It is common for injured victims to get their “bell rung” in a car accident. However, a head injury is unfortunately often times the first injury to get swept under the rug and go undiagnosed. Injured victims tend to disregard their head injury symptoms and focus on other injuries.
Hospitals and primary care physicians also frequently miss traumatic brain injuries upon examination. If an injured victim reports that they believe they hit their head in an accident, hospitals will sometimes order a head CT scan. However, the CT scan usually focuses on whether there are any skull fractures or hemorrhaging (brain bleeds).
Las Vegas brain injury attorney Blake Friedman has seen on numerous occasions where an initial hospital CT scan is negative, but a subsequent 3T brain MRI shows evidence of a diffuse axonal shearing injury (TBI). These types of injuries can cause permanent brain damage.