Even without catastrophic brain damage, filing a personal injury claim may be intimidating.
Your case becomes much more challenging when you have a TBI, since memory loss, difficulties in finding words, and other symptoms may make a lawsuit seem unattainable. This is where your knowledge of brain injury law becomes invaluable.
Keep on reading to learn all about the nuances of a brain injury lawsuit in seven simple points as the first step in retaking control of your life.
Table of Contents
1. Using Brain Injury Law 101: Start a TBI Journal
When it comes to defining your everyday symptoms and how your life has altered after your accident, many individuals with traumatic brain injuries struggle. Keeping a diary may help you better understand how your TBI affects you on a day-to-day basis.
As a notebook, you may keep track of all of your medical visits as well as any physical or mental issues you may have. Aside from writing down your thoughts and emotions, it’s also a good idea to add some systematic symptom monitoring in order to better understand your injuries and losses.
2. Reach Out to Your Support Network
It’s not easy adjusting to life after a traumatic brain injury. Cooking, cleaning, doing errands, and remembering to take your medicine are just a few of the everyday things you may need assistance with. You do not, however, have to go through this alone.
After a brain injury, it’s critical to rely on your support system, whether that’s your spouse, family, friends, or a local support group. When you ask for assistance, you’re showing that you’re capable and that you’re on the road to recovery.
3. Read Up on Your Legal Rights
After a car accident, a fall, or any other catastrophe, most individuals have a lot of questions. However, you should not depend only on the insurance provider to address your queries. Instead of empowering and educating you, the primary aim of its reps is to get rid of your case fast and inexpensively.
If you don’t have legal representation, the insurance company may attempt to coerce you into giving a statement. In order to hurt your case, the company’s representatives may ask you imprecise or deceptive questions during this discussion. Any time the claims representative makes this assertion, respectfully refuse the chance to speak with them.
If you’re in need of legal representation, you don’t want a lawyer who specializes in brain injuries. Instead, you and your loved ones need the best possible counsel from a personal injury lawyer who knows the particular issues you confront and has a demonstrated track record of managing complicated TBI cases.
4. Support for Surgical Procedures
Legal settlements and lawsuits involving brain injuries take into consideration the changing nature of a patient’s thinking as he or she heals. A skilled brain injury attorney would know how to fight for doctor/patient discretion when awarding damages, and he or she would be aware of the law’s requirements.
Getting to the skull and relieving pressure on the brain in the event of a TBI, for example, may need prompt surgical intervention. It is referred to by the Mayo Clinic as “opening a window in the skull” by the institution.
A shunt implanted to avoid future swelling or pressure has significantly less of a relationship to a head injury than does this procedure. The original damage may also need subsequent surgeries to account for vision, hearing, or other perceptual issues.
An insurance agent has no role in deciding which of these alternatives is best for the patient. You’ll need good lawyers like reasonoverlaw.com on your side.
5. Recovering Resources and Support
Brain injuries need resources for healing, regardless of whether they are treated surgically or not. Nurses may be called upon to change bandages and treat or prevent infections, for example.
Correct instruction to relearn activities, such as how to pick up and drink from a cup, might also entail this. What this implies in the context of head injury litigation or settlements is allowing for possible:
- In-patient brain recovery rehab;
- Out-patient home care;
- Medical and therapeutic equipment for healing and mobility;
- Regular physical and/or cognitive therapy;
- Various other resources that you and the medical professionals you work with opt for;
When a patient is discharged from the hospital, the practice of medicine does not always come to an end. Those who have been through a traumatic brain injury need a rehabilitation plan.
6. Therapeutic Interventions and Options
Physical rehabilitation and cognitive retraining are two aspects of recovery, but psychological support is also important. You or a loved one may be dealing with a great deal of emotional distress as a result of a serious accident or illness.
Patients and their families may be able to get the complete help they need to cope with the psychological trauma they are experiencing via litigation or settlements related to brain damage. Feeling powerless, going through major personality changes, or dealing with strong emotions like rage, sorrow, and terror are all examples.
7. Maintaining Medication: Dealing With Epilepsy
When a person with a brain injury has seizures that last for days, weeks or even years after the accident, this is referred to as post-traumatic epilepsy. There are several hazards and constraints that come with living with a lifetime of seizures.
This is a major shift in one’s sense of self-reliance, but there are prescription medications that may lessen or even eliminate the occurrence of seizures. A patient with brain damage may be able to regain their independence with the right medicine.
Anyone who takes insulin or birth control pills on a daily basis understands how much it costs to receive their prescribed medicine. It’s a continual battle to keep up with the cost of these medications, which might change at the whims of one’s insurance provider.
You or a loved one should be compensated for the medicine required to manage this new illness following a brain injury if you or they suffer from epileptic seizures.
Personal Injury Claims and TBI: Simplified
While we can’t deny that a person’s life can change after dealing with a TBI, that doesn’t mean that they have to go through this hardship alone.
We hope that our guide has shed some light on brain injury law and the seven ways rest assured that your settlement will be sufficient to deal with the upcoming challenges. You should also check out our legal section for additional tips and strategies.