[profileleft]
[/profileleft]Most adults remember getting a “bump on the noggin” or having our “bell rung” in some way as children. Adults told us that this was just part of growing up. Fortunately, we have come to learn much more about the brain in recent years. We have learned that every type of trauma inflicted on the brain can have a lasting impact. We also need to take more protective and preventative steps when a child suffers a mild traumatic brain injury. The urgency to do so should be higher than ever based on the results of a recent study. The study concluded that children who suffer a traumatic brain injury can face difficult lives as adults.
About the Traumatic Brain Injury Study
Those interested in reading the abstract of the study can find it here. Researchers from the United Kingdom, the United States and Sweden collaborated on the study. They reviewed data from more than one million people who were born in Sweden between 1975 and 1983. Nearly 10 percent of these people suffered a traumatic brain injury before the age of 25. More than three-quarters of those traumatic brain injuries were defined as minor. Researchers then matched the overall outcomes of those children who had suffered a traumatic brain injury to those who had not.
The study found that those children who had suffered even a mild traumatic brain injury during childhood faced a higher possibility of several challenging circumstances as adults. Those circumstances and the corresponding percentage of higher risk as compared to those who did not suffer a traumatic brain injury appear below:
- Receive a disability pension – 76 percent
- Report for a psychiatric visit – 52 percent
- Fail to obtain a secondary school education – 58 percent
- Receive welfare benefits – 55 percent
- Premature mortality – 73 percent
The researchers also found that the more severe the traumatic brain injury, the more likely it was that those children would struggle in some fashion as adults.
What the Study Means
The researchers stated that the data uncovered presented a “potentially” causal relationship between a traumatic brain injury during childhood and struggles during adulthood. The researchers went on to state that more specific medical guidelines should be in place to treat every traumatic brain injury that are age-specific and uniform in nature. It also means that the days of simply “getting your bell rung” are over. Every trauma inflicted on the head needs to be taken seriously. Parents should consider a full medical evaluation for their child when he or she suffers a blow to the head, as that more than likely is going to happen at some point.
How Children’s Rights Lawyers Can Help
This study should also tell people that we need to continue to work to hold anyone who is responsible for inflicting a traumatic brain injury on a child accountable. More and more data is emerging that is leading to troubling conclusions regarding traumatic brain injuries, particularly in children. If your child has been wrongfully harmed by someone else, you need to take action to protect that child. You can contact the children’s rights lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys for a free case evaluation.
