Head injuries are often among the most complicated personal injuries.
If you fall and hit your head, suffer an on-the-job accident or get into a car accident, it could easily result in a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A traumatic brain injury essentially means that a blow to the head resulted in some type of permanent damage to the brain. A motor accident can result in a TBI but any violent jolt to the neck and head can jar your brain enough that it causes a mild or severe concussion.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury (add an external link to https://www.healthline.com/health/head-injury) is a complex injury that causes a wide variety of symptoms. Worse, often these symptoms are disabling and disruptive to your everyday life. TBIs principally occurs when an abrupt incident, or trauma, causes damage to the brain. Brain damage has a wide range of types and durations. Symptoms can be mild, moderate, or severe, and depend on the extent of brain damage.
There are several types of head injuries. The most common are:
- Concussion: A concussion occurs when the brain is jarred or shook hard enough to bounce around in the skull. They can be mild or severe. A concussion does not have to be the result of a blow to the skull. A traumatic injury in the neck or elsewhere on the body can produce enough energy to cause a head injury.
- Skull Fracture: A lot of blunt force trauma is needed to fracture a skull bone. This can easily concuss the brain. Moreover, pieces of skull bone can also enter into the brain and produce bleeding and swelling, and very severe brain injury.
- Contusion: This is essentially a bruise on the brain. It can also cause bleeding and swelling.
- Intracranial hematoma (ICH): This is bleeding in the cranium that has formed a blood clot. It can occur anywhere in the skull and is identified by the area the injury originates.
Injury Signs And Symptoms
The bulk of head injuries are symptom-free following the incident. More severe head injuries lead to problems for months or even years. The more severe the brain injury, the more distinct the long-term effects are likely to be.
Longer-term or even permanent injuries to your head logically have a long-term, even a life-long impact on your life. This life-changing reality is very stressful and requires financial resources to help make you whole again, so you can enjoy the life you were living before your injury. Compensation for your personal injury claim pivots on your treatment needs.
What Compensation Can I Expect?
Economic damages often referred to as special damages, are calculated to help recover any financial losses you may have incurred from a long-term head injury.
They include the following:
- Medical bills, including any expected or eventual costs
- Lost wages and future expected earnings and losses
- Property damage
- Day-to-day living expenses
Essentially, economic damages are intended to provide relief and assist in recovering losses.
Not all financial losses or necessary costs fall into the economic category. Other losses or damages do not have a price tag. These financial damages are equally as important and should be awarded if the circumstances require.
Common non-economic damages are the following:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Mental anguish
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of reputation
Effects on Compensation / How Compensation is Calculated
If you have a long-term head injury, it may be difficult to recover the full compensation that you deserve. The variety of head injuries and treatment options makes it difficult to make compensation estimations.
It is easy to produce medical bills and get estimates on currently crucial treatment, but future costs for any eventualities are not black and white. Most traumatic brain injury victims suffer both tangible and intangible damages. Because it is not easy to quantify all related damages, insurance companies will make every effort to undervalue them.
The first question is usually “how much will I be compensated?”. To determine this amount, it is crucial to prove the costs of all possible damages including future treatments, procedures, and surgery options.
Providing evidence is the key. Economic damages are relatively straightforward to prove. Non-economic, intangible damages can be challenging. The harder to calculate, the harder to demonstrate liability for those damages.
But more importantly, compensation for long-term head injuries depends on all the circumstances. Serious head injuries can be life-long debilitating conditions and will be scrutinized throughout the process of your claim to be compensated.
Timing – Statute of limitations
Be aware. Your compensation can be hindered if the insurance company can prove that you did not seek medical treatment immediately after your head injury. Moreover, if your behavior afterward may have contributed to making your injuries worse, they have a reason to deny you compensation for your medical bills. Seeking immediate medical attention is essential and speaking with a personal injury claim specialist is the correct first step.
Schedule A Consultation
In order to navigate the complex process of compensation for a long-term head injury, you need a clear picture of your options. You must present your claim with confidence. It is a challenge that should be done in partnership with an experienced, professional attorney. One that knows the ins and outs of the process from A to Z.
It is in your best interest to schedule a personalized consultation with a personal injury lawyer to learn how much compensation you should get. They will walk you through every step of the process and answer all of your questions. This almost guarantees you the highest compensation to get your pre-injury life back.
