Brain Damage Blog » Conan O\’Brien concussion http://www.tbilaw.com/blog Attorney Gordon Johnson Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:20:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Conan O’Brien Concussion – Real World Meets Sports Criteria http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/10/conan-obrien-concussion-real-world-meets-sports-criteria.html http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/10/conan-obrien-concussion-real-world-meets-sports-criteria.html#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:31:00 +0000 Gordon Johnson http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/10/conan-obrien-concussion-real-world-meets-sports-criteria.html
“In that moment I saw stars but I tried to keep going. I honestly don’t remember this part, but I tried to stand up and I couldn’t stand up, and I tried to throw to a replay, which I did.”

Clearly amnesia and also some evidence that the motor part of his brain isn’t communicating fully with the part that is trying to control his actions.

Couldn’t stand up? Could be a number of explanations, but it could also be from damage to his vestibular system, the part of the inside of our brain/inner ear that manages our balance system. A topic for a whole series of blogs, but for current reference check out http://vestibulardisorder.com

He continued to explain:

“I kind of couldn’t speak. I thanked Teri Hatcher, and I don’t remember any of this.”

More amnesia, but without obvious signs of disorientation. He did what he would have been expected to do, what his conditioning trained him to do, like a quarterback.

“I went into my dressing room, changed my suit, they blow dried my hair real fast, I sat at the desk, the audience is sitting here just like they are now, the band’s playing, and they hand me a blue card and I’m sitting here looking at the Seth MacFarlane card, and I look up at my producer Jeff Ross and Dan Ferguson, and I say, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know what this is.” It was like a menu for an Egyptian restaurant. I mean it might as well have been. “
The further it gets from the time of the event, the poorer he is functioning. The more thought and memory that is required to continue, the less he is on auto-pilot, the harder it gets. This is not like a boxing match, where we are conditioned to believe that if the knocked down fighter survives the round, he may come back and win the fight. Brain injuries are thought to get better not worse. In reality, in the first 24-72 hours, they often get worse. The diagnosis of a brain injury is easier at 5 hours than at 5 minutes, if the right questions are asked.

In our next blog, some of the right questions.]]> http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/10/conan-obrien-concussion-real-world-meets-sports-criteria.html/feed 0 Conan O’Brien Concussion – Amnesia without Confusion http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/09/conan-obrien-concussion-amnesia-without-confusion.html http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/09/conan-obrien-concussion-amnesia-without-confusion.html#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:43:00 +0000 Gordon Johnson http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/09/conan-obrien-concussion-amnesia-without-confusion.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/29/conan-obrien-falls-hits-h_n_302471.html To really understand the lesson we can learn from this concussion, one must listen to the contrast between what Conan did shortly after his brain injury and what he remembers about it.

He clearly was dazed for a few seconds, but within 10-15 seconds he was on character, making a joke, running the show, directing his people what to do. As I watched, I clearly thought of the concussed quarterback, calling the plays, directing his teammates, avoiding rushing linemen and completing a pass. Yet despite all that activity, he remembers nothing of what he did after the event, nor even the moments leading up to the concussion.

Can anyone now doubt that you don’t have to lose consciousness to suffer a concussion?]]> http://www.tbilaw.com/blog/2009/09/conan-obrien-concussion-amnesia-without-confusion.html/feed 1