Insurance companies want to eliminate compensation for concussions. Here’s why that’s wrong:
When you think about “minor injuries,” do you think about concussions? Not if you’ve ever had one. In this article, read about one Cochrane woman’s experience with concussion after a motor-vehicle accident, a three-year odyssey through the province’s health care system. Does that sound “minor” to you?
Each concussion is an intensely individual experience with a wide range of symptoms and onsets. No two are alike, just like the heads they happen in. Everything about them exists on a scale – from the symptoms patients experience to the tools doctors use to evaluate them.
And that doesn’t even begin to take into account the recovery. Concussions happen in a split second but they may take months – years, even – to heal. There is no “one size fits all.” With everything we know – and continue to learn – about concussions and their aftermath, why would anyone think some person in an office consulting a graph is an appropriate way to determine compensation?
Symptoms like amnesia, confusion, headache, nausea, loss of consciousness, impaired vision, irritation and anger, slower reaction times, PTSD, depression, increased risky behaviour, poor impulse control, loss of balance. . . Would you call it “minor?” It’s your head. You only get one. Make sure that the Alberta government understands that our best weapon in the fight against traumatic brain injury is solid support and TIME. Don’t let insurance companies dictate how long and how much. It’s YOUR head, it’s YOUR future – we only get one of those, too.
