Plan for an Uncertain Future After a Traumatic Brain Injury

Suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in Virginia? 

If you’ve experienced a massive impact on your day-to-day life due to a traumatic brain injury, you should contact our Virginia Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer today. If you have been hurt near Richmond, Virginia we provide free, confidential consultations to empower you to fight for compensation. Send us a message, call our office at (804) 409-0876 or fill out a contact form to speak with us about your case. 

The road to recovery is often a long one after a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and sadly full recoveries are relatively rare. Because you may be looking at months or years of rehabilitation after an accident, you might not even know your full recovery prognosis yet. That’s why future damages for costs incurred down the line are an important element when dealing with insurance or filing a lawsuit against the negligent party who caused the accident.

Potential Long-Term Impacts of a Virginia Traumatic Brain Injury

Whether you regain full physical and cognitive capacity to return to life as usual after the accident depends on a number of important factors. Your diagnosis and future medical needs may change radically depending on circumstances like:

• If you lost consciousness at the time of the accident and how long you remained unconscious
• The type of accident (car crash, pedestrian accident, workplace injury, slip and fall, etc.)
• Whether you suffered a “closed” head wound or a penetrating “open” wound that pierced the skull
• The overall severity of the injury
• Your age at the time of the accident (both the elderly and extremely young children are less likely to fully recover)
• Any pre-existing conditions you had or secondary conditions you develop
• Your access to a support system of friends, family, and local support groups for dealing with your new normal

In many cases, accident victims who suffer a TBI will experience serious impediments to everyday activity like household chores, as well as difficulties with maintaining employment opportunities.

Issues That May Affect Your Life Permanently After A Traumatic Brain Injury

1. Anxiety and depression
2. Chronic pain
3. Cognitive impairment
4. Disfigurement
5. Emotional outbursts and other behavioral changes
6. Memory issues
7. Physical disabilities
8. Seizures and muscle spasms
9. Speech and language difficulties
10. Vision loss or impairment

How to Value and Recover Future Damages in TBI Case

Any insurance settlement or court judgement in a personal injury lawsuit will likely include lost wages from time spent away from work while recovering. TBI cases are often more complex than just calculating an hourly wage due to the high possibility of extreme negative impacts on your physical and cognitive capabilities.

If you are able to return to work at all, you may need to change jobs to find an occupation that accommodates your needs. Because of that potential outcome, compensation for your injury may include future damages like lost earning potential. Since you likely would have continued earning a higher amount if you hadn’t been injured, it’s only fair that an estimation of future earnings is included. That calculation is made by multiplying the amount you likely would have made by the number of years you would have reasonably been expected to remain in the workforce. That isn’t the only future cost associated with a TBI, however.

Damages a Traumatic Brain Injury Claim May Potentially Cover

• Assisted living or in-home care if you require round-the-clock assistance
• Counseling
• Installing assistive technology or adaptive equipment at home
• Loss of earning capacity or future earning potential
• Medication
• Occupational therapy
• Physical rehabilitation
• Speech therapy
• Surgeries
• Vocational retraining

Recovering these sorts of damages at all requires the assistance of a top Virginia personal injury attorney. A lawyer focused on brain injury cases can investigate the cause of the accident, show who is liable for your damages, and gather evidence to show how the injury is expected to impact you in the future.

Using medical records, employment documents, expert witnesses, and other evidence, a TBI attorney can fight for the full and fair amount you actually deserve. That amount should include both the initial medical bills from the time of the accident, as well as disruptive expenses you can reasonably expect to deal with down the line.