Traumatic brain injuries are among the most devastating events a person can endure and it is important that you work with experienced legal counsel to maximize your traumatic brain injury settlement. The impacts of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) aren’t always apparent. Most people associate TBIs with comas or permanent disabilities, not realizing that injuries present in subtler ways as well.
Impact of a Traumatic Brain Injury
Sometimes a victim will lose consciousness only briefly or not at all following an accident. If an MRI or CT scan doesn’t show bleeding or fractures, they assume they’re fine. It might be months or years before they realize the accident has caused ongoing health problems.
Depending on how much time has passed since the accident, some doctors might dismiss symptoms such as ongoing headaches or memory loss as being unrelated to that trauma. But TBIs create lasting effects within the body, so we encourage people to be persistent. Neuropsychological testing often reveals problems that weren’t apparent in the immediate aftermath of an accident.
Our team has seen clients wake up from six-month-long comas and reclaim their lives, so a traumatic brain injury doesn’t always spell tragedy. However, lower-profile TBIs often prove devastating in ways people don’t expect.
Just because someone isn’t confined to a wheelchair or shows no signs of speech irregularities doesn’t mean they’re unaffected. Even when a TBI victim functions normally in the short term, they face increased risks of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, and depression.
Are you or a loved one suffering from a severe brain injury? Tell us more about it here.
Hiring an Attorney After a Traumatic Brain Injury
Those diseases may not emerge for years, but they could dramatically impact a victim’s expenses and wage-earning capacities down the road. That’s why we recommend that all TBI victims hire a lawyer. Proving the long-term implications of a brain injury is challenging, and you need to work with a lawyer who understands the nuances of these traumas. Our firm takes a comprehensive approach to TBI cases. We work with a team of experts, including neuropsychologists, economists, and vocational experts, to determine how much a victim’s wage-earning capacity has decreased.
Once we’ve assessed those losses, we partner with neurologists and life-care planning experts to analyze their future medical needs. The goal is to be as scientific as possible because the law doesn’t deal in possibilities. Judges are only interested in reasonable medical probabilities, so we work closely with our expert partners to present an airtight case for what the victim stands to lose.
Most victims want to rush to a settlement so they can move on with their lives. But in our experience, it’s better to take a long-term approach. As the victim’s healing progresses, we gain a better understanding of what their future needs are likely to be. The more information we have, the more compensation we can earn for them.
Traumatic Brain Injury Settlements – Average Amounts
Settlement amounts for brain injury lawsuits vary widely, particularly between mild brain injury and severe brain injury settlements. Someone who receives a multi-million dollar settlement likely suffered a severe injury and has been significantly incapacitated as a result. But those who experience mild TBIs should pursue their cases as well, for the reasons described above. It may be years before you see the full impact of a brain injury, and you are helping yourself and your family by proactively pursuing compensation.
The most heartbreaking cases we handle are road accidents in which the victim was hit by an uninsured driver. If the client does not carry underinsured motorist’s insurance, they might face millions of dollars in medical expenses and have no means for collecting compensation. Nonetheless, we encourage them to work with us so we can help them assess their injury-related costs and pursue whatever options are available to them for covering those.
Brain injuries don’t just affect the accident’s victims; they hurt the whole family. When appropriate, we also bring claims on behalf of a victim’s spouse or children. A child whose parent suffers a TBI experiences substantial trauma and loses an irreplaceable figure in their lives. The devastation ripples through the family, and we try to buffer that loss through claims for household services and loss of consortium.
No amount of money can replace a spouse’s or parent’s presence in the home. But a fair settlement eases the financial burden so the family can focus on coping with the trauma and supporting the victim throughout their recovery.
Learn more about brain injury cases by clicking here.
By: Kay Van Wey | Updated: June 9, 2020
