It is fairly common for people involved in serious, or even moderately severe car accidents to suffer traumatic brain injuries. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a complex injury that has a broad spectrum of symptoms that can result in a variety of disabilities. As a result, this can have a profound effect on his or her family. A traumatic brain injury may have an effect on the person’s ability to function in daily life, perform the same job functions, maintain employment, familial relationships, mood, and overall health.
Traumatic brain injuries are much more common than people think, and the single greatest cause of traumatic brain injuries is car accidents. A 2009 study out of Missouri found that traumatic brain injuries as a result of car accidents create a net economic loss of approximately $513 million dollars per year. (see more at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18212649/) In addition, individual brain injuries can cost between $90,000 to well over $3,000,000 over the lifespan depending on the severity of the injury and the extent that the person is unable to recover from the injury.
Traumatic brain injury is very different from an anoxic brain injury. An anoxic brain injury occurs which occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen. Examples of anoxic brain injury include surgical complications, full cardiac arrest and near-drowning. On the other hand, traumatic brain injuries typically result in bruising and swelling of the brain, whereas anoxic brain injury causes brain cells to die as a result of oxygen deprivation. (see more at: Long, What is Anoxic Brain Injury? Washington, D.C.: Brain Injury Association, Inc. (formerly National Head Injury Foundation).
Under Texas law, a both small and large health insurance plans must cover cognitive rehabilitation therapy, and many other aspects of recovery and care. What complicates this is the cause of the traumatic brain injury: was it a motor vehicle accident, a workplace injury, or did it occur on another person or entities property? These sort of questions will begin to guide you in the direction of who is responsible to pay for the injury. This is a murky road that is difficult to travel down alone. It is always best to seek the advice of a licensed attorney in your area should you or a loved one have suffered a traumatic brain injury.
Typically, traumatic brain injury claims will fall into two main categories: negligence claims and worker’s compensation claims. For negligence claims, they branch off various sections, such as motor vehicle accidents, slip and fall cases and medical malpractice claims. For these claims, your attorney will seek to find out the forms of insurance coverage the negligent party had at the time of the accident and seek to get you a recovery based on the insurance policy and if necessary, the assets of the person liable for your injuries. If the injury was the result of a workplace injury, then applicable worker’s compensation laws and plans of your state will need to be consulted.
About Our Firm:
Guest and Gray, P.C. is an experienced litigation team serving all North Texas counties. We regularly pursue and defend various civil litigation claims, including personal injury claims. Our practice is quickly growing, and we have multiple offices in the area to provide maximum convenience to our clients. We are longtime faces in our community and we love what we do. We seek to provide an air of calm and confidence for our clients during a difficult time. We believe that makes us a little bit different from everybody else, and we like it that way.
For more information, or if you are seeking legal advice, give us a call at (972) 564-4644.