It is never easy to learn that a family member or close friend suffered a brain injury in Ocean County. His or her head trauma might permanently alter what he or she is physically and mentally able to do (as well as what your responsibility to him or her may be going forward. Those that we here at Fedele & Honschke Attorneys at Law, LLC have worked with in the past who have been in a similar situation have all typically yearned for the same thing: hope.
Sadly, that may seem to be in short supply in such cases. It can be bolstered, however, through clear communication with the clinicians handling your loved one’s care. They rely on a variety of clinical indicators to determine not only his or her current state, but also his outlook for the future. Chief among these (in the case of brain injuries) is the Glasgow Coma Scale.
The GCS focuses on three distinct areas of response: eye movement, verbal, and motor. It assigns a point value to your loved one’s level of response in these areas, and then adds them together. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the different GCS score categories are broken down as follows:
- Mild brain injury: 13-15 points
- Moderate brain injury: 9-12 points
- Severe brain injury: 8 points or under
As you might guess, the recovery potential is much greater in your loved has a mild brain injury compared to those of others. Knowing that he or she may have a severe injury, however, shouldn’t drain you of all hope; rather, it can help your start to prepare to understand what you can do to help him or her going forward.
More information on the long-term outlook for brain injuries can be found here on our site.