Brain injury can require a sufferer to undergo long-term care, and some sufferers find out that they will be living with permanent disability. There are many kinds of brain injury, and traumatic brain injury has been in the news in recent years. This blog post will discuss one form of brain injury: amnesia.
There are two main kinds of amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is when a person suffers an impaired ability to learn new information. Retrograde amnesia is when a person has difficulty with recalling past events and previously familiar information from before the onset of the amnesia. A common form of amnesia is when a patient can easily recall information from the past but cannot recall more current information.
Unlike some other brain disorders, amnesia does not impact a person’s awareness, intelligence, attention span, judgment or personality. People with amnesia can speak and understand things spoken to them, and they can learn new skills after the onset of amnesia. This is how amnesia differs from dementia and other memory disorders.
Some of the possible signs and symptoms of amnesia can be disturbing. Many people with amnesia experience confusion or disorientation. Sometimes people with amnesia will have false recollections, either made up of genuine memories misplaced in time or completely made up. Anyone exhibiting a sign or symptom of amnesia should receive immediate medical attention.
Amnesia can be the result of suffering brain injury in an accident. If another party is responsible for the accident, that party may be liable in a court of law to the victim. Victims of amnesia and their families should investigate the possibility of legal recourse as soon as they are able.
Source: Mayo Clinic, “Amnesia,” accessed on March 27, 2016
