Don't be fooled by the term "mild" in mild Traumatic Brain Injury. (mTBI) "Mild" refers only to the amount of time that the patient may have experienced a loss of consciousness (LOC) or not. It does not mean "minor". Even a "mild" Traumatic Brain Injury can require a lifetime of central nervous system (CNS) care.

 

Documenting and Diagnosing mTBI. Even though some accident victims who sustain an mTBI have temporal and proximate documentation in the EMS report and/or ER chart it often remains undiagnosed, ignored, or missed by their treating physician or chiropractor as they are primarily focused on orthopedic injuries and not CNS injuries and their life-long sequela. Other reasons for this lack of recognition include the fact that mTBI symptoms may not appear for as long as a week after the injury and that many well-meaning yet unaware doctors neglect to ask specifically about concussion symptoms and nor do patients talk about concussion symptoms because they don't relate their often unusual or disparate physical, psychological, and emotional symptoms to a concussion. 

 

As an attorney who wants the absolute very best for your clients, there is something you can do to be sure a client's mTBI is not missed so that your demand includes the appropriate amount of potential lifetime CNS care.

 

Simply have your clients, new and existing, invest 3 minutes completing the Rivermead Questionnaire and if a concussion is suspected, contact us.