When a Child's Brain Is Hurt in a Car Accident, Your Family Needs Clear Answers

A child brain injury from a car accident can be hard to spot. Signs may show up hours, days, or weeks after the crash, and young children often can’t explain what they feel. If you are searching for a child brain injury car accident lawyer in West Virginia, start by learning what to watch for. This page covers warning signs, what to write down, and how a claim can work under West Virginia law.

What a Child Brain Injury From a Car Accident Means

A child brain injury from a car crash is damage to the brain caused by a hard blow or sudden jolt. The Administration for Community Living explains that traumatic brain injury is severe brain damage caused by an external force, and that car accidents can cause it.

Injuries range from a mild concussion to a severe injury. A child’s brain is still developing, so effects can show up in school work, behavior, and sleep, not only in physical symptoms.

A child may seem fine at the scene and still be hurt. Symptoms can take time to appear, which is why parents should keep watching after any crash.

This page is for parents, guardians, and grandparents of children hurt in car or commercial truck crashes. We serve families across all 55 West Virginia counties, including Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Wheeling, Martinsburg, Parkersburg, Beckley, Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Weirton.

Emergency Warning Signs to Act on Immediately

Any loss of consciousness, seizure, or worsening symptom after a crash needs emergency care right away. Don’t wait to see if it gets better.

Call 911 and tell responders about the crash and any head impact, even if your child seems alert. Get help right away if you see:

• Loss of consciousness or a seizure
• Repeated vomiting
• Unusual drowsiness or trouble waking up
• A headache that keeps getting worse
• Confusion or slurred speech
• Weakness or numbness in the arms or legs
• Pupils of different sizes
• Clear or bloody fluid from the nose or ears
• A visible injury to the head or neck

Prehospital guidelines from the Brain Trauma Foundation cover how responders assess and manage brain injury before a patient reaches the hospital.

Subtle and Delayed Signs That Appear Later

Some brain injury signs appear hours, days, or weeks after a crash. Parents often mistake them for stress, a bad day, or normal recovery.

Watch for these changes over time:

• Headaches that come back or don’t go away
• Dizziness or trouble with balance
• Sleep changes, such as sleeping much more or much less
• Irritability, sadness, or anxiety
• New trouble concentrating
• Less energy or a smaller appetite
• Sensitivity to light or noise
• Pulling away from friends or favorite activities

At school, look for falling grades, forgetting instructions, or needing much more time to finish homework.

A normal CT scan does not rule out every brain injury. Keep watching, and tell your child’s doctor about any symptom that lasts or changes.

Signs by Age: Infants, Toddlers, School-Age Children, and Teens

Signs change with age, so your child’s normal pattern is the best guide. Compare what you see now with how your child usually acts.

• Infants and toddlers: crying that won’t stop, poor feeding, unusual sleepiness, loss of skills they already had, or a bulging soft spot on the head.
• School-age children: headaches, trouble following classroom routines, sudden behavior changes, or saying they feel foggy or slowed down.
• Teens: mood swings, sleep problems, trouble returning to schoolwork or friends, and worries about driving or sports after the crash.

Young children often can’t describe what hurts or feels wrong. Watch their behavior closely. A change that lasts is worth a call to the doctor.

Documenting Symptoms and Following Up on Medical Care

Keeping dated records helps your child’s care and any later claim. Start a simple symptom journal and write down headaches, sleep, mood, school performance, and new behaviors each day.

Keep copies of:

• Emergency room and urgent care records
• Pediatrician and imaging reports
• Neurologist or other follow-up evaluation notes
• School letters, grade reports, and teacher emails
• Notes about activities your child had to miss

Keep every follow-up appointment. If a doctor recommends a neurological or neuropsychological evaluation, that visit builds the medical record a claim depends on.

If it is safe, take photos of the vehicles, the injuries, and the scene. Write down names, insurance details, and witness contact information.

Truck crashes add more records. Federal post-accident testing rules require employers to test some surviving commercial drivers for alcohol and controlled substances after certain crashes, such as those involving a death, and they set time limits for those tests. Carriers, except private motor carriers of passengers (nonbusiness), must make drivers record their duty status, under federal driver record rules.

Keep your child’s medical needs at the center. Read any insurance or settlement paperwork before you sign it.

What a Child’s Brain Injury Claim Can Involve in West Virginia

A personal injury claim in West Virginia generally must be brought within two years after the right to bring it accrues, and exceptions may apply. W. Va. Code § 55-2-12 sets that two-year limit for personal injury claims, so acting early matters.

A claim usually follows these steps:

1. A free case review to talk through what happened.
2. An investigation of the crash.
3. Collection of medical and school records.
4. Identifying the responsible drivers, vehicle owners, or trucking companies.

West Virginia also limits early settlement talks. W. Va. Code § 55-7-11a sets that rule, but a person acting for the injured person may obtain a statement, oral or written, upon the injured person’s express request.

W. Va. Code § 55-7-6 requires that action to start within two years of the death, subject to the provisions of section eighteen, article two, chapter fifty-five. W. Va. Code § 55-7-6 reads: “The provisions of this section shall not apply to actions brought for the death of any person occurring prior to July 1, 1988.” If a child dies after an injury claim has begun, W. Va. Code § 55-7-8 lets the claim continue through the personal representative.

Commercial truck and commercial vehicle crashes can involve more parties, such as the driver, the vehicle owner, and the trucking company. They can also involve more records, such as driver logs and maintenance files.

Big Bubba Injury Law handles traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death cases from car, truck, and commercial vehicle crashes.

Common Questions Parents Ask After a Child’s Car Accident Injury

Yes, some symptoms can show up weeks after a crash. Keep watching, and tell the doctor about any change.