In many of our serious automobile collision cases we unfortunately find ourselves representing victims of a traumatically induced brain injury. During any serious car accident, unfortunately victims oftentimes strike their heads either on the seat or some other interior portion of the car. This can sometimes result in a loss of consciousness, confusion, dizziness or otherwise. When emergency personnel arrive at the scene of a serious wreck and diagnose those who appear to be confused or dazed, they typically use an assessment tool called the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). The scale comprises three different tests: eye opening, verbal responses and motor responses. The three values separately as well as their sum are considered. The lowest possible GCS sum is 3 which is a deep coma or near death while the highest is 15 (a fully awake person). A GCS score of 13 to 15 is usually considered as evidence of a mild traumatic brain injury whereas a score of 9 to 12 is considered evidence of a moderate brain injury. Any score of 8 or below is considered a severe brain injury.
Of course, any injury to the brain is a serious injury. Thus, the term “mild” traumatic brain injury is somewhat misleading. The term “mild” is used to describe the severity of the initial physical trauma that caused the injury. In no way does the term “mild” traumatic brain injury indicate the severity of the consequences of the injury.
While the Glasgow Coma Scale score is a useful tool in assessing whether the victim of a car accident has sustained a possible brain injury, nonetheless, it may or may not correlate with a person’s short or long term recovery or functional abilities following the injury.