To say our brains are arguably the most amazing organs in our bodies is an understatement. Comprised of over 171 billion cells and consuming up to 30% of our nutrition intake, the human brain is the most complex known structure in the universe.
But the more complex something is, the more sensitive it is to damage. And when a person’s brain receives damage, it can throw an entire universe’s worth of problems their way.
In the mildest of cases, victims of brain injury deal with headaches, dizziness, and some unconsciousness. But at the far end of the spectrum, brain injuries can lead to more long-term complications such as coma or increased risk of stroke.
There is also a risk of more insidious problems, including memory loss or even changes in personality, turning victims into nearly completely different people from who they were before the injury.
In the aftermath of brain injury, Valley Law Accident and Injury Lawyers offers its services to help victims seek compensation. Contact us online or dial 801-810-9999 for a free consultation today.
When to Call a Salt Lake City Brain Injury Attorney
Most brain injuries are the result of external physical force being applied either to the head or to the body in a way that results in the head moving in the head. Under that context, the term most often refers to traumatic brain injuries or TBIs.
That said, not all brain injuries are the result of physical force. Brain injuries that do not fall under this classification are called non-traumatic brain injuries and include stroke, poisoning, or infection.
A majority of brain injury-related legal cases and insurance claims involve TBIs. This is because both accidents and intentional harm usually result in some form of physical trauma to the victim.
However, non-traumatic brain injuries as the result of accidents are not unheard of. Cases of lead, mercury, and carbon monoxide poisoning are some common forms of causes of brain damage that attorneys encounter when representing clients.
When damage from either type of brain injury starts to interfere with your life, it might be time to consider hiring a professional brain injury lawyer.
Medical Bills and Care
This is perhaps the most direct form of compensation victims seek and includes hospital bills, doctor’s fees, medicines and equipment, and other related expenses.
If your brain injury is serious enough to warrant long-term care, such as speech, motor, or behavioral therapy, these treatments will also fall under this umbrella. These kinds of programs can be expensive and have price tags of up to several thousand dollars.
Fortunately, these are also often the easiest form of damages to argue compensation for. Skilled brain injury lawyers such as ours at Valley Law can get the maximum value for your insurance claim by presenting receipts and medical reports when dealing with your provider.
Present and Future Loss of Earnings
A side effect of medical treatment, especially for brain injuries, is that victims often lose time they could dedicate to their livelihood. A construction worker, for instance, might have to undergo several months of therapy before he can be cleared to return to work.
In the worst of cases, a worker can lose an indefinite amount of time, amounting to absurd amounts in lost income. And even when they are finally fit to work, they may have to look for new employment, during which time they still receive no income.
Our attorneys at Valley Law can argue that these lost earnings be covered by your insurance company in order for you to regain your footing in life. Even when your provider’s legal team argues the opposite, we may be able to find details in your policy that prove them wrong.
Pain and Suffering
Perhaps the most difficult types of damages to quantify (and therefore claim), pain, and suffering include both the physical and emotional challenges you have to go through due to a brain injury.
The reason pain and suffering are difficult to quantify is that they are subjective experiences that cannot be compared between individuals without the risk of invalidating personal struggles. And yet, in order to be covered under an insurance policy, they must be assigned value.
Some insurance companies will estimate the basics, such as the duration of the ordeal, the impact on the claimant’s quality of life, and other factors. However, this often does not account for the impact on the victim’s friends and/or family.
A change in personality due to a brain injury can leave an emotional scar on the people who used to know them, affecting their relationships with the victim. Changes in cognitive ability can lead to problems that may not be immediately evident but could show over time.
Our Salt Lake City personal injury lawyers at Valley Law are trained to foresee the possibility of these roadblocks occurring and can present a case where your insurance provider has to account for the risk these threats pose to your quality of life.
What Is Brain Injury?
Brain injury means any instance of destruction or degeneration of brain cells.
As mentioned above, in legal circles, it generally refers to traumatic brain injury (TBI) or any damage caused by an external force, though non-TBIs are also common.
Accidental causes of brain injuries include slip-and-falls, vehicular crashes, botched surgeries, exposure to dangerous substances, and more. They can also be caused by criminal acts such as assault.
Lawyers and insurance adjusters alike spend plenty of resources acquiring information about claimants’ brain injuries, from the context of how they occurred to the medical specifics of the conditions.
Types of Traumatic Brain Injury
TBIs can be classified according to severity, mechanisms, and physical effects and changes they have on the brain. These classification systems can be used individually or in combination with one another in order to gather as much relevant information about the injury as possible.
TBIs According to Severity
Most medical professionals classify TBIs according to severity first – that is, the level of damage the injury appears to have caused – and will often stop there, at least if the patient responds well to treatment.
The most common tool used to classify severity is the Glasgow Coma Scale, which measures a person’s level of consciousness with a value between 3 and 15. Scores above 12 are considered mild, while scores below eight are considered severe.
- Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: These injuries, also called concussions, are caused when rapid or sudden movement causes the brain to contact the inside of the skull. The term “mild” is relative to other brain injuries and can still have dire effects.
- Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: These TBIs are identified by loss of consciousness of at least 30 minutes but less than 24 hours in addition to any symptoms associated with mild TBIs.
- Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: People with this kind of TBI often experience at least a full day of loss of consciousness. Victims of severe traumatic brain injuries have the highest risk of developing complications, including death.
TBIs According to Pathology
There are also systems that classify injuries according to pathology – the changes that occurred inside the brain – as a result of the injury. However, they are far less common.
These kinds of systems allow medical professionals to identify specific information that the broader classification system of the GCS cannot provide. While there are different approaches, one of the most recognized is pathoanatomic classification.
Pathoanatomic classification describes the location and features of the injury within the brain. It answers the “what and where” questions surrounding the damage.
For instance, a subdural hemorrhage specifically means bleeding under the dura (the outermost layer of the membranes that protect the brain) and not any other type of injury. The same goes for a cerebral laceration, which specifically means a tear in the tissue of the cerebrum.
TBIs According to Mechanism
There are two types of TBIs when classifying according to mechanism: closed and penetrating head injuries. The former is any injury that does not expose the brain, while the latter occurs in the event of a breach of the skull and dura matter.
This kind of classification answers the “how” of the injury.
- Closed – These injuries can range from mild to severe, and are typically harder to observe than penetrating head injuries. That said, they are far more common and have better odds of being less severe than penetrating head injuries.
- Penetrating – These are far more likely to be severe than closed injury, but are not always so. They are, however, often much more expensive to treat, requiring extensive observation and invasive surgery, as well as prolonged recovery time.
What Can a Salt Lake City Brain Injury Law Firm for You?
You don’t need to deal with the consequences of a brain injury – whether yours or a loved one’s – on your own. You’ll want the right doctors, the best treatment, and a good time frame so you can move on with your life as soon as possible after these kinds of tragedies.
But the reality is: to do that, you need money. And your insurance company might not be keen to hand out as much as you might actually get.
And then there is the question of justice. Will the person liable for your injury face zero repercussions for the ordeal they put you through?
Our attorneys at Valley Law Accident and Injury Lawyers can help you get what you deserve: justice, compensation, or both. All you have to do is dial 801-810-9999 today.
Alternatively, contact us online. Once again, consultation and case evaluation are free, and we do not charge unless we win youfilling up this form.r case.
