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What Are the Most Common Causes of TBI?
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) often have life-altering effects, affecting not only victims but also their families. These injuries are often preventable, resulting from another person’s careless or reckless behavior. When negligence leads to a TBI, victims have legal options that can help them recover compensation for the heavy financial, emotional, and physical toll these injuries create.
If you’re dealing with the effects of a TBI due to someone else’s actions, a personal injury lawyer can be your advocate in seeking justice and support. The following is a look at the most common causes of TBI and information on how a brain injury lawyer can help you pursue the damages you deserve.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents are a top cause of TBIs, especially in cases involving high-speed collisions, large vehicles, or impaired drivers. When a collision occurs, a driver or passenger’s head can strike against windows, steering wheels, or airbags, resulting in concussions, brain contusions, and more severe brain damage. Even if you’re wearing a seatbelt, the jolt from a crash can cause your brain to move violently within the skull, leading to injury.
Negligence Behind the Wheel
Most TBIs from car accidents result from someone else’s negligence. Distracted driving, drunk driving, speeding, and reckless driving contribute significantly to the frequency and severity of these accidents. When someone fails to follow traffic laws, their actions endanger everyone on the road, and if you’re a victim of this carelessness, you have the right to hold them accountable.
Legal Action After a Crash
A personal injury lawyer can work with you to prove that another driver’s negligence directly led to your TBI. They’ll gather evidence from police reports, witness statements, and even accident reconstruction specialists to build a strong case for compensation. This compensation can help cover medical expenses, therapy costs, lost income, and other damages related to your injury.
Slip and Fall Incidents
Slip and fall accidents account for nearly 50 percent of hospitalizations due to TBIs, especially when unsafe conditions are present. You might slip on a wet floor, trip over uneven pavement, or lose balance due to poor lighting. These incidents often occur on someone else’s property – be it a store, workplace, or even a friend’s home – where the owner is responsible for keeping the environment safe.
When Property Owners Fail Their Duty
Under premises liability law, property owners are responsible for maintaining a reasonably safe environment for visitors. If you’re injured due to hazardous conditions, the property owner’s negligence can make them liable. Falls can be especially harmful for older adults, leading to TBIs that can take months or even years to heal fully.
Seeking Justice After a Fall
After a slip and fall accident, a personal injury attorney can bring a claim against the property owner. They’ll review security footage, maintenance records, and witness accounts to establish negligence. This kind of claim helps you seek compensation for your injuries and holds property owners accountable, potentially making environments safer for others.
Workplace Injuries
Workplace accidents also contribute to a significant number of TBIs every year, particularly in high-risk fields like construction, transportation, and manufacturing. A worker might suffer a TBI after being struck by a heavy object, falling from a height, or even due to repetitive exposure to hazardous environments. These injuries can result in permanent disability, preventing individuals from returning to their jobs or even leading an independent life.
Employer and Third-Party Negligence
While workers’ compensation covers most workplace injuries, there are times when a third party’s negligence contributes to the incident. For instance, if a subcontractor’s negligence caused the unsafe conditions, you can file a personal injury claim against that party. Similarly, a claim against the equipment manufacturer can be appropriate if faulty equipment led to your injury.
Filing for Damages in Workplace TBI Cases
In these situations, a personal injury lawyer can help you seek damages beyond what workers’ compensation provides. They’ll assess every detail to hold all responsible parties accountable, helping you secure compensation for medical costs, lost future earnings, and long-term care if necessary.
Sports-Related TBIs: The Role of Negligence in Recreational Injuries
Between 1.6 and 3.8 million people in the U.S. suffer a sports-related TBI yearly. While many sports come with inherent risks, certain sports-related TBIs stem from negligent behavior. Coaches, trainers, and even facilities that fail to enforce safety protocols can create dangerous conditions that lead to injury. Whether you’re participating in recreational activities or organized sports, a lack of proper equipment, inadequate supervision, or failure to follow concussion protocols can put you at risk of a TBI.
Liability in Sports and Recreation
When a TBI results from someone else’s failure to maintain safety, you may have grounds to file a personal injury claim. This might apply if a facility did not provide proper gear, a coach neglected to follow safety protocols, or a sports organization allowed a player to return to the field too soon after a concussion.
Legal Support for Sports TBIs
A personal injury lawyer can work with you to determine whether negligence contributed to your injury. They’ll build a case by examining the policies, how they were enforced, and any deviations from standard safety practices. This approach can be essential for recovering damages that support your recovery, especially when a TBI affects your future athletic or academic pursuits.
Assaults and Violent Incidents
TBIs can also result from intentional violence, such as physical assault. In many cases, these injuries occur in places where security measures are inadequate, such as nightclubs, parking garages, or apartment complexes. If you suffered a TBI due to an assault in a setting where proper security could have prevented the incident, the property owner or manager might be liable.
Inadequate Security and Premises Liability
Certain places, especially those with higher violent crime risks, must maintain appropriate security measures. This might include hiring security personnel, installing surveillance cameras, or ensuring well-lit pathways. If they fail to take these precautions and an assault leads to your injury, you can pursue a premises liability claim.
Compensation for Assault-Related TBIs
A personal injury lawyer can file a claim against the property owner or security company involved. They’ll gather evidence to show that the lack of security contributed to your injury, making it easier to recover compensation for medical treatment, pain and suffering, and emotional distress resulting from the assault.
Medical Malpractice
In some instances, TBIs occur due to medical malpractice, such as a surgical error, incorrect diagnosis, or improper treatment. For instance, a delay in diagnosing a brain injury can worsen the condition, leading to severe long-term effects. Similarly, a surgical error can cause oxygen deprivation, resulting in brain damage.
Holding Healthcare Providers Accountable
Medical professionals can be held liable for the harm caused when they fail to uphold the standard of care. Proving that a healthcare provider’s actions led to a TBI can be complex, often requiring evidence that another competent provider would not have made the same error.
Pursuing a Malpractice Claim
A personal injury lawyer can assist in filing a medical malpractice claim. They’ll work to show how the healthcare provider’s actions directly contributed to your injury, gathering medical records and testimony from other medical providers if necessary. This claim can secure compensation for ongoing treatment and loss of future earnings, which can be significant with a TBI.
Potential Compensation for TBI Victims
If you’ve suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to someone else’s negligence, filing a personal injury claim can open doors to meaningful financial support. TBIs come with high medical expenses, long-term care needs, and a substantial impact on your ability to work and enjoy life. With a personal injury lawyer, you can pursue compensation for various damages, each addressing a different aspect of the injury’s toll on your life.
Medical Costs
TBIs usually require intensive medical care, which can lead to staggering expenses. After the initial injury, you may need surgeries, hospital stays, ongoing therapy, medication, and specialized equipment. These costs add up quickly and can drain your finances. Through a personal injury claim, you can seek compensation to cover these medical expenses, ensuring you’re not left with the financial burden of another person’s carelessness.
Medical costs don’t end with immediate treatment. Brain injuries often lead to secondary issues that demand long-term care and specialized rehabilitation. Having a lawyer include every foreseeable medical expense in your claim can significantly affect your financial recovery. This way, you don’t have to choose between essential treatments and financial stability.
Future Treatment and Care
Many TBIs have lasting effects that require continued treatment. For some, physical therapy and cognitive rehabilitation become regular parts of life, and these costs can skyrocket over time. Your condition might also require ongoing consultations with specialists, medication, and assistive equipment, all are essential but expensive.
When you file a claim, your lawyer can work to estimate these future medical expenses accurately. Including them prepares you for the full recovery journey, not just the immediate costs. This aspect of a personal injury claim ensures you’re compensated for treatments you might need down the line, protecting you from bearing those costs out of pocket.
Lost income and Loss of Earning Capacity
TBIs frequently interfere with a person’s ability to work, sometimes for extended periods or permanently. Depending on the severity of your injury, you might be unable to return to your previous role or face limits on your ability to work in the future. This shift can have a devastating impact on your financial stability, affecting both your current income and long-term earning potential.
Through a personal injury claim, you can recover lost income for the time you missed work due to your injury. If your TBI has reduced your ability to work going forward, your personal injury attorney can include compensation for loss of earning capacity. This compensation helps bridge the gap between what you could have earned if you hadn’t suffered an injury and what you can realistically expect to earn after your injury.
Pain and Suffering
The physical and emotional toll of a TBI goes beyond medical bills and lost income. Many TBI victims face severe pain and suffering that affects every aspect of their lives. Physical symptoms, like chronic headaches, dizziness, and fatigue, are common, while emotional and mental health struggles – such as depression, anxiety, and memory issues – often accompany the injury.
Compensation for pain and suffering is designed to address this impact. It’s not just about what you’ve physically endured; it also accounts for the emotional burden that comes with a life-changing injury. Pain and suffering damages help recognize how deeply a TBI can affect your quality of life, giving you financial support to seek therapies or other resources that help you adjust to life post-injury.
Emotional Distress and Loss of Enjoyment of Life
For many, a severe TBI alters life permanently. You might find it difficult to enjoy hobbies you once loved, socialize with friends, or even perform daily activities easily. This loss of enjoyment of life is a recognized type of damage in personal injury cases and reflects the non-economic impact of your injury.
Emotional distress damages help account for the psychological effects of a TBI, such as anxiety, PTSD, and the isolation that often comes with major lifestyle changes. This compensation provides for the intangible losses that a TBI imposes on you, recognizing the life you led before the injury and the changes forced on you after.
Let a Personal Injury Lawyer Help You Pursue Justice After a TBI
If a TBI has disrupted your life due to someone else’s negligence, you don’t have to face the aftermath alone. A personal injury lawyer can work with you to seek the justice and compensation you deserve, making it possible for you to focus on healing and rebuilding your life. TBIs affect every aspect of your daily life, from relationships to career goals, and a legal claim can provide the support you need to navigate these challenges. Contact a reputable personal injury law firm in Boca Raton, FL to schedule a free consultation for more information on how they can help.