A traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) is one of the most devastating potential consequences of a personal injury accident. Many people are never the same again after suffering this injury. If someone else was to blame for your traumatic brain injury, or the one suffered by a family member, you might be entitled to significant financial compensation. First, an attorney would need to prove that someone should be legally responsible for your injury.
Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Serious
In 2019, there were over 200,000 people hospitalized for traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Those who sustain TBIs may have lifelong effects. Only 40% of people who suffer a TBI are able to return to work within one to two years after the injury. Many people can never work again, or they may not be able to reenter their profession prior to the accident. A TBI can also shorten your life expectancy. According to the Centers for Disease Control, people with a TBI will have a lifespan that is nine years shorter on average. About half of the people who sustain a TBI will die within five years of their injury. Many will continue to suffer declines in the future, and their condition will not improve. Others may need extensive rehabilitation to regain some of the functions that they had before their accident.
TBIs Can Be a Challenging Personal Injury Claim for Many Reasons
Accordingly, a TBI is one of the more difficult personal injury claims to pursue. Apart from having to prove negligence, the injured party must prove that they did in fact sustain a TBI, and it was in fact caused by the incident. Lastly, you must be able to determine the value of your case.
TBI is not always easy to prove. You may have a normal CT scan or a normal MRI scan and not have suffered a concussion and still suffer from a TBI. You can sustain a TBI from a blow to the head or even a jolt of the head without having an open head injury or experiencing a loss of consciousness. While there are certain tests that can help establish a TBI, most of the diagnosis is dependent on the history and symptomology.
The other concern when handling a TBI diagnosis resulting from a personal injury claim is the future prognosis. It may not be fully known for some time. TBI victims
may not have much visibility in the days after their accident into how much of their function they will regain.
Be Aware of Your Symptoms
If, after a car accident or a slip/trip and fall, you experience any of the following symptoms, seek medical attention:
– Vision changes (floaters, blurry vision, light sensitivity, etc.)
– Dizziness
– Headache
– Difficulty with balance
– Poor coordination
– Ringing in ears
– Fluid in ears or nose
– Lack of bowel or bladder control
– Difficulty moving or feeling parts of the body
– Memory problems
– Difficulty forming sentences or processing information
– Difficulty with speech
– Change in temperament (crying more often, easily frustrated, irritable)
Your Financial Compensation After a Traumatic Brain Injury
In a TBI case, you are entitled to the following elements of your damages:
- All of your medical-related expenses
- Lost wages, when you are unable to work or do the same work that you did before the accident
- Pain and suffering for what you have endured and will endure in the future, both physically and emotionally
- Embarrassment and humiliation
- Life care costs and home care
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Your Compensation May Be Significant After a Traumatic Brain Injury
The medical treatment of a serious TBI alone can cost millions of dollars. Any TBI is a serious medical event that requires extensive treatment. In addition to past and future medical damages, you are entitled to past and future earning loss and earning capacity. Further ,in a TBI case, the insurance company would also likely use a higher multiplier to compute your pain and suffering.
Accordingly, your TBI claim can be worth a lot of money. Instead of being a windfall for you, this is money that you and your family will need to compensate for a long-term condition that may never improve.
Properly Valuing Your Claim Is Crucial
If the insurance company succeeds in its never-ending mission to underpay your claim, you and your family will end up shortchanged, especially in the future. There is no recourse if you realize years from now that you settled your claim for less than it is worth. Therefore, you must fight for every dollar that you deserve right now. While your health may not fully recover, at least your family can have the money that it needs.
The key is that you have an attorney who knows the value of your claim or lawsuit before you file it. In a TBI, it is essential to work with experts to value your damages, such as:
- Medical doctors to understand your exact prognosis
- Vocational experts to quantify the impact your injury will have on your future earnings
- Life care planning experts to know what type of care you will need in the future
- Economic experts to value how much a dollar today will be worth in the future since your settlement will cover the rest of the time that you are dealing with the injury
Contact a Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer Today
The tenacious and determined attorneys at Arshakyan Law Firm will fight for you to get the compensation that you deserve after you have been seriously injured in an accident. We will handle your case in a compassionate manner while aggressively pursuing your legal remedies. To schedule your free initial consultation, you can send us a message online, or you can call us today at (888) 851-5005.