Determing If Memory Loss Is Injury Related

Memory loss can be attributed to many things. Age, genetics and a history of alcohol abuse can all cause total or partial loss of memory. If a party injured in an accident has memory loss, to receive compensation he or she must prove a correlation between the injury and memory loss.

Excluding Other Causes

The first step in determining whether memory loss was caused by an injury, it is important to first exclude other potential causes. While numerous conditions and behaviors can cause memory loss, there are some major ones that are easily excludable, for example a family history of dementia, previous use of mind-altering medications or a previous head injury. Making a comprehensive medical and personal history of the injured party will permit excluding these and other potential causes by almost 100%.

Investigate the Injury

The next step is to investigate the injured party’s injury. The location, size and immediate effect of the injury will reveal whether it possibly could have caused memory loss. The fact is that unless some portion of the injury affected the brain, it is unlikely that there is a correlation between memory loss and the injury. However, keep in mind that certain extremely potent medications taken for treatment of other conditions may cause memory loss.

Determine the Type of Memory Loss

Identify whether the injured party’s loss of memory is total or complete, permanent or recoverable after a few days or if it affects long or short term memory capabilities. This is important because it may assist in determining whether the injury could possibly have caused the memory loss. For example, if a certain medication is not known to cause a certain type of memory loss, there likely is no correlation between the two.

Investigate the Injury Treatment

Sometimes, treatments of injuries cause more problems than the injury themselves. To exclude medical malpractice or treatments tried against medical advice as a cause of the memory loss, it is essential to know what steps the injured party has undertaken to get healthy. A patient that has ingested medications that were not prescribed to him or overdosed on prescribed medications, has attempted alternative treatments, such as massages or herbal medicines and not the injury may have caused the memory loss.

Getting Legal Help

Creating a link between injury and memory loss is tricky and requires extensive discovery. If you are involved in litigation in which memory loss is claimed to stem from an injury, consult an attorney on the best methods to defend against or proving a link between loss of memory and an injury.

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