Brain injuries can be the most devastating of all injuries and the hardest to prove.
They can cause both cognitive issues as well as emotional issues. These injuries can impair social and day-to-day function as well as the ability to earn a living.
Studies have shown there may be a correlation between aberrant and criminal behaviour and brain injury, which can be caused by any number of traumas, from car accidents to slip and falls, to recreational injuries.
They need to be explored carefully to determine if liability exists.
Severe brain injuries increase risk in men by more than double
The study was conducted in Ontario and reported in the journal of the Canadian Medical Association.
Researchers looked through 13 years of data for more than 1.4 million men and women who were between 18 and 28 years old in 1997. What they found was a surprising correlation between severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and incarceration.
Men who had suffered a TBI were found to be 2.5 times more likely to end up in a federal penitentiary than uninjured men.
Similar statistics emerged for women, although the actual number of women from the group who were in federal prison was low.
More research needed for other levels of incarceration
Researchers feel that more work needs to be done, and the study should be expanded beyond federal prisons to look at other levels of imprisonment. What they found may only be the tip of the iceberg.
A TBI is generally caused by a blow to the head and may be accompanied by a concussion, bleeding or skull fracture. But these injuries can also be caused by acceleration deceleration forces, which could disguise a brain injury.
Such injuries are commonly seen as the result of a slip and fall, sports injury or motor vehicle accident.
Someone who has suffered a TBI in an accident may face a life of challenges and would likely benefit from financial compensation.
Learn more about our personal injury services.
