4 Questions To Ask a Doctor after a Brain Injury Diagnosis
What You Should be Asking if You or a Loved one Suffered a Brain Injury
The diagnosis of brain injury can be devastating for a family. Whether it is you who suffered the brain injury, or someone that you care about, there are some important facts you need to know about brain injuries and their medical treatment. One of the things that make brain injuries so different from other types of injuries is the fact that no two brain injuries are the same. They all have different symptoms, different effects on the victims, and different prognoses. That is why it is especially important to ask the right questions of the medical staff that care for you or your loved one. Here are some questions you should be asking of the doctor who diagnoses the brain injury:
1. What is the Extent of the Damage?
Many brain injuries are caused by swelling in the brain or by a lack of oxygen which damages brain cells. Asking what the extent of the brain damage is will be a simple question at the outset of treatment to help you understand how this brain injury is going to affect the victim. While the doctors may not be able to immediately pinpoint the extent of the damage, they should be able to give you a estimation, or a range, from the best-case scenario to the worst-case scenario.
2. What Areas of the Brain are Affected?
Regardless of the extent of the brain damage, you won’t know how it will affect the functions and the abilities of the brain injury victim until you know what areas of the brain have been damaged. There are different parts of the brain that control speech, cognitive abilities, movement, development, coordination, memory, and sensory ability. They can all be individually affected by brain injury.
3. What are the Treatment Options?
You will want to speak to your doctor about the treatment options for brain injury. If the brain injured person is a loved one that you are responsible to make medical decisions for, you will want to gather all information about medical options so that you can weigh the pros and cons of each medical procedure. Some patients require surgery, some require therapy, some require medication, and some require full-time nursing care. You need to know what options are available to treat the specific type of brain injury.
4. What are the Long-term Effects?
Treatment of the brain injury will often be based on what the prognosis is for the brain injury victim. For victims with a mild brain injury, they can often make a good recovery with the aid of therapy and medical intervention. However, in some severe brain injury cases, the victims are never able to make a full recovery to their former state of brain function. Some victims permanently lose their abilities, and some never regain consciousness. While it is a difficult question to ask, it is important to know what the prognosis is for the individual with a brain injury.
If your family is struggling to care for a loved one with a brain injury, and you suspect that their injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, you should speak with an attorney to discuss filing a claim for compensation on your loved one’s behalf. Attorney David Dwork has dedicated his career to helping families of survivors of brain injury stand up for their loved one in court.