Head trauma and the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) have received increased attention in the past decade. This focus follows reports of concussions in athletes at all levels (youth sports, high school, college, and professional leagues such as the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB) and in military veterans.
Spurred by growing knowledge of the effects of traumatic brain injury, such as increased risk for Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and epilepsy, many states have passed laws to protect young athletes who suffer sports concussions, and TBI survivors have filed more lawsuits seeking damages for head trauma caused by another’s negligence. For example, former players settled a class action against the National Football League and NFL Properties LLC for head trauma or injuries during their careers causing long-term neurological problems.
Further, head trauma causing brain injury is a leading cause of workers compensation claims and Social Security disability applications.
This article guides you through traumatic brain injury law, providing commentary and analysis on the medical and legal issues you must prove to recover money for your damages in civil actions or workers compensation benefits.
Brain injury is one of the most challenging areas of personal injury law because often you cannot show the injury to the judge, jury, insurance adjuster, or defense attorney like you can an orthopedic injury. A traumatic brain injury lawyer who understands the relevant medicine is vital to winning your case.
Keep reading to learn more about securing compensation for a TBI.
Then call our top-ranked Virginia brain injury attorneys at (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614 for more information on protecting your rights when you suffer head trauma resulting in impairment and disability. In the past year, our traumatic brain injury lawyers have obtained more than $5,000,000 in settlements for accident victims with head trauma.
The human brain is who we are. It is at the core of our awareness, processing information and making decisions, and controls most of our body’s activities.
The medical field divides the brain into three parts:
The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain, and it controls language, communication, learning, memory, sensory processing, and other functions.
The cerebrum has four sections:
Each lobe controls specific functions.
Multiple organizations offer definitions of traumatic brain injury. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke define traumatic brain injury differently.
As traumatic brain injury lawyers, we prefer this definition of TBI:
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a direct bump, blow, or jolt to the head, face, or neck or some other external force shakes the brain or an object pierces the skull and damages brain tissue, resulting in an alteration in brain function.
Alteration in brain function refers to one or more of the following:
Several systems exist to classify the severity of TBI.
The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is the most widely used.
Under the GCS, medical providers classify traumatic brain injury into three categories:
These levels influence medical treatment decisions and prognosis (the likelihood of a full or partial recovery after the injury). In addition, insurance companies consider your TBI level when setting claim reserves and making settlement decisions in workers compensation and bodily injury cases.
As you read about the three traumatic brain injury levels, remember that the terms “mild, moderate, and severe” do not always correlate with your permanent impairment level.
Indeed, we have spoken with medical professionals and advocates for TBI survivors who disfavor the terms “mild and moderate” because they imply the brain damage is minor and insignificant. But even “mild” TBI can result in permanent disability, preventing you from returning to 100 percent of your pre-injury state.
Traumatic brain injury is a significant cause of severe impairment and permanent disability affecting millions of adults and children in the United States. TBI is also a leading cause of death for many age groups.
Brain injury data from organizations like the International Brain Injury Association (IBIA), CDC, and the Brain Injury Association of Virginia shows that each year, TBI accounts for:
In addition, roughly 80,000 to 90,000 TBI patients hospitalized will have long-term disability, which means more than 5 million Americans are living with the effects of TBI. This traumatic brain injury-related disability includes physical, emotional, and cognitive impairment.
As for traumatic brain injury in Virginia:
These TBI statistics are bad.
But the truth is worse.
Traumatic brain injury is likely underdiagnosed, with hundreds of thousands of adults and children suffering head trauma that damages the brain but not receiving treatment. For example, some surveys estimate that 200,000 to 400,000 Americans suffered brain injuries but never sought medical care.
If you or a loved one received medical treatment for head trauma, our traumatic brain injury lawyers can help you recover compensation through the legal system.
Traumatic brain injury affects everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, or occupation. However, the statistics show that specific demographic groups suffer head trauma at higher rates than others.
For example:
These factors affect life expectancy, diminished earning capacity, and life events you cannot participate in or enjoy as much. Your traumatic brain injury attorney will use this information to build your case and obtain fair compensation for your losses.
Any action causing a blow or sudden movement to the head can result in traumatic brain injury.
The most common TBI causes in the general population vary by age but tend to fall into one of these categories:
Blast injuries from explosions, combat, and combat training are the most common causes of military-related TBI.
Determining the type of TBI sustained and what it means for your treatment and recovery requires us to define a few terms.
The following section describes the types of TBI-related brain damage and what causes them.
We serve as traumatic brain injury lawyers for cases involving these types of head injuries:
A TBI is either an open brain injury or a closed brain injury.
Open and closed brain injury can lead to unconsciousness, long-term physical, mental, and emotional impairment, paralysis, and even death.
An open brain injury, or a penetrating TBI, means an object struck the skull, piercing or breaking the bone.
The object or bone fragments from the skull disrupt the brain and cause intracranial damage (including the dura mater, meninges, and underlying brain tissue).
Examples of open brain injuries include the following:
Unfortunately, a penetrating head injury may lead to secondary brain injury because of the extensive damage it causes. And it will leave an open wound that puts you at greater risk of infection. Therefore, you should consider future medical expenses related to these consequences of penetrating brain injury when making decisions in your case.
A closed brain injury, or a blunt TBI, means no break in the skull or penetration of the brain or dura mater.
Usually, a closed brain injury results from a rapid head movement that shakes the brain inside the skull.
The quick acceleration and deceleration movement causes the brain to strike the skull, shearing and tearing nerves, axons, blood vessels, and brain tissue. These leaking blood vessels may cause hemorrhages, hematomas, or brain contusions.
Medical providers distinguish focal brain injury from diffuse brain injury.
A focal injury is one restricted to a specific part of the brain. The size and location of this injury influence the type and severity of your impairment.
In contrast, a diffuse injury affects a large part of the brain.
However, a focal brain injury may result in diffuse injury over time.
Many TBIs insult the brain twice.
The first insult is termed the primary injury. And it refers to the type of brain function disruption that occurs as soon as the trauma happens.
The second insult is termed secondary brain injury. These conditions develop due to biochemical changes from the primary injury.
Open-head and closed-head injuries may lead to primary brain injury.
A primary injury causes direct tearing, squeezing, or stretching of the brain’s structures when the trauma happens.
You suffer a coup injury if the damage occurs at the impact site. For example, you have a coup injury to the forehead if your forehead strikes the steering wheel in a car crash.
In contrast, a contrecoup brain injury happens opposite where your brain first struck the skull.
Many primary TBIs are coup-contrecoup injuries because the brain strikes the front and back of the bony skull.
This section examines the most common types of primary TBI.
Brain Contusions (Cerebral Contusions)
Open and closed head injuries may cause brain contusions (bruises). As the name suggests, this injury involves bruising on the brain surface due to damaged blood vessels.
In addition to causing problems at the site of the injury, a brain bruise may cause complications that diminish neurological functioning. For example, it may cause swelling and increase intracranial pressure, requiring extensive medical treatment.
Sometimes CT and MRI scans will show brain bruises as hyperdensities.
Concussion
A concussion is a temporary disturbance in mental functioning or awareness caused by a head injury (usually a blow to the head).
Concussions vary in severity; some cause a loss of consciousness (from a few seconds to a few hours).
Although many people recover from concussions within a few weeks or months, suffering one concussion puts you at greater risk of having a second concussion (second impact syndrome). In addition, you may develop post-concussion syndrome, which causes long-term symptoms.
Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)
Your brain has many nerve cells. Axons are a part of these nerve cells.
Any motor vehicle collision or workplace injury that causes the rapid rotation of your may cause widespread damage and disruption to these axons. And you have suffered a diffuse axonal injury (DAI) in this situation.
Diffuse axonal injury kills brain cells and often causes immediate loss of consciousness – potentially leading to coma. Indeed, loss of consciousness lasting several hours is a clinical finding associated with diffuse axonal injury. It is a severe injury requiring immediate medical treatment.
Your brain’s frontal lobe is most susceptible to traumatic axonal injury. That is why decreased executive functioning is a common long-term consequence in DAI victims who regain consciousness.
Intracerebral Hematomas or Hemorrhages
Traumatic brain hematomas and hemorrhages are related.
A hemorrhage refers to ongoing bleeding in the brain, while a hematoma refers to blood that has already pooled (clotted).
The specific brain hematoma or hemorrhage depends on where the bleeding comes from and collects.
Subdural Hematomas
A subdural hematoma occurs when blood pools between the dura mater’s inner layer and the arachnoid mater of the meninges surrounding the brain.
Usually, tears in the bridging veins between the cortex and dural sinuses generate subdural hematomas.
Falls from heights and car crashes are common causes of subdural hematoma.
You may function normally if the hematoma is small. However, larger subdural hematomas and those developing gradually in the days and weeks following the initial trauma (chronic subdural hematoma) may result in neurologic dysfunction.
Epidural Hematomas
You have an epidural hematoma when blood pools between the dura mater and the skull.
These hematomas often result from a head injury that breaks the temporal bone and severs the middle meningeal artery.
Epidural hematomas are catastrophic injuries that may cause headaches, confusion, seizures, and repeated loss of consciousness.
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
A subarachnoid hemorrhage refers to bleeding between the arachnoid layer and pia matter.
You may be able to avoid surgery for a subarachnoid hemorrhage unless the bleeding blocks the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, causing hydrocephalus. In this situation, you will need brain surgery (a shunt to drain the spinal fluid).
Skull Fractures
A skull fracture is a break in one of the bones surrounding the brain. It indicates the initial accident involved significant force.
The types of skull fractures include the following:
Skull fractures may lead to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage from the nose or ears and bruising near the eyes and ears.
In addition, a skull fracture increases the risk of infection.
Depending on the severity of the skull fracture, your doctor may choose to operate or monitor the situation. A primary goal of treatment is ensuring that you do not develop a bacterial infection.
Learn more about skull fracture settlements here.
Secondary brain injury is any condition that develops from the initial trauma (primary brain injury) and evolves. Often these conditions result from swelling, bleeding, and increased pressure in the skull.
Examples of secondary brain injury include:
The type and severity of symptoms depend on the type of acute head trauma you suffer and the location of the brain damage.
Traumatic brain injury survivors often experience behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and physical symptoms that result in disability. Let’s examine each of these categories.
Cognitive changes are some of the most disabling symptoms resulting from head trauma. These changes may include:
Common behavioral and emotional symptoms of traumatic brain injury include:
In addition, the accident that caused the head injury may also lead to depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Common physical symptoms of brain damage include:
Some of you may improve within three to six months of suffering a mild TBI.
Others, especially those who develop post-concussion syndrome or suffered a moderate or severe TBI, may have permanent issues requiring care or assistance.
No amount of money can bring back your health.
But when you suffer a TBI due to another person’s negligence or an occupational injury or illness, the legal system can help you recover money to live as normal a life as possible.
The CDC estimates the economic burden of traumatic brain injury is in the tens of billions of dollars. Indeed, the total direct and indirect costs of medical expenses, wage loss, and diminished productivity were $76.5 billion in 2010, and the number of TBIs, wages, and medical care costs have increased since then.
Different studies estimate that treating traumatic brain injury costs from $30,000 or more for mild TBI to $250,000 or more for moderate and severe TBI, depending on the need for home health care or assisted living. Indeed, home health care and assisted living homes for persons living with brain damage often cost more than $70,000 yearly.
In a brain injury case, your TBI lawyer will gather evidence to show:
Helpful evidence to prove these items in brain injury litigation includes the following:
Use the facts and evidence to obtain a settlement through mediation, direct negotiation, or go to trial to get a jury verdict.
“How much is a brain injury case worth?”
This is one of the most common questions I get when an accident victim or an injured employee considers hiring me as their traumatic brain injury lawyer.
In our experience, the average traumatic brain injury settlement ranges from $60,000 to $500,000.
But the truth is: It depends. Some TBI settlements are much higher, while others are lower.
A brain injury often results in a disability that reduces your employability, ability to take care of your family, and overall quality of life. These losses are in addition to the medical bills, rehabilitation, and maintenance costs.
Whether it’s through settlement or trial, a top-rated traumatic brain injury attorney will work with expert witnesses to help you recover compensation for the following damages:
We recommend hiring a TBI attorney.
Head trauma cases are challenging.
Here’s why:
Experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers are used to overcoming these obstacles.
Most TBI attorneys work on a contingency basis.
This means you only pay an attorney’s fee if you recover compensation. The standard rate for head trauma cases is 33% to 40% of the total recovery, depending on whether your case goes to trial.
In addition, you will incur litigation costs, such as fees for expert witnesses, court reporters, medical reports, and jury focus groups.
Many traumatic brain injury attorneys front these expenses, which can exceed $100,000, then deduct them from the verdict or settlement amount.
Yes.
Each state has different statutes of limitations.
For example, in Virginia, you must file a civil action seeking damages for traumatic brain injury within two years of the accident date.
Our brain injury law firm focuses on helping TBI victims recover money to make them whole through personal injury lawsuits, workers compensation, and Social Security disability. You can see our results here.
We know about all types of head injuries and are up to date on the science and technology used to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injury. You can use our network to get the medical attention you need while your case is pending.
We also know how to deal with insurance claim adjusters, insurance defense attorneys, and medical providers who do not understand that a closed head injury or seemingly minor concussion can result in long-term problems. We will not let the insurance carrier use common misunderstandings about traumatic brain injury to prevent you from obtaining fair compensation.
There is no fee unless we recover money or benefits through an insurance settlement, jury award, or administrative decision. Call now to see if we are a good fit: (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614. We can help you with brain injury litigation no matter where you live in Virginia.