There are two different types of brain injuries. The first is a traumatic brain injury, and it involves an injury from significant force to the head. The second is a hypoxic brain injury.
A hypoxic brain injury worsens quickly, within a matter of minutes, when the brain does not receive adequate oxygen. These injuries may be referred to as “anoxic” when the brain receives no oxygen.
By the end of about 10 minutes, a person will likely suffer brain death. This means that person would require life support to continue breathing.
The result of serious hypoxic brain injuries is the same as that of severe traumatic brain injuries.
Other serious problems after a hypoxic brain injury can include a decline in mental abilities as well as emotional problems. The person may also deal with physical symptoms like coordination issues, trouble with speech and other issues that make life difficult.
The symptoms are the same as that of a traumatic brain injury. Again like traumatic brain injuries, people will likely not fully recover from a hypoxic brain injury. The brain, once damaged, does not repair itself.
Hypoxic brain injuries also frequently are preventable
Finally, hypoxic brain injuries are like traumatic brain injuries since they often happen despite being preventable.
Two common causes of hypoxic brain injuries, medically called cerebral hypoxia, are near drowning and severe electrical shock. Many times, someone else is responsible for these drowning accidents and electrical accidents.
For example, a worker may get tangled in power lines because of defective equipment, or someone might drown in a body of water that a property owner did not make safe.
As one example, Louisiana hotels and other establishments have to provide some reasonable safeguards for their pools. If they do not do so, and someone nearly drowns and suffers a brain injury, the hotel may be legally responsible.
Other accidents, such as choking on a company’s product or suffering carbon monoxide poisoning because of poor workmanship, may also cause a hypoxic brain injury.
When another person or business is responsible for a serious hypoxic brain injury, Baton Rouge victims may need to hold the responsible parties accountable by filing an appropriate legal case.