Historically, words such as “mild”, “moderate” and “severe” were used to define brain injury. For many years, these terms were utilized based on duration of loss of consciousness. Today, it is universally accepted that brain injury can occur without loss of consciousness, direct external trauma to the head, or positive findings on CT, MRI, or other sophisticated diagnostic testing.

At the Scarlett Law Group, our San Francisco brain injury lawyers find it repugnant to utilize terms such as “mild” or “moderate” to describe a permanent brain injury. However, until the language of health care practitioners, experts, and others change, we are forced to use these terms to describe brain injury. We must, therefore, assist all people with the true meaning of the words “mild” and “moderate” as they pertain to brain injury.

According to The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee of the Head Injury Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group of the American Congress of Rehabilitative Medicine, mild traumatic brain injury is defined as when someone has had a traumatic disruption of brain function that includes one or more of the following conditions:

• Any experience of loss of consciousness;
• Memory for events immediately before or after the accident;
• An altered mental state at the time of the accident (i.e., feeling dazed, disoriented, or confused); and
• Focal neurological deficits that may or may not be transient; but where the severity of the injury does not exceed the following:
  • Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) not greater than 24 hours;
  • After thirty minutes, an initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 13-15;
  • Loss of consciousness of approximately thirty minutes or less;

This definition includes:

• The head being struck;
• The head striking an object;
• The brain undergoing an acceleration/ deceleration movement (i.e., whiplash) without direct external trauma to the head.

It excludes stroke, anoxia, tumor, encephalitis, etc.

Testing using computed tomography magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalogram or routine neurological evaluations may be normal. Due to the lack of medical emergency, or the realities of certain medical systems, some patients may not have the above factors medically documented in the acute stage. In such cases, it is appropriate to consider the symptoms when recognizing the possibility of a mild traumatic brain injury.