Coup and contrecoup injuries are specific kinds of head injuries (brain injuries, traumatic brain injuries, traumatic brain injuries, TBI, etc.).
A coup contrecoup brain injury affects the human brain tissue and causes brain swelling in the direct area of the brain affected and the opposite side of the brain.
If a coup injury occurs, or if a contrecoup injury occurs, the initial impact and subsequent head trauma can result in the following:
- A closed head injury
- Brain contusion
- Mild concussion
- Axonal injury
- Diffuse axonal injury
- Intracerebral hemorrhage
- Coup injury
- Blood vessels
- Brain damage
- Memory loss
- Blunt force trauma
- Skull injuries
- Shaken baby syndrome
Therefore, it is crucial to understand how they occur and the damage they can do.
Our law firm, the Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC, works with victims suffering head injuries like coup contrecoup injuries, including those after a car accident. Contact us for a free consultation about your legal rights for compensation.
The Most Serious Brain Injuries: What are Coup and Contrecoup Brain Injuries?
The type of traumatic brain injury or brain injuries present with a coup injury or contrecoup injury is vital to understand, especially right after a blunt force trauma incident, so you do not miss it.
While contrecoup and coup brain injuries might seem similar, they are critical, so be sure to discern the difference.
What Are Coup Brain Injuries?
A coup injury occurs (pronounced coo, a French term with common misspellings) when a moving object, stationary object, or other outside force strikes the head (or skull), and the head receives a brain wound on the opposite side of the skull of the actual impact site.
Coup brain injuries might present many symptoms, including scars, swelling, bruising, skull trauma, or another usual or unusual form.
Brain damage for an injured patient can range from mild to severe with a direct impact coo injury and require substantial treatment (including a CT scan, magnetic resonance imaging, and daily living assistance). They are common after car accidents.
What are Contrecoup Brain Injuries?
Contrecoup injuries occur when a traumatic brain injury arises opposite from where the stationary head (or moving head), brain, or skull was impacted.
Contrecoup brain injuries have significant symptoms, including harm to other body parts.
The injured patient should ask their doctor to review their entire head and brain for coup contrecoup injuries because these are often overlooked because they arise on the opposite side of the impact area. Contrecoup brain injuries also are frequent after a car accident.
Both coup and contrecoup brain injuries present severe traumatic health risks for any patient.
Talk to your doctor about the symptoms of coup contrecoup injuries and what the consequence of a brain injury like a coup contrecoup injury will mean for you.
How are Traumatic Brain Injuries Like a Coup or Contrecoup Injury Caused?
Like any other brain injury, a coup or contrecoup injury can happen in many ways.
The head, skull, and brain are subject to a myriad of risks anytime you leave the house, drive down the road, bike around town, go to work, go to school, or engage in virtually any activity in daily life.
One of the most frequent causes of brain injury in the United States is still automobile accidents. This includes a contrecoup brain injury and a coup contrecoup brain injury.
Typically, distraction, texting, speeding, fatigue, and alcohol are to blame here, but many other causes of motor vehicle crash pop up, including poor weather and road conditions.
In an auto accident, many things fly at a passenger as the car goes in one direction or the opposite way, like glass, other vehicles, and dislodged items.
These can all cause trauma and injury like coup contrecoup brain injury.
Most Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries
Here are some other reasons why people suffer head trauma such as coup injury or contrecoup injury:
- Falls
- Sports accidents
- Violence, including a gunshot wound
- Explosions
- Combat
Talk to our committed and experienced attorneys about your coup contrecoup injury, lens dislocation, brain intracerebral hemorrhage, and related symptoms and problems.
Damage Caused by a Coup or Contrecoup Injury
The brain is a soft organ protected by the skull and neighboring muscles. Yet, violent movements, traumatic collisions, and other impact events can render it vulnerable.
These can cause the brain to crash into the skull, rock back, and hit it again on the rebound.
If the pressure is substantial, a person can suffer a concussion. A concussion is medically designated as a head wound event that does not endanger a person’s life but substantially harms one’s health and quality of life.
They can result in degraded vision, lost balance, disorientation, unconsciousness, and other effects.
The frontal and temporal lobes are also vulnerable to assault in a coup contrecoup injury. These brain areas affect speech, language, and decisions and impair concentration, coordination, and memory.
Of course, the damage done may extend beyond a person’s health. Brain injuries severely alter a victim’s finances for the worse.
They are faced with long-term and substantial medical care that is expensive. Also, their professional prospects will be critically reduced as their lifelong earnings drastically fall due to incapacity.
Finally, injuries to the brain damage your life in a non-economic way. Your quality of life may take a hit as you experience pain, suffering, disability, and other intangible harms and losses.
Treating People with Traumatic Brain Injuries
Treating any traumatic brain injury is immediate and critical because once their effects are set, little can be done.
Therefore, doctors employ a set of medical treatments to stave off irreversible damage, including surgery, medication, rest, and rehabilitation. This is meant to stop swelling and general brain damage.
You should see a physician immediately if you hurt your head in an accident. They can properly diagnose your condition and offer medical attention and advice tailored to your health circumstances and rehabilitation. Contact us for a free legal consultation.
Sample Brain Damage Cases and Awards
$2,900,000 Illinois Settlement:
A couple in their late sixties were driving west through Antioch on Route 173 when a truck driver in his pickup truck rear-ended them. The pair’s injuries were not minor. The woman fractured her vertebrae (more than $48,000 in medical expenses).
The man suffered a traumatic brain injury, subdural hematoma, and cervical bone fractures at the C4 and C5. Doctors performed surgery on his brain and spine (more than $700,000 in medical expenses).
The couple brought an action against the trucker’s company and leasing company, but a court did not decide the legal matter. They settled for $2.9 million-$2.75 million for the man and $150,000 for the woman.
$2,000,000 Illinois Settlement:
A woman in her middle sixties was broadsided in her passenger vehicle by a large FedEx truck. The trucker was leaving a parking lot when he ran into her. She sustained a traumatic brain injury and cervical myelopathy.
The latter required fusion and anterior discectomy (four-level). Her medical expenses were nearly $500,000, and she still experiencing ongoing PTSD.
The woman brought this claim against FedEx and a delivery company for her expenses, pain, suffering, and other economic and non-economic damages.
The parties settled for a reported $2 million.
$80,771 Illinois Award:
A young woman was stopped at a right light, waiting for the light to turn, when another vehicle came screeching behind her. A large truck could not stop in time to avoid a collision.
It rear-ended her sending her car into the middle of the intersection and wounding her.
She suffered a concussion as well as a neck and brain strain. She sued the truck driver and the driver’s employer, arguing that the latter was vicariously responsible under the theory of respondeat superior.
However, her claim against the company went nowhere because the truck driver was not working that day. He was driving for personal reasons.
She was successful against him personally, though. The truck driver did not even contest liability. He only denied the amount of damages that she asked for in her complaint.
A jury awarded $80,771 ad the appropriate financial amount for the crash and her brain injuries.
Lawyers Fighting for Victims with Coup and Contrecoup Brain Injuries
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC can help you and your family after a significant brain injury like a blunt force trauma brain and coup contrecoup brain injury.
Contrecoup brain injuries can change your life forever, impose steep financial costs, and change your quality of life.
You are not alone. Our birth injury lawyers can come to your aid and fight for your legal rights. Our team works on contingency, so you do not have to worry about upfront costs.
We don’t take a dime unless we win for you. Call us today to see what relief is possible and obtainable.
Review this site for additional information on the corpus callosum, neuro-ophthalmology, glasgow coma scale, and brain damage cases.
Resources:
