Brain Injury from Truck Accidents
Semi-trucks are massive. A fully loaded semi and trailer combination can weigh up to 80,000 under U.S. trucking regulations. Oklahoma can issue oversize load permits for even bigger and heavier tractor-trailers.
When you get into a truck accident with one of these behemoths, you can suffer catastrophic or even fatal injuries. These injuries can cause permanent disabilities, like paralysis, amputations, and brain damage.
Our personal injury attorneys in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma McGuire Law Firm can help you recover compensation for your brain injury and other accident-related damages. Contact us to get a free consultation at (405) 513-5658.
How Our Oklahoma City Truck Accident Lawyers Can Help Recover Compensation for a Brain Injury
McGuire Law Firm was founded in 1989 to assist accident victims throughout Oklahoma City, OK. Our Oklahoma City truck accident attorneys have over 60 years of combined experience. Over the past 30 years, our law firm has fought to get fair compensation for injured clients after devastating accidents.
We can help you with your truck accident claim by:
- Investigating the cause of the collision and identifying who is liable
- Consulting leading experts as we prove the elements of your claim
- Accurately valuing your damages, including future losses
- Negotiating on your behalf as we work towards a favorable settlement
- Representing you in all court proceedings
Truck accidents are some of the most devastating experiences that you can have. Contact McGuire Law Firm for small firm friendliness and large firm resources to go up against big trucking companies.
How Common Are Brain Injuries from Truck Accidents?
The most recent full year of traffic statistics released by Oklahoma was for 2020. But 2020’s statistics were skewed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The total number of truck accidents was about 15% lower than normal that year.
In 2020, Oklahoma had 4,784 total truck crashes. These crashes injured or killed over 1,600 people.
These accident victims suffered:
- 75 fatal injuries
- 152 incapacitating injuries that required an ambulance
- 393 minor injuries that were visible but did not require ambulance transport
- 623 possible injuries that caused symptoms but no visible wounds
- 395 injuries of unknown severity, according to the accident report
Oklahoma does not release statistics describing how many of these injuries affected the brain. But severe brain injuries can kill or incapacitate you. They can result from visible head trauma or violent movement that shakes the brain. So traumatic brain injuries could get classified into any of these categories.
Overview of Brain Injuries from Oklahoma Truck Accidents
Brain injuries happen when the brain tissue gets damaged. Brain damage can affect your involuntary processes, voluntary movements, thoughts, and emotions.
Types of Brain Injuries from Truck Accidents
Brain injuries can take a few different forms depending on the type of brain tissue and how the injury occurred. Some examples of brain injuries include:
Subdural Hematomas
A subdural hematoma happens when a blood vessel inside the brain ruptures. The blood escaping from the ruptured vessel compresses the brain. To release the pressure on the brain, doctors usually drill a hole in the skull so they can drain the blood.
Subdural hematomas cause death in over one-third of cases. Many patients who survive a hematoma might suffer from a coma or permanent brain damage.
Diffuse Axonal Injuries (DAIs)
A DAI occurs when a rapid whipping motion tears the long tails (or axons) of the brain cells. When you suffer whiplash in a truck accident, your brain can shake violently enough to cause a DAI.
Doctors cannot treat a DAI. Because axons allow brain cells to communicate, when they get damaged, your brain cannot process information, and you will suffer:
- Headache
- Dizziness and nausea
- Confusion
- Drowsiness
These injuries will permanently damage your brain. In severe cases, they will cause coma or death.
Contusions
A contusion is a bruise on the brain. It happens when the force of a truck accident causes your brain to slam into the inside surface of the skull.
Contusions cause your brain to swell, which squeezes shut the blood vessels inside the brain. The bruise on the brain also bleeds. Between the bleeding and swelling, your brain is starved of oxygen, and your brain cells begin to die.
Accident victims with contusions can suffer from loss of consciousness, permanent loss of brain functions, coma, or death.
Concussions
Concussions happen when the brain gets shaken without hitting the inside of the skull. The brain suffers inflammation as a result.
Concussions rarely cause death.
But concussions can cause symptoms such as:
- Headache
- Confusion
- Brain fog
- Clumsiness
- Drowsiness
- Blurry vision
- Slurred speech
You will usually recover from a concussion within two months after the accident.
Who Is Liable for a Brain Injury from an Oklahoma City Truck Accident?
Trucking companies bear liability for their negligence in loading, operating, and maintaining their trucks. They also assume liability for the negligence of employee drivers under a doctrine called vicarious liability.
Some acts that could expose a trucking company to liability include:
- Negligently hiring or retaining drivers
- Failing to administer drug or alcohol tests
- Negligently setting driving hours or routes
- Improperly loading cargo or securing a load
- Failing to maintain and repair trucks
Federal law requires trucking companies to have insurance policies, surety bonds, and other assets to cover the injuries that result from a truck accident. The minimum amount of financial responsibility ranges from $750,000 to $5,000,000.
Other parties could also be liable for a truck accident in Oklahoma City, including the trucker, the manufacturer of a defective auto part, shipping companies, and more. We’ll identify who could share liability for your losses.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Oklahoma City Truck Accident Lawyers To Discuss Your Brain Injury
Brain injuries can cause physical, cognitive, and emotional symptoms that affect every aspect of your life. Contact McGuire Law Firm to learn how you can seek compensation after you or a loved one suffers a brain injury in a truck accident.
