[Yaelle]

Please check out #91 and add your wisdom here too. Many of us have been and will be again in such a situation and need to know what to do.

[The Good Doctor]

There are physical findings and conditions which are indications for performing CT scanning after minor head trauma. They are: headache, vomiting, age over 60 years, drug or alcohol intoxication, deficits in short-term memory, physical evidence of trauma above the clavicles, and seizure. The likelihood of significant injury after minor trauma in the absence of the criteria is remote.

Of course these are irrelevant in this day and age in the United States of America. The current criteria for brain CT appears to be showing up in the ER with a bump. It doesn't matter if there are no specific indications. The CT scan will get ordered and completed to cover the practitioner's ass from a law suit should a given patient with significant injury not happen (however rare) to meet the above criteria.

I'll say it again since the "experts" and pundits seem to not notice. The amount of money spent practicing "defensive" medicine is mind-boggling enormous.