TBI After a Car Accident? Your Right to Fair Compensation

The impact in a car accident often leaves an innocent person suffering a traumatic brain injury, or TBI – in fact, vehicle collisions are a leading cause of brain injuries. A TBI is often life changing, and may require months or years of medical care, rehabilitation, or leave a victim permanently disabled.

When another driver was at fault, you have the right to recover fair compensation – but what is the value of the case? The answer to this critical question lies in the extent of the injury, and the long-term consequences on the life and future of the victim.

Types of Brain Injuries

A traumatic brain injury affects brain function. These injuries are a major cause of death and disability in the USA. TBI injuries are categorized into three levels:

• Mild TBI (concussion): The sudden impact in a car collision causes the brain to move rapidly within the skull. This level of brain injury can lead to various symptoms, including headaches, nausea, vomiting, balance problems, troubles with speech, blurred vision, mood changes, and the loss of consciousness, among others. Some symptoms may not appear immediately, but in the days and weeks following the car accident.
• Moderate TBI: This type of TBI involves the loss of consciousness for minutes up to hours. The symptoms include vomiting, convulsions, seizures, weakness at fingers and toes, deep confusion, agitation, slurred speech, coma, persistent painful headaches, loss of coordination and other frightening symptoms.
• Severe TBI: When the injured person suffers a long period of unconsciousness, or a coma, or has amnesia, the injury is termed a severe TBI. The consequences are often profoundly serious, with changes in brain function affecting memory, attention, coordination, hearing, vision, and touch. The injured person may never regain the ability to speak, walk, or function normally, even after months of rehabilitation, or remain in a vegetative state for months or even longer.

How Much is a TBI Injury Claim Worth?

A TBI can be challenging for doctors to diagnose and predict the length of time needed for a person to recover, if at all. The recovery time varies widely from person to person, with some people recovering most or all their abilities, with others facing a lifetime of challenges, living with mental, physical, and emotional impairments.

Determining the value of an injury claim requires assistance from medical and financial experts. The compensation may be pursued by negotiating a settlement with the at-fault party’s insurer, or by bringing a lawsuit against the negligent driver. The types of damages sought include:

• Economic damages: These damages are the past, current and estimated future financial losses, including the cost of medical care, nursing care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and all other actual losses.
• Non-economic damages: Often the largest portion of an injury claim, these damages include loss of quality of life, pain and suffering, emotional anguish, and other life changes of the most personal nature.
• Punitive damages: Punitive damages are imposed to punish a grossly negligent driver who operated a vehicle in a reckless manner. The amount in punitive damages is “capped” at $500,000.

The Right Attorney Matters.

If you or a loved one has suffered a TBI in a car accident, it is a stressful, terrible time, filled with worry, concern, and grief. It is vital that the legal matters surrounding the car accident claim are addressed as early as possible after an accident so that all supporting evidence can be gathered before critical evidence is destroyed, or eyewitness memories fade.

Attorney Gil Panzer can help you and your family manage the legal matters related to a TBI from a car accident. He and his team of personal injury lawyers have the experience, knowledge, and resources needed to seek fair and full compensation. Call today for assistance after a car accident that caused a brain injury. When we take on a brain injury claim, we devote the full resources of our team to pursuing the maximum possible compensation – as is deserved.