There is not a single type of injury that is desirable. After all, nobody ever wants to get injured. There’s a reason we have a system that allows us to seek compensation from those responsible for causing our injuries.
But of the various types of injuries one can suffer, traumatic brain injuries are by far among the very worst. This is due to the long-lasting nature of the damage they induce and the cost of the subsequent medical treatment required to help repair, mitigate, or compensate for the damage suffered.
If you or somebody that you love have suffered a brain injury due to another’s negligence, then you absolutely should seek the compensation you deserve. We’ll take a closer look at these injuries, how to get compensation for them from a lawsuit, and what kind of compensation you could get.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
A traumatic brain injury is not just one type of injury in the way that, say, a broken knee is. It actually refers to a wide range of different injuries. The thing that they all have in common is that they have done damage to the brain. Unfortunately, as much as medical science has come leaps and strides ahead these days, the brain is still a rather mysterious organ.
So there is quite a bit of variety in the category of traumatic brain injuries, but even worse is the fact that there is often no way to cure the damage caused by them. Often the best case scenario is to mitigate the damage through training and medical assistance.
Traumatic brain injuries can be caused in quite a number of ways. The most common way is some kind of trauma to the head. However, they can still occur when something happens to the body such as when suffering from a violent jolt.
Because injuries of this nature are so severe, they are also incredibly expensive. There is often nothing that can be done, in some cases, but to rely on medical assistance in order to have a future. So it only makes sense that it should be covered by the party responsible for causing the injury.
How Do You Get Compensation For a Traumatic Brain Injury?
In order to get compensation for a traumatic brain injury you need to be able to prove a number of things to the court. Unfortunately, while some of these may sound easy it can actually be rather difficult proving them in a court of law unless you’ve done the proper investigative work to gather evidence that proves your points.
The first thing you need to be able to prove is that you have a traumatic brain injury. Again, this may sound easy but you have to keep in mind how little is understood about the brain. This makes it more difficult than it should be to prove an injury of this nature and it requires that you speak to medical professionals and gather their opinion.
The next thing that needs to be shown to the court is that this injury was caused by the accident you’re debating about. Again, this sounds easy on the surface but it gets more difficult when you remember the other party is going to try to argue that your injury could have happened for a different reason. This line of argument is popular and also a good reason to ensure you see a medical professional as close to the accident as possible.
That accident needs to be shown to have been caused due to negligence or recklessness. How the law defines these terms is best understood alongside the concept of a duty of care. Individuals have a duty of care that they have to live up to. For drivers this means following the rules of the road, for doctors there is a lot more that has to be done to uphold a duty of care. The accident that caused your injury must have been caused by negligence in order for you to win compensation for your traumatic brain injury.
What Kind of Compensation Can I Get for My Traumatic Brain Injury?
It is pretty much impossible to answer that question through a blog. The problem is that if we tried to work out an exact number, we would need to know the specifics of your injury and the accident that caused it.
However, we can look at some general information and use that as a starting point for understanding the kind of compensation we can get from a traumatic brain injury. This is due to the fact that these are quite expensive injuries to deal with.
Damages that you can suffer due to a traumatic brain injury include:
- Lost wages
- Reduced earning capacity
- Property damages
- Medical expenses
- Assisted living expenses
- Medications
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
- Pain
- Suffering
- Wrongful death
- Mental anguish
Depending on the specifics of your situation, there may also be punitive damages awarded. These won’t help to compensate you for your suffering. These are damages which are used as a punishment against the at-fault party. They are a way of adding a little extra punishment to somebody in order to teach them a lesson and make them more careful so they don’t end up injuring anyone else.
Do I Need an Attorney for My Traumatic Brain Injury Lawsuit?
Generally, having an attorney on your side like Damoun A. Yazdi, Esq. from The Accident Network Law Group, increases your chances of obtaining proper compensation for your injuries. As we’ve mentioned several times, these are incredibly expensive and time consuming lawsuits. That means that the other party has a lot invested in fighting against paying you the compensation you deserve.
Fighting in a courtroom is a complicated and tricky business. Attorneys spend years learning how to win cases like these and that is experience you need on your team if you want the best chance of winning your traumatic brain injury lawsuit. The attorneys at The Accident Network Law Group have the experience necessary to fight the battles to get proper compensation, so give them a call.