Traumatic Brain Injury

Brain injuries and brain damage can result from numerous causes, including botched operations, birth injuries, vehicle accidents, toxic industrial products, blow to the head, or slip-and-fall accidents. Given that injuries of this type routinely cause dramatic changes in the lives of victims and their entire families, it is essential that you retain litigators to help pursue and secure compensation.

A person who suffers a head injury and subsequent brain damage may lose some, or even all, of their mental functions. The brain controls not only a person’s ability to think and reason but also the capacity to control their body. Losing even a portion of these capabilities can be significant, if not devastating, for the victim and their family.

At Kasan Law, our Chicago and Illinois brain injury attorneys are dedicated to protecting our clients’ rights. If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury due to someone else’s negligence, contact our lawyers for a free and no-obligation consultation.

What is A Traumatic Brain Injury?

A traumatic brain injury is defined as serious damage done to the brain by a sudden blow or impact to the head by a violent shaking of the head. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can also be the result of a penetrating injury to the head, disrupting normal brain function. According to Centers for Disease Control, between 2006 and 2014, the number of traumatic brain injury related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths increased by over 50% in the United States. In 2014, approximately 2.8 million traumatic brain injuries resulted in emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths within the United States.

Traumatic brain injuries can be caused by events such as motor vehicle accidents, sports mishaps, and slip and fall incidents. Also, forceful and sudden contact to the head with another object, or impact that pierces the skull, can attribute to traumatic brain injuries. However, not all head injuries lead to brain damage, and some traumatic brain injuries may only cause temporary harm.

In most cases, the head injuries’ harmful effects are most apparent soon after the injury occurs because the damaged brain may have fluids build up around it or swell. Once these problems are alleviated, many people will recover functions that were temporarily impaired. Even when brain damage is permanent, other uninjured areas of the brain may be able to “take over” the impaired area’s functions, allowing the injured person to recover some normal functions. However, for some, certain abilities will never return or will improve only with intensive rehabilitative assistance and therapy.

TBIs are known for producing profound mental and cognitive impairment, lasting physical disabilities, and behavioral changes from which some patients never fully recover. Fortunately, the legal system offers victims of other individuals’ negligent acts to pursue justice and compensation. In those cases, an attorney’s assistance may be vital to assist the victim in securing the compensation needed to pay for life-care and medical services.

Traumatic Brain Injury and the Law

Broadly, a lawsuit brought by a traumatic brain injury victim will rely heavily on the law of negligence. An injured individual will bear the responsibility of establishing that another party was responsible for the harm sustained. In order to receive compensation for a traumatic brain injury, it must be established that the defendant:

• Owed a duty of care to the person injured;
• Breached that duty by not exercising proper care;
• The breach produced the injuries; and
• The injuries are recognized under the law.

Proving each of these elements can be difficult and complicated. It is necessary to amass a great deal of physical evidence, expert medical testimony, economic loss analysis, and legal arguments into one cohesive whole.

At Kasan Law, we understand the emotional, physical, and financial devastation a traumatic brain injury can have on an entire family. Our Chicago and Illinois brain injury attorneys collaborate and work with a network of medical experts and professionals to focus our efforts on the injured individual’s recovery.

What Types of Compensation are Brain Injury Victims Entitled to Receive?

Just as there are many ways someone might sustain a traumatic brain injury, there are many ways that brain damage could affect a person’s life. Immediately after an accident, some people may not exhibit current swell or symptoms but might be in real danger of developing them later. Others may have been left unconscious by a head injury and will need a lifetime of constant medical care. Individuals in severe head injury cases will also need ongoing assistance with everyday needs.

An attorney can help determine the type of damages a closed-head or brain injury victim may be entitled to receive, such as:

• Medical Bills: for anything from initial emergency care to continuing life-support services

• Medical Monitoring: to detect future effects of brain damage that may become apparent only over time

• Pain and Suffering: for the short or long-term impairments that affect your enjoyment of life, such as chronic headaches, incontinence or paralysis

• Lost Wages: for the time that you had to take off of work to recover

• Impairment of Earning Capacity: for the diminishment in what you can earn in the limited work you can do after the accident

• Lifestyle Changes: for the activities you have had to give up because brain damage has impaired your ability to play with your children, take a hike in the woods or perform other normal activities that added to your quality of life before your injury

• Future Damages: for the likely additional problems that will come up in the future. For example, people who suffer a head injury that caused permanent brain damage are more likely to develop clinical depression and Alzheimer’s disease

• Life-Care: for the home care and other non-medical needs you will be unable to meet because of a head injury, such as cooking, cleaning, and driving 

Permanent Impact of Traumatic Brain Injuries

Considering that traumatic brain injuries can happen under almost any circumstance, it should be no surprise that the severity, duration, and lasting impact on the lives of those affected can vary dramatically. However, it is important to realize that an alarmingly large number of TBI victims do suffer effects that are not only debilitating but potentially permanent. Some of the most common manifestations of TBIs include:

• Inability to concentrate
• Cognitive impairment
• Loss of memory
• Depression
• Anxiety disorders
• Spatial perception difficulty
• Poor impulse control
• Speech issues
• Vision problems, including blindness
• Seizures

Brain Injuries in Children

When it comes to head injuries, children present a special concern because they are prone to falling, unaware of the dangers around them, and depend on others for care. A traumatic brain injury, from a bump or blow to the head, can disrupt the normal brain function in children.

They may also be exposed to a brain injury at birth because of medical negligence that deprived them of oxygen. A lack of oxygen may result in cerebral palsy or other types of brain injuries.

• Jaundice in Newborns. Newborns are susceptible to brain damage from jaundice, a condition in which the concentration of bilirubin (yellow coloring) builds up in the blood. Although approximately 60% of newborns develop some level of jaundice soon after birth, most will recover with time and easily administered therapies. In a certain number of babies, however, bilirubin levels will get too high, leading to a type of brain damage called Kernicterus, which can cause cerebral palsy, mental retardation, hearing problems, and vision troubles.

• Exposure to Toxins in Children. Children, like adults, are subject to brain damage from toxic substances. However, due to their smaller bodies and developing brains, they are susceptible to even the smallest amounts of toxins. Babies and young children explore the world with their mouths, so they are particularly prone to ingesting things that older children and adults would never eat or drink. For example, nearly 1% of children between the ages of one and five have blood lead levels exceeding the safe amounts, often because they put items and substances contaminated with lead-based paint into their mouths.

• Traumatic Brain Injury in Children. Young children are particularly prone to traumatic brain injuries because they are less cautious than adults and have underdeveloped motor skills. Children with a head injury might have the same symptoms as adults but are often less verbal and self-aware. They might be unable to recognize and communicate symptoms. A head injury combined with signs of brain damage, such as losing interest in favorite toys, becoming uncharacteristically violent, or losing the ability to do recently learned skills, such as walking or using the toilet, should alert parents to seek medical evaluation. Fortunately, since children’s brains are immature and less rigid than those of adults, recovery is often common compared to adult brain injuries. 

Free Consultation

If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury caused by someone else’s negligence, choosing the right brain injury lawyer will help put you on a path towards healing. At Kasan Law, we take all personal injury cases on a contingency basis, which means you will not pay any legal fees unless we get you compensation for your case. Our consultations are free and carry no obligations.

If you or a family member has suffered a brain injury as a result of someone else’s negligence, contact our Chicago and Illinois brain injury attorneys to schedule your free consultation and case review by calling (312) 300-6724, e-mailing us at Info@LawKasan.com, or schedule your consultation online.