Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and spinal cord injuries (SCI) can have devastating, lifelong consequences for both the victims and their families. Unlike broken bones or lacerations, which often fully heal with only a scar to remind you they happened, these injuries often do not fully heal.
TBIs and SCIs can be permanent injuries that cost you potentially millions of dollars and change the quality of your life forever. Adding insult to injury, these injuries are rarely your fault, but instead occur due to the negligence of others or defective products. Therefore, it is only right that those responsible be held financially accountable for their negligence. In our San Diego office, Schneiderman Trial Attorneys’s brain injury attorneys may be able to assist you with getting that accountability.
Traumatic brain injuries can range from a concussion to penetrating brain injuries or blast injuries. While concussions may sound like a minor injury, they can have significant consequences that worsen with each subsequent concussion. Other TBIs, such as skull fractures, cerebral contusions (bruising on the brain from an impact), intracranial hematomas (collections of blood in the brain or surrounding tissues), or penetrating brain injuries (an object piercing the skull and entering the brain) are much more severe. They can cause varying levels of damage, from mild to permanent. TBIs in childhood, such as falling off a bike and hitting their head without a helmet, may affect a child’s brain development, completely changing the trajectory of their life. In older adults, TBIs may be missed because their symptoms overlap with those of other more common health conditions that older adults may suffer from, such as dementia.
Many things can cause traumatic brain injuries, but the Centers for Disease Control cites falls for nearly half of all TBI-related hospitalizations. Motor vehicle accidents and assaults are also common ways individuals may suffer a TBI. A TBI can also be a common sports injury, such as concussions in football players.
Some TBIs are not caused by blunt force trauma to the head, fractures, or falls. Instead, they can be caused by the loss of oxygen or blood flow to the brain and are called acquired brain injuries. Chemical exposures, near-drowning, or choking experiences may cause these injuries.
Symptoms of a TBI include headaches, confusion or disorientation, loss of consciousness, seizures, nausea or vomiting, dizziness or balance problems, memory loss, ringing in the ears, blurred vision, weakness or numbness, mood changes, and difficulty thinking clearly or concentrating.
Acquired brain injuries have many of the same symptoms, as well as problems with sleep or appetite, lost ability to smell or taste, and deteriorated motor skills. Any time a brain injury is suspected, whether it is a TBI or acquired brain injury, immediate medical treatment should be sought.
TBIs are typically diagnosed by reviewing the individual’s medical history, physical exams, and imaging tests such as computed tomography (CT) scans or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Depending on the type of TBI, diagnosis may be relatively quick or take multiple exams and repeated imaging. For example, a penetrating brain injury may be apparent immediately while a concussion may take multiple exams before a confirmed diagnosis is made.
While a mild concussion may heal with little to no lasting effects, more serious TBIs can cause permanent cognitive, physical, or emotional disabilities that impact the individual’s abilities to work, have relationships, and otherwise live life as they did before the injury. Sometimes these disabilities can be mitigated with physical, occupational, or other therapies, but the individual may still have lasting impairments that disrupt their life.
The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest of the body, literally and figuratively. The spinal cord transmits communications from the brain to the rest of the body, and when it is damaged, that transmittal is compromised or eliminated. When someone suffers trauma to their back near or on the spine, there is a significant risk of spinal cord injuries.
Spinal cord injuries can range from whiplash and contusions (bruising), which are considered mild even though they do not feel that way, to a complete severing of the spinal cord. Even a seemingly minor injury like a contusion on the spinal cord can cause temporary or permanent changes in feeling, movement, and function. Contusions also have the potential to cause paralysis. Other spinal cord injuries can also result in temporary or permanent paralysis, as well as partial loss of function. The location of the spinal cord injury determines where and how much of the body loses function. The higher the injury, the more of the body that is affected.
Spinal cord injuries are commonly caused by trauma in motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, or falls. However, they can also be caused by infections, congenital defects, or compression, such as tumors or herniated discs.
Symptoms of spinal cord injuries include loss of sensation or movement below the point of injury, pain, inability to regulate body temperature, muscle paralysis or weakness, and difficulty controlling the bowels or bladder. Physical exams, X-rays, and CT scans or MRIs often diagnose them.
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation estimates that the costs of spinal cord injuries can range from $347,484 for the first year and $42,206 for each subsequent year for incomplete motor function at any level to $1,064,716 for the first year and $184,891 for each successive year for a high tetraplegia injury. The lifetime costs depend on the severity of the injury and the age at which the individual is injured. These costs do not include lost wages, fringe benefits, or other indirect costs of the injury; they are the healthcare costs and living expenses directly related to the spinal cord injury.
Given the opportunity, most TBI and SCI survivors would gladly go back to their old life. Unfortunately, that is often impossible. For some survivors and their families, life after the injury can be much like reverting to childhood. Some survivors may require assistance with changing diapers, taking showers, eating, drinking, and relearning how to walk, talk, and other activities.
Perhaps the biggest struggle TBI and SCI survivors and their families face is the lack of information regarding their injury, how to cope with it, and how to begin rebuilding their lives. Once a survivor leaves rehab, they may feel like they are on their own. Caregivers are impacted just as much, with caregiving quickly becoming a full-time job that puts marriages, careers, and more on hold. The lasting effects of these injuries can permanently alter family dynamics as well.
Recovery will likely be a lifelong journey as you learn to manage tasks and activities that were once second-nature. Even when physical, speech, or other therapies help, it may take thousands of dollars and many years to recover from a TBI or SCI fully, if a full recovery is even possible.
There is no average compensation for traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries. Every case is unique, with the severity of the injury and the specific impairments looking different even if the diagnosed injury is the same. However, there are several economic and non-economic damages that survivors and their families can seek compensation for.
Economic damages are easily quantified damages, or those that are easily calculated and proven. These include current and future medical expenses, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, rehabilitation, and disability. Modifications to your home to accommodate the injury, such as installing wheelchair ramps, non-slip floors, grab bars, or widening doorways, or vehicle modifications such as hand controls, are also economic damages you may be compensated for. If the individual does not survive their TBI or SCI, funeral and burial expenses may also be included.
These damages can be negotiated, but they tend to be easier for both sides to agree on, as there are bills, receipts, pay stubs, and other evidence to prove them. However, California is also a comparative negligence state, which means that if the victim is assigned any fault in their injury, their compensation will be reduced by the amount of fault they are assigned. At Schneiderman Trial Attorneys, we are prepared to investigate your claim and fight to prove the other party’s liability so you can receive the maximum compensation possible.
Non-economic damages are not as quickly calculated and do not have proof such as medical bills or pay stubs. These types of damages include pain and suffering, loss of consortium, past and future loss of enjoyment of life, emotional distress, inconvenience, reduced quality of life, and disability or disfigurement.
These damages tend to be the ones that are hardest to negotiate. Because there is no evidence to back up the numbers, and each case is unique, there is often more negotiation over non-economic damages as we try to maximize your compensation and the other party tries to minimize it.
Traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries are different from other personal injury lawsuits. These claims are more complex, with more permanent impacts, and longer and more expensive treatments. Some factors considered when determining compensation include the severity of the injury, treatment and recovery expectations, disruptions to everyday life and activities, emotional trauma, the certainty of liability, and the cost of litigation.
While some individuals can make a full recovery and have little to no permanent impairments after therapies and other medical treatments, many TBI and SCI survivors live with permanent impairments. These impairments include cognitive dysfunction, mobility loss, aphasia, seizures, strokes, blood clots, permanent personality changes, changes in mood and emotional state, communication struggles, memory loss, coma, or death.
These impairments do not affect just the survivor, but the caregivers as well. Survivors may be frustrated by their disabilities and the new limits they face, while caregivers struggle with the loss of the loved one they once knew and the relationship they once had. In addition to the typical medical expenses and lost wages, these permanent effects are a significant reason to seek compensation from liable parties when you or someone you love has suffered a TBI or SCI.
While California law does not require TBI or SCI victims to hire an attorney to file their claims, there can be several benefits to doing so. These lawsuits are pretty nuanced, with an intense focus on the injuries' precise nature, extent, and duration. Even when liability and the severity of the injury is beyond dispute, damages are frequently the subject of intense dispute and litigation. Attempting to argue these matters on your own while trying to recover from your injuries, or a caregiver attempting to discuss them while still engaging in caregiving duties, can be overwhelming and highly stressful. Additionally, you may need a variety of witnesses to assist in making your case crystal clear. At Schneiderman Trial Attorneys, we are prepared to call witnesses who are experts in psychiatry, neurology, neuropsychiatry, and neuropsychology to explain the impacts of your injury on your brain and body. We can also call experts such as life planners and economists to describe the long-term costs of your injury to ensure that there is no misunderstanding or minimizing the devastating impact this injury has had on your life. An experienced traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury attorney has also gained specialized medical and legal knowledge that can be put to use to argue your claim and help build a stronger case. Finally, we can focus on your claim while you focus on recovering. California law provides two years from the date of your injury to initiate your claim. Two years may pass before you know it, particularly if your injuries are severe. By hiring an attorney, you can focus on your treatments and recovering as fully as possible. In contrast, we will focus on gathering the evidence, building the case, negotiating your settlement or preparing for litigation. We will ensure that your claim is filed before the statute of limitations expires so that you can receive the compensation you deserve under the law.
