According to a study, about 17 million people living in the US suffer a traumatic brain injury. The risks of sustaining such injuries increase with age. These injuries range from mild to severe and can cause life-threatening consequences for victims. In 2019, traumatic brain injury (TBI) accounted for about 61,000 deaths in the United States.
No one hopes to have brain trauma, especially when they consider the devastating effects they carry. Apart from bodily harm, traumatic brain injuries cause psychological and emotional damages that take forever to heal. As such, the average person must be cautious in his or her daily activities to avoid being a brain trauma patient.
Unfortunately, however, no matter how careful you are, someone else's negligence can make you sustain one. If you have a TBI, you need all the financial support you can get to recuperate fully and in time. So, if your TBI was caused by a negligent party, it's a good idea to pursue compensation benefits from them. To do so, you'd need help from an experienced personal injury attorney.
Many people confuse traumatic brain injuries with head injuries, but they are not the same thing. A head injury is any injury involving your brain, skull, or scalp. They can be mere bruises, bumps, or brain traumas. So, while every TBI is a head injury, not all head injuries are TBIs.
A traumatic brain injury happens when there are blows, jolts, or bumps to the head that disrupt normal brain functioning. This usually happens when the head violently hits an object, damaging blood vessels and penetrating brain tissues. The most common symptoms of TBI include loss of consciousness, blurred vision, memory loss, nausea, etc. TBI can also cause mental and behavioral problems like mood swings, depression, anxiety, sleeping problems, etc.
Traumatic brain injuries could either be penetrative or non-penetrative. A penetrative TBI happens when an object hits and exposes brain tissue after piercing through the skull. Non-penetrative traumatic brain injuries (or closed brain injuries) happen when the brain injury doesn't penetrate the skull.
Medical professionals also classify TBIs according to the degrees of brain injuries. In that regard, traumatic brain injuries could either be mild, moderate, or severe. Mild and moderate may lead to loss of consciousness while severe injuries to the brain are usually life-threatening and fatal. However, even mild TBIs can get worse and cause lasting consequences like permanent brain damage in the injured person.
You can also classify TBIs as concussions, brain contusions, anoxic brain injuries, hypoxic brain injuries, etc. There are also traumatic brain injuries that occur before birth and are called in-born brain injuries. All types of traumatic brain injuries require urgent medical treatment and attention to minimize the risks of complications.
Traumatic brain injuries can arise from different types of accidents. The most common ways people get TBI are:
According to a report, falls are among the leading causes of fatal TBI in the US. In addition, CDC says that falls lead to approximately half of the TBI-related hospitalizations.
Many sports injuries involve one degree of TBI or another. The sport-related activities that cause TBI include cycling, basketball, and football.
Motor vehicle accidents are one of the leading causes of TBI-related deaths in the US. From hits and runs to motorcycle crashes, rear-end car accidents, etc., many automobile accidents involve TBIs. That's because many times, auto accidents lead to jolts or blows to the head upon impact.
Some dog bite incidents can cause TBIs. This mostly happens when the dog bites the victim's head or knocks them over. TBIs due to dog bite injuries are not so common. However, infants are the most affected victims due to their short height, large head size, and thin skull bones.
Many workplace accidents involve slips and falls which are a leading cause of TBI. The stakes are higher for construction workers who sustain construction injuries. Many fatal workplace injuries are due to construction accidents. Common examples include falling off the roof or ladder, getting crushed by equipment, etc.
There are many ways that medical professionals can cause TBI due to malpractice. Medical professionals here include doctors, nurses, dentists, anesthesiologists, etc. Medical malpractice happens when medical professionals fail to exercise the expected level of diligence and care in attending to patients. That includes making medical errors like prescribing the wrong dosage for patients, improper diagnosis, etc.
Many other acts of violence like assault, fire-arm-related suicides, conclusive blasts, etc. can lead to TBI.
There are different types of damages you can get in a compensation claim. They include:
Economic damages cover the financial costs of your injuries. This includes compensation for medical bills (including future costs of care), property damages, lost earnings, etc.
Non-economic damages compensate the victim for the non-economic costs of the accident. These usually include psychological and emotional damages that are hard to measure monetarily. Common types of non-economic damages include compensations for the loss of quality of life, loss of enjoyment, pain, and suffering, etc.
Punitive damages punish the at-fault party for their gross negligence that led to the accident. They also serve as a caution to others.
Getting compensation for victims of TBI isn't an easy task. Usually, to get compensation for TBI in a personal injury claim, the injured persons should:
Calling for medical attention immediately after an accident is the best way to minimize health complications from your injuries. Apart from saving your life, your medical records can be crucial in getting you the compensation you deserve.
After an accident, it's important to gather as much evidence as you can to help you prove your claims. For example, if you sustained auto injuries in a car crash, you can take pictures of the accident scene. You can also interview witnesses and get the contact details of the principal parties in the accident.
Regardless of how minor or straightforward the accident may seem, you need competent injury lawyers to win your case. Your attorneys will offer legal advice on how best to pursue compensation for your injuries. They'd ensure you make no mistakes as your case progresses. Hiring a competent attorney helps you focus on your recovery while pursuing damages.
Usually, in many jurisdictions, the at-fault persons' insurance companies are liable to pay damages to you. However, Since Florida is a no-fault state, you may get compensation through your Personal Injury Protection Insurance(PIP). To do so, you must notify your insurance company of your claims and prove that you're eligible for compensation.
You can file a lawsuit for catastrophic or serious injuries in Florida. It's only then you can get punitive damages. Your trial lawyer will know if your injuries are serious enough to warrant a brain injury lawsuit.
There are many reasons why you need a Fort Lauderdale traumatic brain injury lawyer for your personal injury claims/lawsuits. Some of them include:
To file a brain injury lawsuit, you must be sure of who the liable parties are. You must also be sure that the accident and nothing else caused your TBI. If you fail to prove any of the above, your chances of winning your lawsuits run slim.
Your personal injury attorneys know that. As such, they'd do everything within their power to know who and what caused your brain injury. They'd do that by carrying out proper investigations.
You can hardly succeed in your personal injury claim or lawsuit without proper strategy and planning. You must put all your relevant documents together and have a plan on how to approach your case. No two brain injury cases are the same, so you need an attorney to suggest a personalized strategy for you. They'd do this with your medical, financial, and personal needs in mind.
There's a lot of work and considerations that go into filing an insurance claim. You'd need to prepare documents like demand letters and others to facilitate your claims process. Your insurance company can leverage any mistake with those documents to deny you compensation. However, you can avoid trial and error by having your attorney handle your insurance claims. Apart from relieving you of stress, they'd get the job done right the first time.
Lawyers will always advise brain injury victims never to accept the first settlement offer from insurance companies. That's because it's almost always a small fraction of what you truly deserve. So, after you reject the initial offer, you'd have to get into negotiations with them for a proper sum.
Negotiations are technical and require a lot of expertise and skill to follow through. Since your brain injury lawyers are trained to be skilled negotiators, it's wise to let them handle this process. Your attorneys have your best interest at heart and would make sure you get reasonable damages for your TBI.
If you need to file a lawsuit for your TBI injuries, you can hardly get by without your attorney. Like claims processes, lawsuits are complex and require expert assistance to scale. There are lots of legal processes to follow and plenty of paperwork to file too. Your lawyers will handle all that while also offering you qualified legal representation in court.
Regardless of the kinds of brain injuries you've suffered, you can get compensation if someone else caused them. The responsible party ought to pay ample damages through a personal injury settlement or brain injury lawsuit. However, the process of getting compensation from the liable parties is cumbersome. Fortunately, our competent injury lawyers at VG Law Group can help.
We will listen to you, analyze your case and advise you on the best possible approaches to make your compensation claims successful. You can count on us for the best legal representation you can find in Fort Lauderdale. Take action today by contacting us to schedule a consultation immediately.
