A Head Injury Can Be Serious Even When You Feel Fine

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury that disrupts how the brain works, often from a blow or jolt to the head. After a crash, its signs can appear hours or days later, even if you felt fine at the scene. This page covers the warning signs of a brain injury, what belongs in the medical record, and the Georgia rules that often shape these claims for Clayton County residents.

What a Traumatic Brain Injury Is and Why Symptoms Can Be Delayed

A traumatic brain injury happens when a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or a wound that penetrates the skull, disrupts normal brain function. The Georgia Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund Commission publishes medical facts about TBI, including its definition, severity levels, and possible long-term effects.

A concussion is a mild TBI. Severe TBI can leave lasting changes in thinking, memory, movement, mood, and behavior.

Symptoms often take time to show. You may walk away from a crash feeling shaken, then develop a headache, dizziness, or trouble focusing hours or days later. That delay is why an evaluation matters, even after a crash that seemed minor.

Common signs include headache, confusion, dizziness, memory gaps, and changes in vision or speech. If you notice any of these, tell a doctor when they started.

Warning Signs That Need Emergency Care Right Away

Call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department right away if any serious sign appears after a head injury. Don’t wait to see whether it fades.

Serious signs include:

• repeated vomiting
• a headache that keeps getting worse
• a seizure
• pupils of unequal size
• weakness or numbness in the face, arms, or legs
• slurred speech
• unusual drowsiness, or trouble waking the person

Anyone with a head injury should not drive. Ask someone else to take you for a check.

The medical record starts at the scene. The ambulance run sheet, the emergency department chart, and imaging results are often the first written proof of your diagnosis. Ask for copies of every page, and keep them in one folder.

Family members caring for someone with a head injury can keep a simple symptom journal. They should bring a current medication list to each visit and write down changes in mood, sleep, or behavior, with dates.

Brain Injuries From Crashes on Clayton County Roads

A brain injury from a crash usually happens when the head strikes a window, steering wheel, dashboard, or pavement. It can also happen when the body is thrown during impact or a rollover. Busy routes such as I-75 and I-675 carry passenger vehicles and large commercial trucks through Clayton County, and a crash there can involve both.

The investigating agency’s crash report is an early record of how the collision happened. Request a copy and write down the report number. Keep photos, witness names, and any video you can find.

Serious crashes often cause more than one injury. A head injury can come with fractures or spinal damage, which changes the care you need. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke notes that an injury to the spinal cord between C1 and C4 can affect breathing. Any neck injury after a crash needs prompt medical attention.

Insurance is often central. When a motor carrier is involved, Georgia law addresses when its insurer can be joined in the same case. The text of O.C.G.A. § 40-1-112 sets out the joinder rules for motor carriers.

Treatment, Recovery, and Changes in Behavior After a Brain Injury

Recovery after a brain injury usually moves through emergency evaluation, imaging, neurological follow-up, and rehabilitation. Rehabilitation may include physical, occupational, and speech therapy, based on what the doctors find.

Personality and behavior changes are common concerns. Families often notice irritability, aggression, or new impatience. Treatment for these changes is decided with the treating physicians. Tell the doctor about every change, even small ones.

Keep every follow-up visit. Ask your medical doctor for written work restrictions if you can’t do your job safely. Those notes support your recovery and any claim for income you lost.

Georgia law looks closely at medical bills. How medical expenses are valued in a Georgia injury claim depends on the facts of each case and on the law that applies to it, so questions about them are best discussed during a free case review. If a provider treated you under a letter of protection, that arrangement and its itemized charges can be relevant evidence.

Useful records include:

• medical bills and insurance statements
• therapy notes and records from other treating doctors
• pay stubs and employer letters about time off
• a daily log of how the injury affects sleep, work, and family life

How a Georgia Brain Injury or Wrongful Death Claim Generally Works

Most Georgia injury claims must be brought within two years after the right of action accrues, under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33-2023-pdf.pdf)-2023-pdf.pdf)-2023-pdf.pdf).

Georgia also uses a fault rule. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33-pdf.pdf)-pdf.pdf)-pdf.pdf), a judge reduces damages by the injured person’s percentage of fault. If that person is 50 percent or more responsible, they cannot recover damages. When more than one person is at fault, each generally pays only their own share.

Injury claims often include past and future medical care, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The evidence in your case shapes each category. A lawyer cannot promise a specific figure.

When a brain injury leads to death, Georgia law lets certain family members bring a wrongful death claim. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2-pdf.pdf)-pdf.pdf)-pdf.pdf), a surviving spouse, or a child or children if there is no spouse, may recover the full value of the decedent’s life, as shown by the evidence. The surviving spouse receives no less than one-third of that recovery. In some cases, the personal representative may also recover funeral, medical, and other necessary expenses under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-5, in the circumstances that statute describes.

Talk With Ugwonali Law Group About Your Clayton County Brain Injury

Ugwonali Law Group offers a free, confidential first consultation, without obligation to continue after it. Attorney Adanna Ugwonali leads the firm from its office at 3400 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia. The firm represents people hurt in crashes and families in wrongful death cases across metro Atlanta and statewide in Georgia, including Clayton County.

Intake staff can speak with you in English or Spanish. To make the call easier, have these ready:

• the crash report number and the date of the crash
• names of hospitals, clinics, and doctors
• discharge papers and imaging reports
• insurance information for you and the other driver
• a short list of symptoms and when each started

Frequently Asked Questions