhelpful insurance adjusters.
Composition of the Skull
The skull surrounds and protects the brain, and if the skull becomes fractured, serious permanent and even life-threatening complications can result. Including the jawbone, the skull consists of 22 bones.
Eight of them protect the skull. The jawbone is the only part of the skull the moves. Other bones were fused together at a very early age.
Just about any type of an impact can fracture a person’s skull. Here are some common causes of skull fractures:
- Auto, motorcycle, bicycle and pedestrian accidents.
- Slip-and-falls and trip-and-falls.
- Falls from heights.
- Being hit on the head with a hard object or tool.
- Accidents on construction sights, manufacturing plants, and in agricultural work. Any profession that utilizes machinery.
Types of Skull Fractures
As per Johns Hopkins Medicine, there are four different types of skull fractures. Those follow ranging from the least severe to the most severe:
- Linear Fracture: These types of skull fractures are also the most common. Bone is not shifted out of position from the impact.
- Diastatic Skull Fracture: These are almost always seen in newborns and infants. The fracture occurs at the junction between different bones of the skull.
- Depressed Fractures: With a depressed fracture, part of the skull is crushed, and the bone is depressed toward the brain. Depressed fractures are the result of a high velocity direct blow to a small area of the bone. Most depressed fractures require surgery.
- Basilar Fracture: These involve a fracture at the base of the skull. It might not be seen on an x-ray or CT scan images. These are often diagnosed by bruising around the eyes or behind an ear. As a result of a tear in part of the covering of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid might also leak from the nose and ears.
Signs and Symptoms of a Skull Fracture
Aside from those symptoms mentioned above, Britain’s National Health Service details a wide-ranging variety of skull fracture symptoms. Those might include but not be limited to the following:
- A lump or dent on the head.
- Headache with bruising or swelling.
- Dizziness, confusion or disorientation.
- Blurred vision.
- Loss of consciousness.
- Clear fluid or blood running from the nose and ears.
Treatment and Management of Skull Fractures
Most skull fractures don’t involve surgery. The fracture is managed at home by following a doctor’s instructions. If close attention should be paid to a victim for 24 hours, the doctor will either admit the patient to a hospital or advise a spouse or family member of what to look for in the context of complications.
Skull Fracture Complications
It’s not the skull fracture that victims and their families should be preoccupied with. It’s the proximity of the skull to the brain and a brain injury that they must be concerned with. Most skull fractures heal without complications, but others result in brain infection, brain bruising, bleeding or even bone penetrating the brain.
The consequences can be permanent and debilitating and cause physical and behavioral disabilities. Some brain injury victims are wholly dependent on help from others for the rest of their lives.
Compensation Available After an Accident Involving a Skull Fracture
Your task and your California Personal Injury Lawyer’s duty will be to make sure a claim for damages contains a thorough list of your suffering. Every hardship you and your family have endured while you’ve been down with a broken skull must be included in your claim. Any cost left off can end up coming out of your own pocket.
Forming a complete list is another key to getting the most out of your skull injury claim. Your personal injury lawyer should be including things that you likely wouldn’t have considered. It all goes towards increasing the financial support you can expect.
These are just a few of the factors that will be used to determine the amount on your insurance settlement check:
- Totals on medical bills
- Rehab and physical treatment/equipment
- Estimated costs over a lifetime for a victim who suffers a permanent brain disability.
- Travel costs to medical appointments while you are off your feet
- Pain and emotional anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Lost income from work (Including the expected future lost time)
Wrongful death benefits. An accident that tragically takes a life should bring support for the family members left behind. A California skull fracture injury lawyer would file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the family. This civil claim would ask for help with funeral costs and paying past medical bills. Families are justified in asking for help in the future when they’ll have to do without the income a loved one had always provided.
Contact a California Skull Fracture Lawyer.
Contact Maison Law as soon as you possibly can about a skull fracture injury that occurred anywhere in California. You’ll be connected with a skilled and experienced head injury lawyer who will listen to you closely, answer your questions honestly and advise you of all of your rights and legal options.
You have right to seek compensation for your skull fracture injury, including any resulting complications or permanent damage. Upon being retained to represent you in your skull fracture claim or lawsuit, Maison Law’s intention is to maximize any settlement or award that we might obtain on your behalf.
