How To Get Disability Benefits For Head Trauma

A head trauma injury is a direct reference to an injury to an individual’s skull, with either direct or indirect injury to the brain. This term can thus encompass any injury ranging from a minor lump on your scalp to a severe cranial injury directly effecting your brain. This type of injury can also involve concussions, lacerations, or internal injuries. This means if you suffer from head trauma, your right to social security disability benefits depends directly on how severe the trauma is.

Head Trauma Classifications

Head Trauma Injuries are categorized in two different ways. They are generally labeled either:

• Open, meaning penetrating. An open (or penetrating) head trauma is identified by the individual being struck by an object that breaks open the skull and penetrates the brain. This type of injury typically occurs in severe accident or intentional assault cases.
• Closed. A closed-type head trauma is identified by the individual suffering a substantial blow to the head by either striking or being struck by an object.

Head Trauma and Disability Benefits

The disabling effects of a head trauma injury can show themselves immediately after the injury or they can slowly progress over a period of hours, even days. The effects of these injuries, when severe enough, can be life altering and can often lead to the loss of quality of life for the individual who suffered the injury. The effects can include convulsions, constant confusion or complete memory loss, loss of motor skills, paralysis in one or more limbs, loss of vision and other senses, seizures, and behavioral and/or personality changes.

Head trauma, or Traumatic Brain Injury, does not currently have a designated place in the administration’s Listing of Impairments. This means that every individual case presented to the Social Security Administration will be evaluated according to each claimant’s specific condition and diagnosis. This can often mean that a claimant attempting to obtain benefits for a head trauma injury may very well be denied several times before being able to present sufficient evidence of full disability. Disability benefits will generally be granted only if the individual can provide sufficient documentation of a worsening condition that eventually renders the claimant unable to perform basic daily functions or perform any type of work whatsoever.

Getting Help

To avoid having your claim denied, it is a good idea to speak with an experienced attorney as soon as possible. However, as with any case presented to the Social Security Administration that warrants any form of judgment, a person has the right to file for an appeal of any decision made by the administration representative. If your claim has been denied, you should definitely seek legal counsel to represent you and help you prepare the case for appeal on your behalf.