Virginia Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer FAQs

It's fairly simple for your TBI attorney to use pay stubs and employment records to calculate lost wages for days spent in the hospital recovering. Because traumatic brain injuries often have long-term repercussions, however, your legal team may need to go a step further to arrive at a full accounting of your future wages. Physicians, economic experts, and other witnesses might be utilized to show the full extent of your economic losses.

Related Links: What Do I Need to Know About Filing a Lawsuit for a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)? If I’ve Had Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries in the Past, Can I Still Recover Damages for a New Injury? Common Mistakes to Avoid That Could Cost You in a Brain Injury Case

Cases involving plaintiffs who have experienced TBIs in the past can be more difficult to win, however, because you will need to show: 

• How your previous injury made you susceptible to further harm
• That your current medical costs and loss of wages stem from this new accident
• Proof that the at-fault party behaved with negligence, whether by driving under the influence, failing to fix broken steps, or some other behavior 

An experienced TBI attorney is absolutely critical to this process and can help by utilizing medical records, police reports, and eyewitness testimony to provide compelling evidence in a lawsuit.

Related Links: The Big 5 Questions to Answer Before Filing Your Brain Injury Case What Do I Need to Know About Filing a Lawsuit for a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury? What Factors Determine the Value of My Brain Injury Case?

Help remember the small details

Your loved one will likely need assistance keeping records, writing down questions, and tracking bills that need to be paid. It is extremely easy for a TBI patient to become distracted or forget important dates and details.  

Make necessary changes at home

There are many things you can do to keep your loved one as safe and comfortable as possible, such as installing assistive equipment. In some cases, you may need to consider long-term care at a facility for more in-depth assistance that can’t always be provided at home.

Seek out TBI rehabilitation experts to assist in the recovery process

This may include doctors, speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and support groups for TBI victims. 

Related Links: Helpful Tips for Learning to Cope After a Traumatic Brain Injury Can a Traumatic Brain Injury Be Cured? What Is the Goal of Rehabilitation After a Brain Injury?

 

 

Even mild brain injuries can have a big impact on your finances as you rack up expensive medical bills—especially if returning to work full time isn’t always possible. Symptoms after suffering a mild traumatic brain injury in an accident can include:

• Anxiety and depression
• Changes to thought processes, such as delays in thinking or difficulty comprehending concepts
• Difficulty concentrating 
• Dizziness and nausea 
• Emotional issues like irritability, mood swings, and sudden angry outbursts
• Fatigue and difficulty sleeping
• Headaches
• Memory loss
• PTSD
• Ringing in the ears
• Sensory issues like loss of smell or sensitivity to light and sound
• Vision problems

Even these supposedly “mild” symptoms may prevent you from completing your normal work duties, stop you from driving, or otherwise interfere with your daily routine and cause a financial loss. You have a legal right to recover damages for those losses if your injury was caused by negligence, whether in a car accident, a slip and fall, or other incidents.

Related Links: What Are the Symptoms of a Mild Traumatic Brain Injury? Why Won’t the Insurance Company Settle My Mild TBI Case? Concussions Are a Mild Form of Traumatic Brain Injury

Make sure they have a personal injury lawyer

Getting justice for your loved one’s injury by holding the negligent party responsible is just the beginning. Medical costs associated with a TBI can be astronomical, and your loved one might not be able to work. Work with an experienced brain injury attorney to prove negligence caused the injury so your family member can receive the full compensation they are owed.

Maintain a schedule

Avoiding confusion that leads to extreme frustration is critical. Besides making a regular schedule, be ready to break bigger tasks into smaller, more manageable actions and allow plenty of time for breaks.

Related Links: A Child With a Traumatic Brain Injury May Need a Lifetime of Care and Treatment How Cognitive Difficulties After a Traumatic Brain Injury Impact Your Daily Life Signs and Symptoms of a Virginia Brain Injury

 

Evidence of Future Expenses Due to a Traumatic Brain Injury

Expenses for a TBI don’t stop just at the initial emergency room visit or hospital stay, however. You may require ongoing and expensive medical treatment, from additional surgeries to long-term therapy and even assisted living costs.  

Additionally, severe TBI patients often lose the ability to earn income as they can’t work due to cognitive and language difficulties caused by brain injury. You may be able to recover damages for continuing expenses and loss of wages. That's why you need to keep track of:

• Pay stubs, bank statements, and tax returns
• Treatment notes from any physical, occupational, or speech therapy 
• Expert witness testimony

That last type of evidence is typically handled by your attorney, who may consult with economic, medical, or vocational experts to provide context to your situation. You need a personal injury lawyer who understands how TBI cases work and knows the ins and outs of both state and federal law to put this evidence together into a compelling argument. 

Related Links: Concussions Are a Mild Form of Traumatic Brain Injury Why You Need an Attorney After Suffering Vision Problems From a Traumatic Brain Injury What Is the Difference Between a Mild, Moderate, and Severe Brain Injury?

 

To accurately establish the value of your case and recover the full amount you are owed, it is critical to see a doctor immediately after the accident to establish a paper trail. You will need documentation to prove the accident caused your brain injury as well as to show the extent of the injury’s impact on your life.

With that information in hand, TBI cases still require dealing with insurance adjusters who have a vested interest in reducing or denying your claim, as well as at-fault parties who often don’t want to admit their responsibility. For the best shot at a successful recovery, you need a local attorney with a track record of positive outcomes for traumatic brain injury victims. 

Related Links: Communication Difficulties Can Disrupt Everyday Life After a Traumatic Brain Injury How Cognitive Difficulties After a Traumatic Brain Injury Impact Your Daily Life A Child With a Traumatic Brain Injury May Need a Lifetime of Care and Treatment

What to Do After a Cerebral Laceration

Cerebral tears can occur even if you don’t lose consciousness or suffer any immediate cognitive difficulties after the accident. Because of the potential for serious health problems, it is important to see a doctor after any head injury to determine if a laceration has occurred. Cerebral laceration treatment may require an extended hospital stay so you can be monitored for swelling, ensure your brain is receiving enough oxygen, and manage pain.

A doctor visit also establishes a paper trail on your injury so an insurance carrier or at-fault party can’t claim the damage to your brain occurred in a previous incident. If someone else caused your cerebral tear, you should contact an experienced attorney focused on traumatic brain injury cases to determine who is legally at fault for your injury and seek compensation.

Related Links: What Are the Symptoms of a Brain Injury? Living With a Brain Injury Victim in Virginia? How a Lawyer Decides Whether to Take a Brain Injury Case

 

Should Someone Else Be Paying for Your Rehab?

If another driver, property owner, or another negligent party was responsible for causing the accident that left you injured, you might have a claim for compensation from their insurance company. At the Mottley Law Firm, we are experienced with traumatic brain injury claims and understand what kinds of long-term therapies and treatments may be required. If you or a loved one has suffered a TBI in an accident, reach out to our firm today to find out if we can help. We only accept a few personal injury cases at a time because we want to provide each of our clients with the highest level of service. If we can do your case justice, we will tell you how!

Related Links: Diffuse Axonal Brain Injury in a Virginia Accident Traumatic Brain Injuries in Children Caused by Car Accidents Concussions Are a Mild Form of Traumatic Brain Injury

 

No matter what level of brain injury you or your loved one has suffered, if another person’s negligence caused the car accident, slip and fall, or workplace accident that lead to your TBI, you need an attorney to help you fight for damages. Contact the Mottley Law Firm to learn more about our traumatic brain injury legal services.

Related Links: Do I Need a Lawyer? What Attorney Fee Do You Charge? How Do You Decide Whether to Take My Brain Injury Case?

 

Occupational rehabilitation

If your TBI prevents you from returning to the type of work you did before the accident, you may undergo occupational therapy to learn new ways to complete tasks or to learn a new trade altogether.

Support groups and counseling

People with TBI may experience depression and have other emotional struggles. Group and individual counseling can ease some of the suffering.

Your doctor will recommend the right combination of these rehabilitation services for your specific case.

Worried About Paying for Rehab? Our Richmond Attorney May Be Able to Help!

If a careless driver, negligent property owner, or non-compliant employer contributed to the cause of the accident that left you struggling with a TBI, you might be able to sue for compensation to cover your losses. Our brain injury lawyer can fight the complex battle against an insurance company and the people who caused the injury while you focus on recovering from the injury. 

Related Links: Do I Need a Lawyer? What Attorney Fee Do You Charge? How Do You Decide Whether to Take My Brain Injury Case?

 

Another factor that plays into this issue is that emergency personnel, including EMTs and emergency room doctors, are typically more focused on other problems with a patient than they are with investigating whether a concussion occurred.  To illustrate the point, let's assume a patient was in a car accident in which they broke their leg and suffered a nasty gash on their hand, which is bleeding profusely.  When they arrive at the emergency room, they are fully awake and oriented.  They are as conscious as a person can be.  But they're bleeding and in a lot of pain.  The ER doctors are going to focus, first, on stopping the profusely bleeding hand and, second, on getting down to fixing that broken leg.  They'll most certainly ask whether a loss of consciousness occurred.  The answer will in most cases be "I don't know" or "no," at which point the medical personnel will check that box off in their report and move on.

This sort of dynamic is why a recent study showed that more than 50% of mild traumatic brain injuries (concussions) are not diagnosed in the emergency room.

Here at The Mottley Law Firm, most of the traumatic brain injury cases we handle involve a person who either responded "no" or "I don't know" to the question, "did you lose consciousness."  That is the fact pattern we see most of the time in mild TBI cases.

If you or a loved one have suffered a mild traumatic brain injury or concussion due to some sort of accident or mishap, feel free to contact us about the matter.  We focus a significant portion of our practice on helping people in this position with their legal needs.