Some of the most common examples of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) include skull fractures, contusions (brain bruises), and intracranial hematomas (bleeding in the brain). Concussions are the single most common type of TBI, and every brain injury requires immediate and thorough medical attention.

Brain injuries vary in their severity, but there is very rarely a truly “mild” brain injury. Even if a TBI seems like it might be minor at first, victims often face unexpected long-term symptoms that cause physical, financial, psychological, and emotional hardship. For this reason, you should consider hiring a Augusta brain injury attorney to ensure you receive fair compensation for your damages.

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The Common (and Potentially Devastating) Effects of Traumatic Brain Injuries

The type of brain injury you suffer will influence:

  • Whether the injury is life-threatening
  • What kinds of medical care you need
  • What TBI-related symptoms you suffer
  • Whether your injury proves disabling

Your symptoms will be one of your lawyer’s greatest concerns. These symptoms will dictate the damages you experience, including medical costs, professional damages, and pain and suffering. Some common symptoms from brain injuries include:

Physical Symptoms

We often associate brain injuries with abnormalities affecting our thoughts and behavior. However, there are some physical symptoms that can catch some brain injury victims (and their loved ones) by surprise, including:

  • Headaches
  • Balance problems
  • Seizures
  • Loss of consciousness
  • Inability to pay attention
  • Abnormalities in pupil size
  • Vomiting
  • Drowsiness

These symptoms may be more or less likely depending on the nature and severity of the brain injury.

Cognitive Symptoms

Someone with a traumatic brain injury may think and behave differently than they normally do. Potential symptoms of these changes include:

  • Being unusually aggressive or combative
  • Appearing confused, which may include being unable to follow directions
  • Speech changes
  • Memory deficits

Loved ones might report someone with a brain injury “acting differently,” and cognitive changes often help explain these changes.

Mood and Personality Changes

Someone’s mood and personality can change profoundly as a result of a traumatic brain injury. Potential signs of a brain injury include:

  • Impulsivity
  • Inability to process time and space accurately
  • Depression
  • Loss of ability to enjoy activities one typically enjoys
  • Lesser ability to engage socially
  • Decreased motivation

Such changes can be a burden for the person with the injury as well as their loved ones.

Sensory Issues

Those with brain injuries may experience numbness or abnormal sensation, heightened sensitivity to light and sound, and other sensory issues that make life more difficult.

Every brain injury affects the victim differently, resulting in unique symptoms and challenges. Your TBI lawyer will consult medical professionals so they can comprehensively document your symptoms. Your attorney will also consult doctors when calculating the cost of your TBI-related medical care.

Damages That Brain Injuries Often Cause

Potential causes of brain injuries: Vertigo, dizziness, BPPV, stroke, and dislodged canaliths

When your lawyer is evaluating the harm your brain injury has caused, the symptoms of the injury are the first consideration. Your lawyer will identify the acute ways in which the injury is affecting your behavior and diminishing your life.

Your attorney will then identify the specific types of damages that the symptoms cause, which may include:

Pain and Suffering

You might experience pain and suffering from the event that caused your TBI and the challenges that your injury imposes. Some common (and recoverable) types of pain and suffering include:

  • Lost quality of life, which may stem from mood and personality changes, pain, and other TBI-related causes
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder, as a TBI, can result from a traumatic event like an auto accident
  • Depression, as the symptom of a brain injury, can be draining
  • Anxiety, which may be a direct injury symptom or the product of living a life with a severe injury

A brain injury may prevent you from exercising, limit your social life, and make life less enjoyable. Your attorney will use the category of damages known as pain and suffering to account for these non-economic (but serious) damages.

Medical Costs

Your TBI lawyer will keep close tabs on your treatment and recovery. They will work directly with your caregivers and secure all available documentation of your medical needs, which may include:

  • CT scans and other imaging services to diagnose the brain injury
  • Emergency treatment, which may include procedures to relieve pressure in your brain
  • Surgeries
  • Medications
  • Hospital services (which may include one or more overnight stays)
  • Specialist appointments

Medical services are typically expensive. The kind of comprehensive, hands-on service required for a brain injury victim can be financially catastrophic. The cost of medical care alone is a reason to hire a lawyer and let them fight for all the compensation you deserve.

Rehabilitation Expenses

Brain injuries can cause harm that requires rehabilitation. Studies detail the potentially significant improvement that brain injury victims can see through rehab, but rehabilitation services are not free.

Your attorney will account for the cost of any rehabilitation you’re undergoing or will need in the future.

Mental Health Service Costs

Many of the symptoms of brain injuries are psychological, emotional, and personality-related. These symptoms, as well as physical pain, may lead you to seek:

  • Mood-related medication
  • Counseling, therapy, and other types of treatment for your pain and suffering

An experienced TBI attorney can refer you to a mental health professional. This professional may contribute to your case and provide the long-term care you need to recover.

Professional Damages

When you suffer an injury, your professional life may go on pause. For some, this pause proves permanent, and common professional damages for TBI victims include:

  • Lost income
  • Diminished earning capacity
  • Unfulfilled chances to earn overtime compensation, bonuses, and other performance-related incentives
  • Lost chances to earn and progress toward promotions
  • Lost benefits

Some with brain injuries can recover and return to work as usual. Others must reduce their hours, change jobs, or change their roles due to the effects of their injury. Finally, some TBI victims are permanently disabled and unable to work again.

Your lawyer will consider your unique injury, symptoms, and professional circumstances as they evaluate your damages.

Permanent Disability

Those whose brain injuries cause long-term disabilities may:

  • Need money to cover lifelong lost income
  • Experience pain and suffering for the remainder of their life
  • Need medical equipment such as a wheelchair
  • Need updates to their residence, like ramps and lifts
  • Need a new vehicle
  • Need a part- or full-time caregiver

Traumatic brain injury attorneys work with the clients they represent. Trust your lawyer to understand the full extent of your damages and fight for the settlement or verdict you deserve.

Should I Hire an Attorney After I Suffer a TBI?

Sheet with the inscription "Brain Injury Attorney" written on it, indicating legal representation for TBIs

Yes, you should hire a TBI attorney to represent you. It is hard to understand how beneficial a lawyer is until you hire one, but some of the most pressing reasons for hiring an attorney are:

  • Experience-based advice: Those who repeat any act time and again become more skilled and confident in completing that act. This same logic applies to attorneys, many of whom have completed hundreds and even thousands of TBI accident claims and lawsuits. Your lawyer’s 10,000 hours invested in cases like yours makes them a priceless addition to your case.
  • Financial support without strings: Law firms understand their clients’ financial struggles. Because of TBI lawyers’ common contingency fee structure, you won’t pay your attorney a dime out of your pocket. Your lawyer will cover all case-related costs and only receive their fee if they secure compensation for you.
  • Your ability to prioritize recovery: The time your lawyer saves you in dealing with your case can go towards your rest and recovery. After all, what is more important than recovering as soon as possible?
  • Protection from unfriendly parties: Your attorney will ensure nobody violates your rights—this is more important than you may realize. One or more parties may owe you tens of thousands of dollars, if not more. Those parties may use several tactics to undermine your case, and your TBI attorney will ensure they’re not successful.

Many clients forge strong bonds with their lawyers and use those lawyers again in future legal matters. You should not wait to find and hire a trusted legal advisor to fight for every dollar you deserve.

What to Do If You Lose a Loved One Because of a TBI?

You should also hire a lawyer if a loved one passes away because of a traumatic brain injury. Wrongful death lawyers show the utmost compassion to clients, as they understand the irreplaceable nature of our loved ones (and how crushing an unexpected death is).

If you hire a lawyer for a fatal TBI, they will likely seek compensation for:

  • All forms of pain and suffering resulting from your loved one’s passing (including grief)
  • Any grief counseling and other mental health services you require
  • Loss of the decedent’s income and other types of financial support
  • Loss of consortium, which often includes the loss of a spouse’s companionship
  • Funeral costs
  • Burial or cremation costs
  • Loss of the decedent’s contributions to their household

An attorney can provide relief when you need it most, and they will take your case’s potentially stressful, traumatic demands out of your hands.

The Cause of the TBI Will Be Key to Your Lawyer’s Case Strategy

Doctor using a virtual touchscreen to select the abbreviation "TBI," representing Traumatic Brain Injury in a medical context

Lawyers represent brain injury victims who suffered their injuries in many different circumstances, which include:

These are just a few of the many ways a brain injury can happen. If your or your loved one’s injury happened under any circumstance you believe is someone else’s fault, speak with a lawyer about pursuing a fair financial recovery.

Attorneys Offer Start-to-Finish Services (in Pursuit of Your Total Financial Recovery)

Lawyers know their clients often lack time for an insurance claim or lawsuit. This is one of several reasons why lawyers take a full-service approach that includes:

Handling All Case-Related Communications

Your lawyer will want total oversight of your case. They will handle all communications, which will also ensure nobody can violate your rights or interfere with your recovery process.

Obtaining, Reviewing, and Using All Relevant Evidence

Evidence is unique to each TBI case. Lawyers often build their client’s case with:

  • Expert testimony about who is at fault (and liable) for the brain injury
  • Eyewitness accounts related to the cause of the brain injury
  • Video footage of the event(s) that caused the TBI
  • Any police report related to the TBI

Experts may play a critical role in your case and even reconstruct the event(s) that caused your injury.

Identifying and Documenting Damages Related to the Brain Injury

Your attorney must prove the exact cost of your brain injury, which means proving every single damage you have suffered. Medical bills and records, income statements, mental health experts’ testimony, and several other types of documentation can support your lawyer’s case valuation.

Calculating the Value of the Client’s Case

Once they obtain all relevant information, your lawyer will calculate the value of your economic and non-economic damages. Your attorney will rely on this valuation as they craft their settlement demands.

Negotiating a Settlement

Your attorney will work to negotiate a settlement for you, and statistics suggest that a settlement will be the most likely outcome of your case. Liable parties likely try to lowball you and negotiate your lawyer down from their settlement demands. An experienced lawyer will stick by their initial demands.

Leading Any Necessary Lawsuit and Trial

If your brain injury case leads to a lawsuit, your attorney will file the suit as soon as possible. If you decide to go to trial, your attorney will be your stand-in during the court process.

When Should I Hire My TBI Lawyer?

You should hire your Augusta personal injury lawyer right away. There is likely a deadline for filing any lawsuit you ultimately decide to file, and your attorney will need time to build your case. By having a legal professional by your side, you can focus on your recovery while knowing that your case is in capable hands.

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