Life-altering brain injuries can be sustained by New Mexico residents after many different types of accidents. In many people, traumatic brain injuries have negative impacts on their abilities to remember information, and sufferers may also experience mood changes or sensory issues. However, researchers have found that a serious injury to the brain has actually positively impacted the lives of a small number of people through what is known as acquired savant syndrome.
Acquired savant syndrome is a condition in which someone who has suffered a brain injury actually develops artistic, musical or mathematical abilities due to the brain injury. For instance, one person was able to perform complicated math calculations, as well as remember everything he did, where he was, and even what the weather was like every day after his brain injury-causing accident. Right now, there are thought to be only 30 people worldwide who are registered as having acquired savant syndrome.
Injury to the brain, usually the brain’s left hemisphere, is what triggers this syndrome. The brain’s right hemisphere still has tissue that is intact. It is the rewiring of this intact tissue that releases the individual’s dormant potential in some way.
Unfortunately, a serious injury to the brain often takes its toll on a person’s life by preventing him or her from being able to live independently and work or go to school successfully. A person who has suffered a brain injury in New Mexico because of somebody else’s negligence has the right to file a personal injury civil claim against that individual. A preponderance of the evidence is needed to establish that person’s liability, and, only then, will a judge adjudicate claims for monetary damages.
Source: mnn.com, “What is acquired savant syndrome?“, Mary Jo DiLonardo, May 13, 2015
