Florida Brain Injury

A traumatic brain injury is brain damage caused by a head injury through a blow to the head or a penetration of the brain by a foreign object, such as a bullet or knife. In the United States, slip-and-fall events are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries (28%), with motor-vehicle accidents following close behind (20%). Traumatic brain injuries are also caused by falling objects or by physical assaults. Males are about 1 ½ times more likely than females to suffer a traumatic brain injury, and children under four years old, along with teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19, are the age groups with the highest incidence of traumatic brain injury. An Experienced Florida Personal Injury Lawyer in this field will advance the costs and expenses necessary to successfully litigate these cases.

Of course, not all head injuries lead to brain damage, and some traumatic brain injuries may cause only temporary harmful effects. However, of the 1.4 million people the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control says will suffer traumatic brain injury each year, 1.1 million will be seen by an emergency department and released, 235,000 will require hospitalization and 50,000 will die of their head injuries. A knowledgeable Florida Injury Attorney in the Brain Injury Claims subject will assist you to successfully litigate these cases.

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can change the life of a victim forever.  Brain injuries are unlike any other injury - because brain injuries can occur on a microscopic level, they are often not detected by CT scans, EEGs, and X-Rays. However, despite the lack of physical evidence, brain injuries have serious consequences.  Even individuals that do not suffer a loss of consciousness or only briefly lose consciousness can suffer permanent cognitive impairment. A skilled Florida Attorney in the Brain Injury Claims area will fight for you.

Causes of Brain Injuries

There are many different causes of traumatic brain injuries:

• Car accidents
• Gunshot wounds
• Blow to the head
• Whiplash injuries
• Flexion-extension injuries
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Medical error / medical negligence
• Construction accidents
• Industrial accidents
• Slip and fall accidents

A person who suffers a head injury and subsequent brain damage may lose some, or even all, of what is arguably the most precious of a person's possessions: the mind. The brain controls not only a person's ability to think and reason, but also the ability to control the body. Losing even a portion of one of these capabilities to brain damage caused by a head injury or other brain injury can be significant, if not devastating for the sufferer and for his or her family. An Experienced Florida Lawyer in this topic will fight and fight and fight for you.

Symptoms of Brain Injuries

In severe brain injury cases individuals are unconscious and may even require a lifetime of medical care and assisted living. However, not all brain injuries are readily apparent, even when caused by an accident with obvious head injury. Doctors can also miss the telltale signs of brain damage from a closed-head injury (an injury involving no penetration of the brain). An accident victim who has had a closed-head injury may not feel symptoms of brain injury immediately. Another brain injury accident victim may be exposed to a toxic substance over a period of time, with symptoms of brain damage taking days, weeks or longer to show up. An Experienced Florida Attorney in this field will advance the costs and expenses necessary to successfully litigate these cases.

Closed head injuries are physically detectable only in an autopsy. However, a neuropsychologist can evaluate an injury victim and confirm the existence of a TBI. 

Symptoms of brain injuries include:

• Dizziness or lack of balance
• Diminished senses of hearing, taste or sight, or ringing in the ears
• Inability to find words to convey thoughts
• Slurred speech
• Paralysis of any body part
• Inability to plan body movements to perform simple tasks, such as gathering stamps, address labels, etc. to pay bills
• Inability to focus thoughts, or too much focus on one or a few ideas
• Lack of hand/eye coordination
• Inability to understand written or spoken words
• Persistent sleepiness or wakefulness
• Unexplained weakness
• Chronic head or neck pain
• Mood changes, like uncalled-for anger or sadness
• Nausea

Who May Be Liable For Causing Your Brain Injury?

• An anesthesiologist who administered an anesthesia overdose that caused brain injury, leaving a woman temporarily comatose and causing her permanent brain damage;
• An employer who did not provide protective gear or proper training in the safe handling of dangerous industrial chemicals, resulting in an accident that left the employee with brain damage;
• A negligent driver, vehicle owner or employer in a traffic accident who caused the innocent party to suffer a closed head injury resulting in brain damage;
• A frustrated nanny who shook a baby, causing shaken-baby-syndrome brain damage;
• A manufacturer of a pharmaceutical product that caused a teenager's stroke that led to her brain injury;
• An apartment landlord who allowed lead paint chips to accumulate around the building, which a toddler ingested, resulting in permanent brain damage; (see Premises Liability)
• A municipality that ran a public swimming pool where a lifeguard failed to promptly rescue a submerged child, leading to his brain injury; (see Swimming Pool Accidents)
• A school board that failed to do anything about a class bully before he threw a schoolmate to the classroom floor, where she suffered a closed head injury that caused brain damage; and
• An obstetrician who called too late for a cesarean-section delivery, causing brain damage to the baby.

A knowledgeable Florida Personal Injury Attorney in the Brain Injury Claims subject will assist you to successfully litigate these cases.

Compensation for Brain Injuries

• Medical Bills - for anything from initial emergency care for your head injury 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 head injury-caused 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 from the head injury;
• Impairment of Earning Capacity - for the diminishment in what you can earn in the limited work you can do after a brain injury;
• Lifestyle Changes - for the activities you have had to give up following a head injury 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 head injury;
• Future Damages - for the likely additional brain-injury caused 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 for cooking, cleaning and driving; and
• Punitive Damages - if the person who caused your brain injury acted with recklessness, malice or intent to do harm.

A professional Florida Personal Injury Attorney in this field will advance the costs and expenses necessary to successfully take legal action for you.