Have you suffered a brain injury (TBI) in an accident? If so, speak with our brain injury lawyers today to find out if you have a claim for your injuries. Some accident injuries affect individuals for a short while. Broken bones, road rash, and muscle tears often heal over time. Traumatic brain injuries, on the other hand, can affect accident victims permanently.
Traumatic brain injuries could be caused by a wide variety of accidents or incidents. A seemingly minor fender-bender could result in a brain injury if your neck snaps in an unexpected way. Slip and fall accidents are also another common cause of TBIs, which typically require compensation, regardless of the severity of the injury.
For a free case review from our Maryland brain injury lawyers, call Rice Law now at (410) 694-7291.
What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury?
The definition of a TBI, according to the Brain Injury Association of America, is “an alteration in brain function, or other evidence of brain pathology, caused by an external force.”
What Effects Can a TBI Have on a Victim?
Traumatic brain injuries can have many effects on a victim’s life, such as permanently changing their cognitive abilities, personality, and physical capabilities.
What Damages Can a TBI Make a Victim Incur?
TBIs could also result in high medical bills, not to mention pain and suffering. So, if you suspect that your injuries were due to someone else’s negligence, you should contact our experienced Maryland attorneys for brain damage caused by surgery to help you secure compensation.
How Can a TBI Impact Your Quality of Life After an Accident?
After a TBI, a victim and their family may face several consequences beyond cognitive and physical changes that contribute to pain and suffering and increase a claim’s value.
Loss of Independence
Many who suffer from TBIs may need assistance with daily activities for the rest of their lives. Even those who regain some or most of their abilities may endure years of rehabilitative services that can dictate when, where, and how they live.
Change in Personality
Brain injuries can affect a victim’s chemical makeup and lead to a completely altered state of mind. Victims might become irritable, depressed, lethargic, experience mood swings, and struggle with a lack of motivation.
Financial Struggles
TBIs often require ongoing medical care that lasts years. Victims sometimes have to remain hospitalized for several days after sustaining an injury and are in and out of treatment facilities for months or years afterward. Over time, the costs associated with ongoing care add up, and everyday expenses do not stop after an injury.
Lost Income and Future Wages
Juveniles who have not yet entered the workforce and adults injured in the middle of a career may lose temporary income and their income-earning capacity after a traumatic brain injury.
Deterioration of Personal Relationships
One of the hardest struggles after a TBI involves personal relationships. Romantic relationships, familial relationships, and friendships may all suffer and affect an injured person’s quality of life after an accident.
Are There Different Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries in Baltimore?
The brain is at the center of what makes you work and function. It controls everything from balance and motor function to personality and thought processing. Different types of TBIs can affect different parts of the brain, making symptoms difficult to identify and interpret. Two people who endure serious concussions in the same type of accident could experience completely different outcomes.
What Are Common Types of TBIs?
Some kinds of traumatic brain injuries are more common than others, such as concussions, which can happen in almost any accident.
Concussions
Concussions range from mild to severe and occur when the brain moves very quickly inside the skull (usually from blunt force trauma).
Brain Bleeds
A contusion (bruise) on the brain means the brain is bleeding. Minor brain bleeds may resolve on their own, but serious contusions often require surgical intervention.
Diffuse Axonal Injuries
Associated with rotational and shaking incidents, diffuse axonal injuries occur when the skull moves, but the brain lags. As a result, nerve tissue in the brain may tear, disrupting signaling pathways and chemical releases.
Penetrating Injury
Other types of TBIs occur when an object pierces the brain.
Anoxic Brain Injuries
Anoxic brain injuries occur when an individual loses oxygen for a prolonged period, which can cause serious and permanent cognitive issues.
Intracranial Hematoma
Intracranial hematomas are also serious traumatic brain injuries that occur when there is a collection or clot of blood pooled outside of a broken blood vessel in the brain. You might sustain an intracranial hematoma alongside another TBI, such as brain bleeds from contusions.
Skull Fracture
Skull fractures often accompany TBIs sustained due to head trauma from car accidents, falls, and other incidents that involve blunt force trauma. There are several different types of skull fractures, such as linear, depressed, basilar, and penetrating fractures, all of which require urgent medical attention.
What Are Common Causes of Traumatic Brain Injuries in Baltimore?
The causes of TBIs vary as much as the symptoms of each injury. You may not associate serious brain damage with a minor rear-ending accident or a fall in a store, but many accidents can produce injurious results. The following are some of the most common causes of TBIs in Baltimore:
- Motor vehicle or car accidents
- Slip and fall incidents
- Sports-related incidents
- Workplace or construction accidents, including falls, being struck, and electrocution
- Medical malpractice incidents, including birth injuries, surgical mismanagement, and pharmaceutical mismanagement
- Faulty and dangerous defective product incidents
What if Your Child Sustains a TBI During Birth?
Some children enter the world with preventable brain injury because of mistakes or negligence on the part of the doctor performing the delivery. Victims of brain injuries should be compensated if another party was at fault.
When Do You Have the Right to Sue for a Brain Injury in Baltimore?
If someone else’s negligence or intentional actions caused a serious TBI, you have the right to pursue action against those responsible, and our lawyers specialize in serving those who experience TBIs at the hands of reckless or malicious individuals.
What Do You Have to Prove in a Baltimore Brain Injury Case?
Plaintiffs in most personal injury cases are required to prove to a court or jury that another party’s negligence caused their injury by a “preponderance of the evidence.” In short, plaintiffs have to prove it is more likely than not that the defendant is at fault.
What Kinds of Evidence Help Plaintiffs Prove TBI Cases?
The circumstances surrounding the injury will significantly impact what evidence is necessary to hold another party accountable. For example, our Baltimore brain injury attorneys will have to develop a different legal strategy if your injury was caused by a drunk driver rather than a surgical error.
What Elements Are Part of Every Successful Brain Injury Case?
In claims arising from negligence, a victim of a brain injury must prove four elements. Because brain injury cases are complicated, producing documents and evidence to demonstrate these elements is challenging without an attorney’s help.
Duty of Care
First, the defendant must have owed the plaintiff a legal duty of care. The parties’ relationship often defines this duty. For example, a doctor has a duty to meet the appropriate standard of medical care when treating patients. Furthermore, a driver owes all other motorists and pedestrians a duty to operate their vehicle safely.
Breach
Next, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant’s conduct violated their legal duty of care. If someone was cited for driving while intoxicated after an accident, the police report and toxicological results could be used to prove that the defendant’s conduct deviated from what a reasonable person would have done.
The difficulty of proving a breach of duty depends on the facts of the case and the parties’ relationship.
Causation
Once a duty and breach have been established, the plaintiff must show that the defendant’s negligent conduct caused the victim’s brain injury. Linking a brain injury to an accident is not always easy, especially if the injury’s symptoms do not present themselves until days or weeks after an accident.
Additionally, in medical malpractice cases, a brain injury could be an avoidable complication despite a medical professional’s conduct. Our experienced personal injury attorneys will have to work closely with your healthcare providers and other medical experts to establish an evidential link between the accident and injury.
Damages
To receive compensation because of an injury, a plaintiff must provide evidence of quantifiable losses. Damages in a traumatic brain injury case could include medical expenses, the cost of physical therapy, and lost income.
What if a Defective Product Caused Your TBI?
Traumatic brain injuries are not limited to accidents caused by another person. A brain injury could stem from a defective product. When a product malfunctions or is otherwise defective, the manufacturer, designer, or distributor could be held liable if their product caused a brain injury.
Do You Have to Prove Negligence if a Defective Product Caused Your TBI?
In Maryland, a plaintiff does not always have to prove negligence if they were injured because of a defective product. A manufacturer, designer, or distributor could be held strictly liable if there is proof that the defect or design flaw existed when the product left the defendant’s control.
When Can You Sue for a TBI Caused by a Defective Product?
To sue for a TBI due to a defective product, the defect must have made the product unreasonably dangerous, it must have been foreseeable that the product would reach consumers, and the product must have caused the injury.
A product liability claim could also arise if the product lacked adequate warning labels or instructions.
Are Medical Experts Necessary for Traumatic Brain Injury Claims?
Some injury cases do not require medical expert testimony. However, brain injury cases rarely, if ever, fall into this category. Expert medical opinions are crucial in traumatic brain injury claims because an expert could explain the link between the injury and the defendant’s negligence in terms the jury or judge could understand.
What Can Medical Experts Do for TBI Compensation Claims?
If your case arises from medical malpractice, then the importance of a medical expert cannot be overstated. A qualified expert will thoroughly examine the medical records, test results, and other documents to establish exactly how the defendant’s conduct deviated from the acceptable standard of medical care.
A successful brain injury case requires more than showing an unfavorable outcome to treatment or a surgical procedure. Medical experts will also gather and generate their own evidence and reports to support their claims. Our attorneys have the resources and contacts with medical experts needed to build a compelling, convincing case.
What Damages Are Available in Baltimore Brain Injury Lawsuits?
As mentioned, the fourth element a plaintiff must prove to establish negligence is damages. Victims of traumatic brain injuries could be entitled to be compensated for both economic and non-economic damages.
Medical Bills
One of the biggest expenses is medical costs from the injury and treatment. Someone who suffered a TBI could be compensated for their doctor’s visits, diagnostic tests, medication, hospitalization, surgeries, rehabilitation, and any required physical or occupational therapy.
Loss of Income
Lost income is another devastating financial loss for TBI victims. If a brain injury victim is never able to fully recover and return to work, they should be compensated appropriately. Additionally, a plaintiff is entitled to any money they will lose in the future because their ability to work has been permanently diminished.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages include things such as pain and suffering, constant headaches, or amnesia. Non-economic damages can also include even more subjective losses related to TBIs, such as loss of enjoyment of life. Our experienced attorneys will work closely with your medical providers to estimate your non-economic damages.
Punitive Damages
In rare cases, plaintiffs are entitled to punitive damages. Unlike compensatory damages, courts award punitive damages to punish a defendant for injuries caused by actual malice. Therefore, the severity of your injury does not impact punitive damages. Punitive damages are awarded to deter future behavior, not necessarily to compensate a victim.
What Medical Evidence Do You Need for a TBI Case?
You need a considerable amount of medical records for a TBI case, including emergency room and triage reports, CT scans, MRI results, other diagnostic imaging tests, doctors’ notes from neurological assessments, and records from physical or cognitive therapy and other ongoing treatment.
What Photographic Evidence Do You Need for a TBI Case?
Photos are among the most important evidence in any injury claim, including a TBI case.
Photos from the Scene
Our brain injury lawyers can prioritize preserving photographic evidence from the accident that caused your TBI. If you or anyone else who was present took photos, like other passengers riding in the car you were in or eyewitnesses who stopped to help, we can get and use those pictures for your case.
Photos Throughout Recovery
While traumatic brain injuries are internal injuries, they are often accompanied by external signs. For example, if you sustain a serious concussion during a car crash, you might also have contusions or lacerations on your head that need attention. You can photograph injuries at different stages of recovery to show the jury.
What Testimonial Evidence Can Help Your TBI Case?
Without eyewitnesses or experts to testify, a personal injury claim could fail.
Eyewitness Testimony
Eyewitness testimony may be some of the strongest evidence in a TBI compensation claim if eyewitnesses can accurately testify about their firsthand observations of the defendant’s conduct and the victim’s injuries.
Expert Witness Testimony
As mentioned, expert witnesses can be especially helpful in complex traumatic brain injury claims, and our lawyers can enlist qualified experts to strengthen your case and your chances of a fair recovery.
How Soon Should You Get an Attorney After Sustaining a TBI?
The faster you consult with lawyers about your case and start working on it, the better. We may need much of the statute of limitations to build your case, and waiting too long could put you in danger of missing the filing deadline to recover damages.
How Soon Should You File a TBI Lawsuit After an Accident?
You should not file a TBI lawsuit immediately after sustaining a traumatic brain injury. Instead, you should wait until you have a clearer idea about the severity of the injury and its potential long-term financial and emotional effects on your life. That way, we can make more accurate relief requests on your behalf.
Can You Get Compensation for a TBI if You Contributed to it in Maryland?
Maryland does not allow anyone who is partially to blame for their own traumatic brain injuries to get compensation from another party, even if that other party is 99% liable. This extremely strict rule may deter victims who do not have attorneys or understand the implications of accepting any degree of fault.
Why Should You File a Brain Injury Lawsuit in Baltimore?
We encourage all TBI victims and/or their families to reach out for a free case evaluation. Filing a lawsuit will not undo a TBI, but it can help you and your loved ones cope with the long-term effects of a serious diagnosis and provide a sense of justice after a preventable incident.
Get Help from Our Experienced Baltimore TBI Injury Attorneys
Call the Baltimore personal injury lawyers at Rice Law at (410) 694-7291 for the free case review you need.