Brain injuries are one of the most severe and life-threatening injuries that can turn one’s normal life upside down within a blink of an eye. And what’s the worst part, right after encountering an accident, you will find yourself in a tougher situation with piles of medical expenses and various other costs.
At that time, brain injury compensations can play a big role for you and your family members in reducing your stresses to a great extent.
Hence, the smarter call is to hire an experienced lawyer as soon as possible as only they can guide you properly in every step with their expertise. So the proper justice is served, and you get your legal rights and compensations.
Before jumping directly into details, let’s start with what is a traumatic brain injury and how severe it can be:
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What is Meant by Traumatic Brain Injury?
Severe traumatic brain injury is one of the most serious conditions where one can possibly find themselves in. In short, they are known as TBI.
To simply state, TBI is those injuries that one gets upon one side of the brain or more than one part of the brain. They are so serious that they can change a person’s entire lifestyle by disrupting their regular activities.
That’s why any kind of brain injury should never be taken lightly. Instead, the moment you encounter one, see a doctor and examine your brain properly to discover all the hidden injuries.
Even by mistake, don’t let it pass on, thinking it as a minor one based on the outside look as on the inside it may be extremely severe.
In fact, to your surprise, brain injuries are the most life-threatening and painful injuries compared to all the injuries.
These injuries can happen to anyone at any moment of time due to any reason, such as automobile accidents, sudden falls, physical attacks, and so on.
4 Types of Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injuries basically range from mild to severe, depending on the extremity of the damages.
Let’s have a look at the below 4 types of traumatic brain injury to get a better understanding of them:
1. Concussions
It is a mild brain injury that is caused due to a sudden hit in the head. Although they are considered minor injuries, yet if left untreated, they can take a serious turn within time.
Some of the noteworthy symptoms of concussions are severe headaches, loss of concentration, memory loss, having trouble talking or hearing properly, etc.
2. Brain Contusions
Brain contusions are bruises developed in the brain tissue. It is similar to any cut on the skin and is basically caused by the breakage and leakage of any small blood vessels.
Here, the only difference is instead of the skin, the injury is on the brain. And as we know, a small bruise on the brain is manifold time stronger and more delicate compared to any normal cut on the skin.
These injuries usually occur in a car accident, racing, slip, fall, and many more. Here, the brain gets a huge slam on the opposing sides of the skull areas. Some of the leading symptoms of brain contusions are depression, failure to take any decisions, lack of consciousness, anxiety, inflammation, etc.
3. Penetrating Brain Injuries
Penetrating brain injuries happen when your skull gets hurt by any hard or sharp objects, resulting in hampering the hair, skin, or any nerves of the skull. They are serious kinds of injuries compared to the above 2 injuries and may affect a large portion of the brain.
In fact, in the worst scenarios, the injury can be so bad and extreme that it is enough to even break through your skull areas—for instance, motorbike accidents, gunshots in the head, sports-related brain wounds, etc.
4. Anoxic Brain Injuries
Anoxic brain injuries happen when the brain doesn’t get sufficient oxygen to function properly. And we all know what will happen if the brain doesn’t receive the required quantity of oxygen.
In fact, to your surprise, if there is a sudden oxygen drop in the brain oxygen levels, then eventually the brain cells start to die within just 4 to 5 minutes if any actions are not taken to cure it.
Although the ultimate result is death for these injuries—however, the harsh part is you will die slowly after encountering some very painful experiences. Such as drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, choking, lung oxygen level dropping, and many more.
Symptoms of a Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic injuries range from minor to extremely severe depending on the location, pressure, and severity of the accident. Though the symptoms may vary from person to person, there are some common signs that most users tend to face after being a victim of traumatic brain injury.
Let’s find out the common signs and symptoms that are showing you are suffering from a traumatic brain injury, despite all your ignorance:
- Dizziness
- Severe headache
- Fatigue
- Having trouble sleeping
- Short term memory loss
- Mood swings
- Finding hard to focus on anything
- Loss of coordination
- Getting irritated over trivial matters
- Feeling upset or like to cry without any specific reasons
- Paralysis
- Loss of sensation
- Behavioral changes
- Hallucination
- Blurry eyesight
- Communication problems, like stammering
Note:
In case your body is showing any signs of the above-mentioned symptoms—then without wasting even a second, your first and foremost duty is to visit a doctor as soon as possible and examine it.
Remember, the more delay you will make in taking action, the worsen the situation will get.
How is Brain Injury Compensation Calculated?
As mentioned above, brain injury is one of the most painful and serious injuries compared to all the noteworthy injuries. Hence, their calculation is also done with much consideration by keeping several factors in mind.
Generally, this kind of compensation is calculated by merging the general and special damages to ensure nothing gets left out. So the victim receives justice from all angles.
Let’s see in detail what these two damages consist to understand how these settlements basically work:
General Damages
These damages are those damages that cannot be measured. In other words, they are intangible and have no precise price tag to them. Therefore, these damages need expert help to do an accurate estimation.
- Any kind of physical pain that needs long-term treatment
- Mental distress, such as depression, nervousness, hallucinations, etc.
- Loss of any sensation, taste, or any enjoyment of life
- Temporary or permanent paralysis
Special Damages
Special damages are those damages that have a monetary value and thus can be calculated based on that value. They are much easier to estimate compared to the general damages.
- Medical expenses considering the current and future treatment fees
- Any kinds of travel costings, such as taking a taxi to the hospital for a doctor appointment
- Wages loss, due to the injury
- House and vehicle adaptation expenses
- Property damages due to the incident
It is a general estimation based on which brain injury settlement is calculated. And thus can vary from case to case, depending on the severity of the accident.
However, in all cases, whether mild or severe brain juries, hiring an experienced lawyer is always recommended to make this calculation.
After all, they are specialists in these fields who know all the gaps along with how to deal with every kind of situation.
Are There Any Time Limits for Making a Traumatic Brain Injury Claim?
Yes, there is certain time limits restriction for making a traumatic injury claim. And, you must make your claim within 2 years except for some situations. Such as you regained consciousness after 2 years, the claims are being made from abroad, etc.
However, failure to make a claim within the time limit will result in not accepting your plea, irrespective of how seriously you were injured in the accident.
Hence, the smarter call is to make the claims for the compensations when there is still time to make the compensations. And the quicker you will be in taking these actions, the more time your lawyer will get to make the case stronger.
Who Can Claim for Brain Injury Compensations?
Before claiming brain injury compensation, you must know whether you are eligible to make one or not. Remember, you can only claim against a person or an organization for your brain injury if they were partly or fully responsible for your brain damage.
So, if your case falls under the below criteria, then you must definitely go ahead and claim for your legal rights and compensations:
- Road accidents
- Workplace injuries
- Motorbike accident
- Sudden slips and falls
- Sports-related wounds (such as wrestling, martial arts)
- Child abuse
- Gunshots wounds
- Public places incidents
- Medical carelessness
- Criminal assaults
Do You Need Legal Help for Brain Injury Compensation?
Of course. In fact, the wiser call is to take legal help for brain injury reimbursements right away after the accident.
Naturally, after an accident, we will not be in the right state of mind, let alone making a simple decision. In this catastrophic situation, the person who can help us in the true sense is a skilled brain injury lawyer.
Starting from doing all the paperwork to estimating and fighting in court for your legal rights and compensation—they will stay beside you from scratch to the final verdict.
Apart from doing all the legal work, they will give you the proper mental support you and your family require at this direst time of need. You will eventually find yourself relieving from all these hassles.
How Can These Compensations Help You?
Claiming compensation for your injuries is a part of your legal rights. So why would you not fight for it, right?
Moreover, after facing an accident, we all know how traumatized we can get mentally, let alone physical injuries. Whether minor or major, an accident is an accident, and it has the full power to change one’s life completely. If not more, to make things more complicated for us comes various expenses.
At that time, this compensation can play a crucial role in relieving our stresses by helping us to pay all our bills along with other various essential expenses.
Here is the list of things where the compensation can be a great help for you and your families:
- Medical expenditures
- Therapy expenses
- Full or part-time care and maintenance costings
- Operation charges
- Any special device you need for your daily living
- Transportation and travel arrangements
- Loss of income sources
- Any special education requirements
Closing Notes
Severe brain injuries can place you and your family in one of the most challenging situations one can imagine themselves in. At that time, the brain injury compensation can act as a ray of hope in this distressful situations.
But as we are not familiar with all the terms of the laws, the ideal option to go for is hiring an experienced lawyer as soon as possible after the accident.
Only they can be our true savior at this moment of crisis for us by guiding and fighting for our legal rights and compensation. The quicker you will be in taking action, the better it will be for your case.
