March Is Brain Injury Awareness Month: Why It’s Important to Hire an Experienced Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer
Traumatic brain injuries are quiet killers. Aside from concussions in the NFL, there is not much media attention about the various kinds of brain injuries. Traumatic brain injuries send over 200,000 Americans to hospital emergency rooms every year. Because of the nature of brain injuries, many of these victims do not get the treatment they need at the ER. Furthermore, brain injuries often cause debilitating injuries slowly and over time. More on these things below.
Regardless of the specific cause, a brain injury is permanent. Dead brain cells do not regenerate. Depending upon the severity of the brain injury, the recovery process is long and slow, or it can be not at all.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury after an accident or someone else’s negligence, you may have a case. Contact the compassionate TBI lawyers at The Yost Legal Group today: 410.659.6800.
Traumatic Brain Injury Causes: Car Crashes
Vehicle collisions are the leading non-combat-related cause of brain injuries because they combine all three underlying causes of brain injuries.
Many witnesses state that car crashes sound like explosions. Such sudden, loud noises create shock waves that disrupt brain functions. Noise-related TBIs are the main reason many doctors call brain injuries the “signature injuries” of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars.
Seat belts, airbags, and other safety innovations have reduced the number of collision-related head injuries. But they certainly have not eliminated the risk of such injuries. No safety system, no matter how advanced, could possibly absorb all the force in a high-speed truck wreck or other such collision.
A low-speed wreck could cause a brain injury. Violent motion causes the brain to slam against the skull. You can feel this effect even just shaking your head. Imagine the impact even a parking lot fender-bender could cause.
The duty of care requires motorists to avoid accidents whenever possible and always avoid dangerous driving behavior, like operator impairment (alcohol, fatigue) or aggressive driving (speeding, illegal turning).
Traumatic Brain Injury Causes: Slip and Falls and Work Injuries
A similar duty of care applies to most property owners. These individuals must take steps to ensure their invited guests are reasonably safe. Owner must address fall hazards, like ice on sidewalks. Owners must also provide adequate security and prevent foreseeable (predictable) third-party assaults.
Falls, like motor vehicle collisions, cause the brain to slam against the skull. Unlike vehicle collision survivors, fall survivors typically have no protective safety equipment.
Someone who might have safety equipment on while experiencing a slip and fall accident is a contractor or construction worker or utilities worker. Work-related injuries are another very common cause of TBIs. And just because one is wearing a helmet does not mean a concussion or worse is not possible.
Work-related injuries like falling or taking a blow to the head from heavy equipment or machinery tie together workman’s compensation claims as well as TBI claims.
Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month
To spotlight Brain Injury Awareness Month and support survivors, The Yost Legal Group will be running weekly blogs about traumatic brain injuries.
Negligence causes most brain injuries. “Negligence” is a legal term that considers the duty of care, as mentioned above, as well as any insurance company defenses. Comparative fault, in one form or another, is the most common such defense.
Basically, comparative fault, which is a common car crash defense, shifts blame from the tortfeasor to the survivor.
Assume Vicki was intoxicated when she hit Laura, who was speeding. Depending on the degree of operator impairment and aggressive driving, both drivers might be partially at fault. If, after a pretrial hearing, the judge concludes that both parties substantially contributed to the wreck, the jury must apportion fault between them on a percentage basis (50-50, 80-20, etc.).
Assumption of the risk is a subset of comparative fault that often applies in premises liability matters. If the survivor voluntarily assumed a known risk (e.g. ignoring a “Beware of Dog’” sign), the jury could reduce the owner’s fault, as outlined above.
There’s a difference between displaying a sign and voluntarily assuming a known risk. The defendant must prove the survivor saw the sign, could read the sign, and could understand what the sign meant.
Hire an Experienced Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyer
Brain injury claims are extremely complex. If you or a loved one recently experienced a traumatic brain injury due to someone else’s negligence, there is no time to delay in contacting a compassionate TBI lawyer who has experience winning traumatic brain injury cases.
For a free consultation with an experienced traumatic brain injury lawyer, contact The Yost Legal Group. There is never a fee unless you recover. We are available via e-mail, phone (1-800-YOST-LAW), and text (410-659-6800).