Not all car accident injuries are physical. Other injuries, such as memory loss, are often considered invisible injuries because you don’t always notice them immediately. These types of injuries can be just as serious and long-term as any physical injury.
If you are experiencing memory loss after an accident, you may be suffering from post-traumatic amnesia (PTA). PTA often occurs after a traumatic brain injury and is a common consequence of car accidents.
Symptoms of PTA
An injured person who is suffering from PTA may experience symptoms of disorientation and struggle to remember what happened in the immediate aftermath of the injury. Other symptoms can include the following:
Inability to state your name
Confusion about what time it is or where you are
Inability to create new memories
So-called “islands of memory,†in which you can remember some things but not others
Mental cloudiness and confusion are also symptoms of memory loss after a car accident. PTA can include both retrograde amnesia, which involves the loss of memories that were formed right before the injury occurred, and anterograde amnesia, which involves problems creating new memories after the injury has occurred.
If you experience retrograde amnesia, you may regain these memories later, but if you experience anterograde amnesia, you will never regain your lost memories. Due to the nature of the injury, these memories were not properly encoded. Once full, continuous memory has returned, PTA is said to have been resolved.
PTA can range in severity from very mild, lasting an hour or less, to very severe, lasting for twelve weeks or more. In the most severe cases, long-term disability can result, leaving patients unable to return to work and facing significant loss of income.
The Law Offices of Gary S. Greenberg Can Help
If you have experienced PTA or any other injury because of someone else’s negligence, you could be entitled to compensation. Contact a personal injury attorney at the Law Offices of Gary S. Greenberg to help you get the compensation you deserve. Call 414-271-7007 or visit us at our website to get started.