The clues for brain damage are in the eyes.
Most head injury victims with severe brain injury end up in the hospital, yet upwards of 95% are sent home, even though they may be experiencing vision problems. They may see a chiropractor or orthopedic surgeon if they have accompanying back and neck injuries. Often, they see someone like you, a personal injury attorney who refers them to the appropriate medical specialists. Traditionally, if clients complain of headaches, memory difficulties, problems in concentration or experience emotional changes, they get referred to neurologists. But if you drill down and talk to these patients as I have, they almost all have visual complaints.
The evidence has been staring us in the face.
Our eyes are the way we interact with the world. The majority of head injury patients have difficulty reading and focusing after a head injury or significant whiplash, but nobody ever asks. These patients have significant light sensitivity, ocular pain, at times double vision or see spots. But, untrained eye doctors find nothing wrong and these patients are then ignored.
Recently, eye doctors at the VA hospitals stopped sending the veterans home after they complained of eye problems and they started doing research. The research data results revealed head injury patients had important vision problems, the clues were in the eye exam and the cause was in the brain.
30 years of experience
As an eye physician, surgeon and experienced expert witness, I have assisted in dozens of cases to bring hands-on diagnosis, judgements and testimony that ultimately substantially increased remuneration to clients who have suffered head and traumatic brain injuries. It’s time we work together to put this understanding to work for clients who have been injured.