Approximately two million people sustain a head injury in the United States each year. More than 500,000 head injuries require hospitalization. These traumatic brain injuries can be severe, life-threatening, or even fatal. Even seemingly minor head injuries can have a major impact on a person’s health and mental well-being, and when a brain injury is caused by another person’s negligence, a brain injury lawyer can help injured parties recover compensation for their injuries.
For more information, contact Attorney Group today. Our consultations are free, confidential and without any obligation on your part. We can help answer your questions, and if you choose to pursue a claim we can connect you with an affiliated attorney who can assist you throughout the legal process.
What is a Brain Injury?
Also referred to as a concussion, head trauma, or traumatic brain injury, a head injury is any type of trauma to the head that leads to injury of the brain, skull, or scalp. Head injury is typically classified as either “penetrating” or “closed.” For an injury to penetrating, a high velocity object pierces the skull and enters the brain. When an injury is closed, the head sustains a blunt force by striking against an object.
What Causes Brain Injuries?
According to the Mayo Clinic, common events causing traumatic brain injury include the following:
- Falls: Falling out of bed, slipping in the bath, falling down steps, falling from ladders and related falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injury overall, particularly in older adults and young children.
- Vehicle-related collisions: Collisions involving cars, motorcycles or bicycles — and pedestrians involved in such accidents — are a common cause of traumatic brain injury.
- Violence: About 20 percent of traumatic brain injuries are caused by violence, such as gunshot wounds, domestic violence or child abuse. Shaken baby syndrome is traumatic brain injury caused by the violent shaking of an infant that damages brain cells.
- Sports injuries: Traumatic brain injuries may be caused by injuries from a number of sports, including soccer, boxing, football, baseball, lacrosse, skateboarding, hockey, and other high-impact or extreme sports, particularly in youth.
- Explosive blasts and other combat injuries: Explosive blasts are a common cause of traumatic brain injury in active-duty military personnel. Although the mechanism of damage isn’t yet well-understood, many researchers believe that the pressure wave passing through the brain significantly disrupts brain function.
Some head injuries result in irreversible or prolonged brain damage that can occur due to bleeding inside the brain or high shearing forces that damage the brain’s nerve cells. Brain damage can also occur as a result of an infection to the brain caused by blunt force trauma. Those who have sustained a serious or life-threatening brain injury due to the fault of another may consider seeking legal counsel from a brain injury lawyer to learn more about pursuing a claim and recovering compensation for their suffering. Brain injury cases are often challenging and may call for the use of medical testimony, extensive research, and familiarity with laws in your state.
How a Brain Injury Lawyer Can Help
When negligence results in injury, an injured party suffers loss in various ways. The law allows an injured party to pursue damages to recover those losses. Common types of damages recoverable in a personal injury case include:
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Lost wages
- Loss of ability to earn
- Scarring and disfigurement
The families of those who have died may be eligible to recover money for funeral expenses and the pain that comes with losing a loved one.
If the actions causing injury are malicious or so reckless that intent to harm can be inferred, the responsible party can be liable for punitive damages to punish wrongful conduct and deter similar conduct in the future.
Victims of negligence and their families are encouraged to seek the counsel of a brain injury lawyer to learn more about their rights and remedies.
For more information, contact Attorney Group. After you contact us, an attorney will follow up to answer questions that you might have. There is no cost or obligation to speak with us, and any information you provide will be kept confidential.
Please note that the law limits the time you have to pursue a claim or file a lawsuit for an injury. If you think you have a case, you should not delay taking action.
