Traumatic Brain Injuries Can Be Life-Altering
A Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can drastically change a person's life. It can result in various challenges for a person when it comes to employment, interactions with others, and general cognitive function. My law firm has worked on various TBI cases (also known as head injury cases) over the years.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) happens when a sudden, external, physical assault damages the brain. It is one of the most common causes of disability and death in adults. TBI is a broad term that describes a vast array of injuries that happen to the brain. Mild forms can cause temporary symptoms that usually go away days or weeks after the injury, however, there are more serious forms of TBI that can cause permanent brain damage of different degrees, coma, or death.
One can face a spectrum of problems from a TBI that can include attention problems, cognitive limitations, confusion, emotional or behavioral changes, hearing impairment, headaches, difficulty catching breath, lack of motor skills, lack of balance or coordination, memory problems, sleep impairment, slurred or impaired speech, and vision impairment.
The brain is a complex organ, and it is not always clear immediately after a TBI what the short or long-term effects of such an injury will be.
What The Victim of a TBI Injury Should Do Immediately After the Injury Incident
If you are involved in a personal injury incident that involves a head injury it is highly recommended that you or someone trustworthy near or close to you take steps to try to obtain the correct information about the at-fault driver or party. One reason is because it will be easier to serve the person, in the event of a lawsuit, if the victim has the correct information about the at-fault party. A police report can help put together the pieces of the incident. Furthermore, for insurance purposes it is important to have the correct party identified. I would also advise the TBI victim in most cases to hold off on giving a statement immediately to an opposing party or the opposing party's insurance company. Sometimes an initial statement can be twisted, or the injured person can say something out of turn that can come back and cause some potential problems later.
Remedies
Victims of head injuries have various remedies that they can recover as a result of their injury. In Washington State, an injured victim can recover for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, inconvenience, future treatment, and loss of earning capacity. These damages are known as general damages. The injured victim can also recover damages that relate to their health care treatment and loss wages. These damages are known as special damages. A family member of an injured or deceased victim may also be able to recover for loss of support, loss of consortium, and funeral/burial costs. Wrongful death and survivorship options occur in cases that involved deceased victims where the family survivors can have potential monetary remedies.
What My Law Firm Can Do
As a personal injury attorney, I am very passionate to represent TBI victims. I have helped obtain good results for victims injured in TBI cases. It is very important for a TBI victim to have a lawyer who understands the importance of examining the evidence and the legal issues involved. My firm is aware of various issues that can emerge in a TBI case.