Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are among the unfortunate results of injury accidents, including car accidents, slips and falls, and sports injuries. If you’ve experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI), we don’t have to tell you how disruptive—even destructive—it can be to your life. Whether it’s a concussion that leaves you with ongoing headaches and trouble concentrating or a more severe TBI that causes seizures and personality changes, TBIs can send your life into a tailspin.
Whatever your symptoms, if your TBI occurred due to the negligence of others and the other party is not willing to compensate you accordingly, it’s time to call a lawyer. Lawyers are helpful for all personal injury cases, but especially for TBI cases, which can be particularly complex and hard to prove.
(Pavel Danilyuk/pexels)
Here are some of the challenges that can hamper traumatic brain injury lawsuits:
TBIs Are Frequently Misdiagnosed
It’s very common for doctors to miss a traumatic brain injury when they examine patients after an accident. One reason is that symptoms may not show up until days or weeks after the accident. If you present without any of the usual symptoms, your doctor may not see the need to examine you for a TBI.
If you didn’t hit your head, a doctor may also miss your TBI. Unfortunately, direct impact isn’t the only cause of TBIs. Sometimes, a jolt to the head (even if your head isn’t pushed into something) can be enough to cause a TBI.
Also, if you have more pressing injuries, those can steal the limelight. For example, your doctor may be so busy dealing with your broken limbs from the car accident that they don’t consider a possible TBI.
TBI Testing is Far From Foolproof
Even if your doctor does screen you for a TBI, the traditional imaging tools (such as CAT scans and MRIs) may fail to show evidence of a brain injury. Imaging tools are constantly improving, but they can’t yet pick up on all soft tissue injuries or the full extent of nerve fiber damage.
Neuropsychological tests, which measure memory, cognition, communication, and motor skills, are another way to diagnose a TBI. However, there’s no one-size-fits-all test. Depending on the type of TBI you have, one test may show evidence of your TBI while another may miss it entirely. The doctor may not always give the proper test for assessing your type of TBI, which can invalidate the results.
Many TBI Wounds are Invisible
Gaping wounds and broken limbs may be easy to see, but that’s not always the case with concussions. Lingering effects like depression, headaches, and trouble concentrating may not be readily observed. That leaves TBI victims to prove what they’re feeling inside.
A skilled TBI lawyer can help you gather compelling evidence to prove the unseen changes that the accident caused in your life. They can also help you get compensation for the intangible effects of the TBI, to include pain and suffering, emotional distress, etc.
The Defense May Link TBI Symptoms to Pre-existing Conditions
This is one of the biggest tactics of Big Insurance. If they can prove that your symptoms were in effect before the accident, they can absolve their client of guilt and pay you nothing. For example, if you’ve had depression in the past, the defense might argue that the depression you are now experiencing has nothing to do with your accident (even though you know it worsened dramatically after the accident).
TBI Symptoms Can Fluctuate
You can prove an injury if you can document a clear pattern of symptoms following an injury accident. But TBI symptoms can ebb and flow over time. New symptoms may even develop seemingly out of nowhere.
The Recovery Time is Open-Ended
The opposing insurance company may try to pressure you into a quick settlement. The quick cash may be appealing, especially if you’re dealing with mounting medical bills for your TBI and diminishing earnings (if your TBI affected your ability to work). However, the first offer may be insufficient to cover future expenses, especially if your TBI symptoms continue for months or years.
While no two TBIs are the same, a skilled brain injury attorney will understand the typical progression of TBIs. They will know which symptoms tend to heal and which tend to linger. They will understand the costs associated with lingering symptoms. They will help you hold out for a settlement that won’t just cover past expenses but those that may continue into the future, e.g., reduced income due to injuries, medical treatment and therapies, prescriptions, caregiver fees, adaptive equipment, etc.
How Traumatic Brain Injury Attorneys Can Help
Connect You with the Best Specialists
General doctors may lack the depth of knowledge to diagnose your TBI, which can hurt your lawsuit. A good TBI attorney will be knowledgeable about the best medical specialists. They can point you to a specialized neurologist who will know what to look for and how to obtain a proper diagnosis. A diagnosis is key to a successful lawsuit.
An experienced neurologist can also know what to look for as your TBI progresses. They can clearly track the development of your TBI and document its progression in a way that other doctors may miss.
Help You Establish Causality and Fault
In order to win your case, you have to show that the other party caused the accident and the accident, caused your injuries. There could be multiple parties at fault. For example, if a sidetracked motorist hit your car and then the airbag failed to deploy, both the motorist and the car manufacturer could be at fault.
An accurate diagnosis and good medical documentation provide the best evidence, but if you have neither, a dedicated TBI lawyer can help you show causality and fault in other ways. Eyewitnesses are a good source, and your family and co-workers can also provide documentation of how your physical, mental, and emotional state changed after the accident.
Bring in the Best Experts
A specialized brain injury lawyer should have a rapport with experts who specialize in the science behind TBIs. These experts know what to look for and how to support your legal claim in an evidence-based way. Their testimonies can help discredit any claims by the opposing side that your injuries are related to pre-existing conditions.
Help You Get a Fair Settlement
When the at-fault party’s insurance company extends you a settlement offer, a good TBI attorney can help you know if it’s enough to cover present and future bills related to the accident. If the offer is too low, they can fight for more and line up the evidence to support your claim.
If you’ve sustained a TBI due to the negligence of others, our TBI attorneys serve Las Vegas, Henderson, Summerlin, and other Vegas suburbs. They stand ready to get you the medical care and compensation that you need to get back on your feet after a TBI.
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