Representation for Victims of Traumatic Brain Injuries caused by Negligence
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can affect almost every area of daily life: a person’s ability to move, communicate or even to make memories. People who suffer from a traumatic brain injury may have minimal damage, or may suffer severely, depending on the area and amount of the brain that is damaged. There are approximately 1.4 million TBI’s per year in the United States. Of these, 50,000 will die, 235,000 will be hospitalized, and more than 80,000 will be left with life-long disabilities. The two highest-risk age groups are 0 to 4 and 15-19, and TBI is the leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults. The leading causes of TBI are motor vehicle accidents, falls, and being struck or banging one’s head against an object.
Statistics give you the numbers, but they can’t tell you the stories of the people involved: their daily struggles to survive and overcome their injuries, the pain they experience, the stress on them and their families, and the strain on their finances.
Moderate to severe TBI can have a devastating impact on the injured person’s and family’s finances. Insurance issues, costs of hospitalization, the loss of the patient’s or family member’s income, and rehabilitation costs can be overwhelming. The emotional cost is incalculable.
When you suffer a traumatic brain injury because of someone else’s negligence, it is important to learn what your rights are and what legal remedies may be available to you. Contact the experienced personal injury attorneys at Ross Law Group, who know how to evaluate the legal liabilities of all of the parties involved and help you achieve the maximum recovery available from each liable party.
If you are the parent, spouse or family member of a person who has suffered a traumatic brain injury and can’t act for him or herself, you need to act quickly on their behalf. Valuable evidence can be lost or destroyed, or witnesses may forget important facts, if an investigation by your own counsel is delayed. Contact us for a consultation as soon as possible after a serious injury occurs.
Proving liability in injury cases is often easier said than done. Investigating the circumstances under which the injury occurred and proving who was at fault is the most critical aspect of your personal injury case. When there is a fight over liability, you need an experienced lawyer on your side. Evaluation of police reports, witness statements, examination of the scene, the vehicles or products involved, and accident reconstruction are tools we can use to help prove your case.
Ross Law Group’s personal injury attorneys are experienced in traumatic brain injury cases. Because of their catastrophic effect on a person’s ability to function, traumatic brain injuries pose particular challenges in proving future damages. The extent and effect of the brain damage can help indicate the economic damages the injured person will incur.
About Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries can be classified as closed head injuries, which are due to a blow to the head or being struck by an object but in which the skull remains intact, or penetrating head injuries, in which an object fractures or penetrates the skull. Both closed and penetrating head injuries may be classified as diffuse, where there is damage to multiple microscopic areas of the brain, or focal, which is an injury limited to a specific part of the brain.
Diffuse Brain Injuries
Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)-This kind of brain injury causes large nerve fibers to tear and blood vessels to stretch in many areas of the brain. The brain can start hemorrhaging (bleeding) as well as create a buildup of toxic substances following the injury. Frontal and temporal lobes are very susceptible to DAI. If nerve centers are affected the patient can have weakness on a side of the body, memory and visual loss, become disorganized, and lose focus.
Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury (HII)-This kind of brain injury causes the brain to swell, restricting the blood flow, oxygen, and other nutrients to the brain. Typical side effects of diffuse injuries are memory loss and decreased cognitive function.
Focal Brain Injuries
Contusions, or bruising, may cause bleeding, swelling, and destruction of brain tissue. Contusions can occur in the frontal and temporal lobes, or the parietal and occipital lobes.
As a result of a contusion a patient may experience symptoms like changes in behavior, unusual sensations, loss of vision, loss of coordination, weakness and memory loss. After the swelling decreases contusions become smaller, but there may be some scar tissue and neurological impairment.
Hemorrhage- When blood leaks from a damaged vessel into brain tissue hemorrhaging occurs. Hemorrhage may occur instantly or days after the injury and can cause various symptoms depending on the size and location of the damage.
Strokes, or infarctions, occur when an artery to the brain is compressed by the swelling of nearby tissues. The swelling prevents blood flow and oxygen from getting to the brain cells. Usually, strokes affect the occipital and temporal lobes, causing a loss of vision or speech and language problems.
Hematoma- occurs when there is bleeding on the outside of the brain.
Subdural hematomas- slow bleeding outside the brain. This is caused by damage to a blood vessel carrying deoxygenated blood. They may develop slowly. If they are large enough, they can exert pressure on the brain, and it is critical to have surgery to drain the blood and relieve the pressure.
Epidural hematoma- occurs outside the brain and is caused by a leaking artery. A large EDH can cause pressure to build up, because arteries carry blood under pressure. An EDH needs immediate surgery to relieve pressure and prevent death or permanent neurological damage.
Subarachnoid Hematoma-This injury happens when a small amount of bleeding spreads over the surface of the brain. This small amount of bleeding is usually not very harmful and will probably not cause any damage.
About Your Brain
Brain Stem - This area controls the body’s heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing and is where the brain connects to the spinal cord. Damage to the brainstem can result in death.
Cerebellum - This is the area at the back of the brain and coordinates balance and muscle coordination. Damage to this area can affect the injured person’s ability to eat, walk, talk, and perform other functions.
Frontal Lobe - This is the area in the front of the brain. The frontal lobe regulates behavior and emotion, the "higher functions" of the brain. Damage to this lobe can result in personality changes and difficulty in planning, organizing, and problem solving.
Occipital Lobe – This is the area in the back of the brain and processes visual information. Damage to this lobe can cause visual defects, including the ability to recognize shapes and colors.
Parietal Lobes - The parietal lobes, divided into right and left sides, are located behind the frontal lobe at the top of the brain. If the right parietal lobe is damaged, difficulty navigating can occur, since this lobe is responsible for how the patient perceives their environment. The left parietal lobe is responsible for speech, and damage to this area can hinder the patient’s ability to understand language, both written and spoken. The parietal lobes contain the primary sensory cortex that controls sensation of touch and pressure. Fine sensation is affected if the patient has trouble judging sizes, weights, or shapes.
Temporal Lobes - Two temporal lobes, located on each side of the brain at ear level, allow the patient to distinguish between sounds and scents. They are also believed to control short-term memory. The right lobe is responsible for visual memory, while the left is responsible for memory of words and names.
Traumatic brain injuries can cause a complex combination of temporary and permanent damages. Ross Law Group’s experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers know that engaging medical experts who can fully explain your injuries and their effect to a jury is a vital component of proving your traumatic brain injury case and your damages.
When a person sustains a traumatic head injury, he or she must seek immediate medical evaluation and treatment. The length of time an injured person is unconscious or goes without treatment can be directly related to the severity of the injury. TBI may cause one or more of the following symptoms:
- Nausea
- Confusion
- Headaches
- Problems concentrating and memory loss
- Irritability
- Seizures
- Unconsciousness
An immediate examination uses the Glasgow Coma Scale, which provides a score in the range of 3-15 based on the injured person’s eye-opening, verbal and motor responses to stimulation. A person with a score of 3-8 is usually said to be in a coma.
During the initial treatment of a TBI, medical treatment focuses on maintaining airway, breathing, and circulation, any of which may be compromised by TBI. In severe cases, CPR resuscitation may be necessary. Once the initial crisis is over, treatment focuses on stabilizing the patient.
Swelling in the brain is monitored and treated, as brain edema (swelling) can have damaging consequences. If swelling increases intracranial pressure, or ICP, the brain will be compressed against the skull, preventing blood from circulating properly and causing brain damage. An ICP monitor is inserted through the skull to show a constant pressure reading, which can help to determine whether or not surgery is necessary.
Further evaluation of TBI begins with a neurological exam to discover any conditions that may require immediate surgery. Other tests and devices like MRI, CT scans, X-ray, Angiogram, intracranial pressure monitor, and EEG may be used to determine the damage to the brain and skull. It is important to note that these tests do not always detect brain injury if brain damage is spread out to many areas of the brain or is subtle.
If a TBI is left untreated, further damage can occur. One indication of the need for surgery is an increase in intracranial pressure. Pressure on the brain is harmful and when the brain swells, it can be compressed against the skull. This can lead to irreparable damage or death if the pressure is not relieved. Surgery for TBI may be performed immediately, or may be performed hours or days after the initial injury.
Craniotomy is a surgical procedure for TBI in which the surgeon opens the skull in order to access the brain for surgical repair of damaged blood vessels and removal of blood clots, foreign objects or bone fragments. After the repair is done, the piece of bone that was removed is replaced and muscle and skin are sutured. Drains may be placed in the brain to allow drainage of blood and fluid from the cranial cavity.
After surgery, the patient may be on a ventilator and sedated to allow the brain to heal. While the patient is on a ventilator, doctors can carefully monitor levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and adjust levels as needed. The patient’s ICP may be monitored very closely after surgery to make sure there are no complications that may cause the pressure to rise. Complications of craniotomy could include a reaction to anesthetic, bleeding, infection, permanent brain damage, brain swelling, stroke, and seizures.
After a surgery for TBI, patients can be in the hospital for up to 10 days and then continue recovery at home for 6-12 weeks. Sometimes it is necessary to receive ongoing care in a rehabilitation unit.
Recovery from TBI depends on whether the injury sustained is mild, moderate, or severe. If the injury is severe it will take longer to recover. If surgery was involved, the recovery process depends partly on any complications the patient had.
Rehabilitation
Young people are the most frequent victims of traumatic brain injury, but no matter the age of the injured person, recovery from TBI can take several years from the time of the initial injury, and TBI can cause life-long disability in physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social function. Rehabilitation helps the injured person return to the maximum degree of function possible, especially in dealing with behavior and personality issues caused by the damage from the TBI.
Rehabilitation should begin as soon as possible, and have a multidisciplinary focus. The rehabilitation team may consist of the patient and the patient’s family, the family doctor, a rehabilitation physician and nurse, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a social worker, a nutritionist, and a psychologist or psychiatrist.
If a patient has mild TBI he or she may be cared for on an outpatient basis, but those with moderate to severe TBI will require inpatient management that retrains him or her in activities of daily living and includes learning about pain management, behavioral and cognitive therapies, medication management, using aids to daily living, fitting the patient’s home for discharge, family education, and individual and family counseling.
Patients must be physically stable and may require rehabilitation for other injuries sustained as a result of the trauma before returning home. Depending on the severity of the traumatic brain injury, there may be a need for a wide range of medical supplies. Some equipment may be needed temporarily while some may be needed on a permanent basis. Helping the injured person regain pre-injury independence and functioning can be an extremely difficult task.
The role that an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney plays in these stages of your treatment and recovery is to perform the investigation of the accident and receive updates on your progress from you. We document all of your medical providers’ records and billing so we can accurately assess your damages. Contact Ross Law Group to get an experienced personal injury lawyer working on your case as soon as possible.
Damages are the costs for treatment of injuries, lost wages and other economic losses, and the monetary value of intangible harm such as pain and suffering. Under some circumstances, an injured person may be able to recover punitive, or exemplary damages, which are intended to punish malicious or reckless behavior and to deter such conduct in the future.
Economic Damages are those that can be measured in dollars, such as:
- Medical expenses in the past
- Medical Expenses that are probable in the future
- Related expenses such as caregiving, special equipment, and special housing
- Lost wages in the past
- Lost wages and/or Loss of Earning Capacity that are probable in the future
- Attorney Fees (under some circumstances)
- Property Damage
Non-Economic Damages are those values that are not so readily assessed in dollars, such as:
- Disfigurement in the past and in the future
- Physical Pain and Suffering in the past and in the future
- Mental anguish in the past and in the future
- Punitive or exemplary damages
For every personal injury client, Ross Law Group provides a review of your earnings history for the past three years, with an emphasis on making sure that all wages due to you under the FLSA were paid. This provides essential information for proving your lost wages, and if we discover that you have been underpaid, we can assist you with a wage claim.
Many people are not aware of all of the avenues of recovery that may be available to them after an accident. Ross Law Group’s experienced personal injury attorneys will fully investigate the accident to determine every party that may have liability, the insurance and assets of each liable party, and the insurance benefits you may be entitled to receive from your own insurance carrier. There may also be funds you can apply for through Victim Compensation programs. There may be avenues of recovery that you are unaware of or haven’t considered. Our goal is to make you aware of every type of compensation to which you may be entitled.
Another factor that is important in managing your legal case arising from an injury is the insurance that is involved. If your health insurance, or workers compensation insurance provided by your employer, has paid for medical treatment, the carrier usually has the right to demand reimbursement from your monetary recovery from the liable parties. If you have underinsured motorist coverage for protection in the event that the liable party’s insurance coverage is insufficient to compensate you for your damages, you may have to obtain the permission of your insurance carrier to settle with the liable party or lose your right to recover from your own insurance.
Medical providers may file liens for the costs incurred for medical care arising for treatment of the injury. An experienced personal injury attorney will help negotiate with the medical providers to try to reduce their charges and enable you to get the maximum benefit from your recovery.
It is important to consider the long term effects of a traumatic brain injury when pursuing claims against the liable parties. The compensation you seek should include the cost of not only your past medical expenses, but also the cost of your future care, lifelong accommodations you may require, and loss of future earning capacity. The lifetime cost to treat someone with a traumatic brain injury may be estimated in the millions of dollars. Ross Law Group’s experienced traumatic brain injury attorneys can engage medical, rehabilitation, life care planning and economic experts to help provide a way to prove your financial needs for the future.
Long-Term Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury
The long-term effects TBI will have on the injured person can be hard to predict. Permanent damage may not become evident until a while after the initial injury. This is due to brain swelling. It takes time for this swelling to stop, so it becomes difficult for doctors to determine if damage is due to the initial injury or is permanent.
TBI can cause long-term physical, cognitive, language, speech, and psychological problems in the injured person’s life.
Studies have found that TBI patients were more likely than healthy subjects to experience seizures, thyroid conditions, headache, sleep disturbances, loss of urinary control, changes in body temperature, frequent sinus infections, changes in weight, arthritic symptoms, and changes in skin and hair. Patients with any of these symptoms should discuss their symptoms with a doctor and receive diagnosis and treatment.
Victims of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury are about twice as likely to die prematurely as people without TBI.
Cognitive impairment can affect the injured person’s ability to concentrate for periods of time, have difficulty organizing their thoughts and may be easily confused and forgetful. They may have difficulty learning new things. Some people with TBI have difficulty understanding the meaning of people’s actions, which may cause them to have difficulties in social situations or may say or do inappropriate things in public. Additionally, they may have difficulty in solving problems, making decisions, and planning and their judgment may be affected.
The speech of a person with a TBI may be slow, slurred, and hard to understand. This is termed Dysphagia. Difficulty swallowing is also common in TBI. Apraxia happens when the patient has difficulty saying words correctly in a consistent way.
A person with a traumatic brain injury may have difficulty finding the right words to use and may give incorrect descriptions and explanations. They may also have a hard time interpreting sarcasm, jokes, and figures of speech. When they have trouble talking, they may become angry and frustrated and attempt to place the blame for their difficulty in communication on others. Reading, writing and performing mathematical calculations may be very hard for the injured person following TBI.
Many people with TBI suffer from depression. The losses of his or her former life and self can be devastating, and it often takes a long time to see any noticeable improvement after the injury occurs. This is very hard on the injured person and his or her family and friends.
Even though the recovery and rehabilitation process for traumatic brain injury can last for years, there are many reasons to contact a personal injury attorney right away to represent you or your loved one in a traumatic brain injury case.
- First, it is likely that immediately following the accident you will begin to receive calls and letters from the liable party’s insurance carrier asking for recorded statements, authorizations for the release of your medical information, and other information. What you do and say at this critical time could affect the strength of your case. It is always better to have the advice of an attorney from the beginning.
- Second, the process of dealing with the physical and emotional trauma of a traumatic brain injury can be overwhelming. Our strategy from day one is to focus on your case, so you can focus on your recovery.
- Third, there are Statutes of Limitations that apply to personal injury cases. If you wait too long to take action, you will lose any right you may have to recover from liable parties.
Traumatic Brain Injury in Children
A child may revert to the skills and behaviors of years earlier after a traumatic brain injury. Parents may have to deal with their child’s sudden decline in maturity and social skills, difficulty controlling his or her temper, actions, and feelings, restlessness, aggression, difficulty following directions, memory problems, and signs and symptoms of depression
Catastrophic injuries to children are complex, difficult, and emotional. The attorneys of Ross Law Group have a lot of experience representing the parents of children who have suffered serious injuries. Let us take care of your case while you take care of your child.
Injured people often ask, “How much is the settlement in a traumatic brain injury case?” Even the most experienced personal injury lawyer cannot give you an easy answer to that question. Many factors affect the settlement value of a personal injury case.
The practical answer is that your settlement in a personal injury case is dependant on the amount of money available from the party of parties who are liable for your injury and from your own insurance coverage. Within the total amounts that may exist from which to demand compensation, the settlement value of your case depends on your ability to prove liability, causation, and damages. Ross Law Group’s experienced personal injury attorneys have the knowledge and skill to investigate, prepare, present, negotiate, and try your case to try to obtain the maximum recovery you are entitled to receive. When Defendants know that you have an experienced attorney who is ready to take your case to trial, they are usually more open to serious negotiation. Contact us today for a free personal injury consultation.
If you are finding it emotionally difficult to adjust to life after your or your loved one’s traumatic brain injury, please seek help. It is normal for you to find it difficult to adjust to the changes in your body and your life, and anger and depression are common reactions. Counseling, and perhaps medication for depression, can help. Tell your doctor how you are feeling.
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