A normal CT scan does not rule out a brain injury. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that a scan is not needed to identify a mild TBI or concussion, and that you may still have one even when the injury does not show up on testing. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke goes further, noting that currently available imaging technologies and blood tests cannot always detect damage from mild concussive injuries. So if you were told your scan looked clean and you have not felt right since, those two facts are not in conflict.
They will be treated as though they are. At Bromson Law, our Las Vegas brain injury lawyer team builds these claims around what the medical evidence actually shows rather than around what an adjuster would like a scan to mean. Call (702) 213-0100 to talk about what you are dealing with.
What Counts as a Traumatic Brain Injury
A traumatic brain injury, often shortened to TBI, is damage to the brain caused by an outside force. According to NINDS, a forceful bump, blow, or jolt to the head or body can cause one, though not every blow to the head results in a TBI, and an object entering the brain can cause one as well.
That definition matters more than it first appears, because it means no direct blow to the head is required. The CDC explains that a hit to the body can make the head and brain move rapidly back and forth, and that this sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, producing chemical changes and stretching or damaging brain cells. This is why a brain injury can follow a rear-end crash in which the victim never touched the windshield, and why “I never hit my head” is not an answer to whether someone has a brain injury.
Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries
Brain injuries are not one condition. They differ by how the damage occurred and where it settled, and those differences shape both the medical treatment and the claim.
Concussion and Mild TBI
A concussion is a type of mild TBI. NINDS describes it as what may be considered a temporary injury to the brain, though one that can take anywhere from minutes to several months to heal. When symptoms persist well beyond the expected window, doctors may describe it as post-concussion syndrome.
Diffuse Axonal Injury
Diffuse axonal injury involves widespread damage to the brain’s white matter rather than harm concentrated in one spot, and NINDS identifies it as among the most frequent types of TBI, common in auto crashes and falls. It can disrupt and break down communication among nerve cells in the brain, and the resulting damage may be temporary or permanent.
Contusions
A contusion is bruising or swelling of the brain that occurs when very small blood vessels bleed into brain tissue. These can form directly beneath the point of impact, which doctors call a coup injury, or, more often, on the opposite side of the brain, a contrecoup injury. Contusions may not appear for hours after the trauma.
Hematomas
Hematomas are pockets of bleeding in or around the brain caused by a ruptured blood vessel. Some, like epidural hematomas, can develop within minutes to hours of an injury and are particularly dangerous. Subdural hematomas are especially common in older adults after a fall.
Penetrating Brain Injuries
When an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue, the injury is called penetrating, or open. These typically damage one part of the brain rather than a broad area, and they are among the most catastrophic outcomes of any accident.
Why a Mild Brain Injury Is Not a Minor One
Doctors classify brain injuries as mild, moderate, or severe, and no word in that scale does more damage in a claim than the first one. It is a clinical judgment about immediate medical danger, and it is routinely misread as a verdict on how much someone was hurt.
The CDC is direct about this. Providers describe these injuries as mild because they are usually not life-threatening, but the effects of a mild TBI or concussion can still be serious. Most brain injuries that occur each year fall into this category.
Repeat injuries compound the risk. The CDC notes that someone with a history of repeated concussions may face a longer recovery, more severe symptoms, and lasting problems with concentration, memory, headaches, and balance. NINDS is blunter still, describing a second concussion following closely on the first, the so-called second hit, as capable of causing permanent damage or even death in some cases, and noting that research to date suggests repeated TBIs may cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
An adjuster who reads “mild concussion” in a chart and treats the claim as a minor one is reading the word wrong.
Why Brain Injury Symptoms Can Appear Days Later
Not all brain damage happens at the moment of impact. NINDS distinguishes primary injuries, where the harm is immediate, from secondary injuries that develop gradually over hours, days, or weeks afterward through the body’s own reaction to the trauma. Swelling, bleeding that continues, and rising pressure inside the skull all belong to this second category.
The practical consequence is that someone can walk away from a crash feeling shaken but fine and be in real trouble two days later. The CDC makes the same point about symptoms: some appear right away, while others may not surface for hours or days after the injury. Getting evaluated promptly protects your health first, and it also creates the medical record that ties what surfaced later back to the collision that caused it.
What Causes Most Brain Injuries
Anyone can suffer a TBI, and the leading causes are ordinary events rather than dramatic ones. NINDS identifies falls as the most common cause, followed by blunt trauma from being struck by or against an object, then vehicle-related injuries, then assaults and violence. Adults 65 and older face the greatest risk of being hospitalized for a brain injury, most often after a fall.
That order surprises people who assume brain injuries come mainly from car crashes, and it shapes where these claims actually originate. A fall caused by a hazard someone else failed to fix is a slip and fall claim, and it is the single most common path to a brain injury. Crashes remain a major source, and those run through our Las Vegas car accident lawyer practice, whether the injured person was driving, riding as a passenger, or on foot when they were struck.
Why Insurance Companies Fight Brain Injury Claims
Brain injury claims draw a particular kind of resistance, and knowing its shape in advance helps.
The first move is procedural rather than medical. A discharge note reading “head CT negative” becomes the anchor of the insurer’s file, and everything reported afterward gets filed as complaint rather than injury. A physician retained by the carrier may reach the same conclusion from a records review without ever examining you. Paperwork written in a hurry to rule out an emergency ends up standing in for a diagnosis that nobody actually made.
The second argument is about appearance. Because a brain injury leaves no visible mark, adjusters question whether the symptoms are real, attribute them to the stress of the accident, or suggest the person is exaggerating. It is an easier argument to make against an injury nobody can see, which is precisely why a Las Vegas brain injury lawyer has to build these claims with more care than most.
How a Brain Injury Claim Is Proven
Because the injury cannot be photographed, proving it means assembling a picture from several directions at once.
Neuropsychological testing does much of the work. NINDS explains that these tests are often used alongside imaging after a mild TBI, and that they measure memory, concentration, information processing, executive functioning, reaction time, and problem solving. They produce objective data about how a brain is actually performing, which is difficult for an insurer to wave away.
Medical documentation supplies the backbone: emergency records, imaging, the treating physicians’ findings, and the specialists who follow. Beyond that, the most persuasive evidence often comes from people rather than machines. A spouse, a supervisor, a longtime friend who can describe precisely who this person was before the accident and who they are now gives a jury something no test result conveys. Employment records showing performance that fell off after a specific date do the same. Gathering this record early matters, because that contrast is easiest to establish while the people who witnessed it still remember the details clearly.
Damages in a Brain Injury Claim
Economic damages cover what can be counted: emergency and ongoing treatment, cognitive and vocational rehabilitation, medication, assistive support, lost income, and diminished earning capacity when someone cannot return to the work they trained for.
Non-economic damages account for what cannot be invoiced. Brain injuries reach into personality, memory, patience, and mood, and the losses that follow are often felt most acutely by the people who love the injured person. Nevada recognizes claims for loss of consortium in appropriate cases for exactly this reason. Every claim turns on its own facts, and no outcome is ever guaranteed, but these cases are frequently handled as part of our broader Las Vegas personal injury lawyer practice, and when a head injury proves fatal, our Las Vegas wrongful death practice helps families pursue accountability.
Nevada Law That Shapes Brain Injury Claims
Two rules govern most of these claims. Under NRS 41.141, Nevada follows modified comparative negligence, so an injured person can recover as long as their share of fault is 50 percent or less, with the award reduced by that percentage.
Under NRS 11.190, most injury claims must be filed within two years. Brain injuries create a particular trap here. Because a TBI can be diagnosed well after the accident that caused it, people assume the clock started when they got the diagnosis. Generally it starts at the injury, and a late diagnosis does not reliably buy additional time. Confirming your actual deadline early is the only safe approach.
Working With a Las Vegas Brain Injury Lawyer
As an experienced Las Vegas traumatic brain injury lawyer, Erik A. Bromson has spent more than 15 years representing injured people across Nevada, and he handles each case he takes personally rather than passing it to an associate. Brain injury claims are won on detail, and detail requires someone who knows the file rather than a name on the letterhead.
Frequently Asked Questions About Las Vegas Brain Injury Claims
Can I have a brain injury if my CT scan was normal?
Yes, and the reason comes down to what a scan is actually looking for. The CT you received in the emergency room is designed to find bleeding, swelling, or a skull fracture, the things that require immediate surgical attention. It is not designed to measure whether your brain is processing information the way it did last week. NINDS notes that an MRI is more sensitive and can pick up subtle changes a CT may miss, which is why a follow-up with a specialist is worth pursuing when symptoms persist.
Do I need to have lost consciousness to have a TBI?
No. Losing consciousness is one possible sign, not a requirement, and plenty of brain injuries occur without it. What matters is whether brain function changed after the impact, which is why symptoms like confusion, memory trouble, light sensitivity, and unusual irritability deserve medical attention whether or not anyone blacked out.
Should I settle before I know whether my symptoms will improve?
It is worth being cautious here. With proper care, many people recover from a mild TBI within days or weeks, but the CDC notes that some will have symptoms for months or longer, and there is no reliable way to know early which group you fall into. A settlement closes the claim for good. Accepting one while the outcome is still unsettled means carrying the cost yourself if the symptoms turn out to be lasting.
What if the brain injury made my existing condition worse?
You may still have a claim. Nevada follows the general principle that a negligent party takes the injured person as they find them, so having a prior head injury or an underlying condition does not eliminate a claim for making it worse. Expect the insurer to blame your symptoms on that history, which makes clear records of your baseline before the accident especially valuable.
How long do I have to file a brain injury claim in Nevada?
Two years from the date of injury, in most cases. The detail that catches people out is what “filing” actually means. Negotiating with an insurance company does not pause the clock, no matter how cooperative the adjuster sounds or how long the back-and-forth runs. Only filing suit in court stops it, so an unresolved claim needs a real deadline strategy rather than an open-ended conversation.
What does it cost to hire a brain injury lawyer?
Erik A. Bromson handles these claims on a contingency fee basis, so there is no upfront cost. Fees are collected only if the case results in a settlement or verdict, which lets you get help without adding another bill to a situation that already has too many.
Talk With Bromson Law About Your Brain Injury
Living with a brain injury, or watching someone you love live with one, is exhausting in a way that is hard to explain to anyone who has not done it. The hardest part is often being doubted, by an insurer, sometimes by people who should know better, about an injury you can feel every day.
We take time to listen, review the medical picture, and explain in plain terms how Nevada law applies to your situation. From there we help you decide what to do next, at whatever pace makes sense for you.
If you or someone you love suffered a head injury in Las Vegas, Henderson, Laughlin, or Mesquite, call or text our Las Vegas brain injury lawyer office at (702) 213-0100 to talk it through.