Frequently Asked Questions About Brain Damage, Brain Injury or Closed Head Injuries

Virginia (VA) Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers
Offices in VA Beach, Hampton & Elizabeth, NC  

What is a traumatic brain injury?
A traumatic brain/head injury is an injury to the brain caused by an outside force, which results in an impairment of a person's physical, cognitive or emotional functioning. Traumatic brain injuries range from mild to severe, and the resulting effects and impairments may be temporary or permanent. Traumatic brain damage (also sometimes called "closed head injuries") may be due to sudden energy forces applied to the brain and skull or by any event which cause a disruption in the supply of oxygen or blood to the brain. Traumatic brain injuries may result from vehicle collisions, falls, blows to the head, exposure to toxins, or medical negligence. Sometimes a brain injury is not diagnosed for weeks or months after an injury, as it requires diagnosis by a trained, skilled medical doctor. The signs and symptoms are very often not obvious.

What If The Injury Victim Never Was Knocked Uncounscious?

The absence of any significant or identifiable period of loss consciousness does not always mean that an injured person has not suffered a permanent brain injury. Likewise, permanent brain injury can even occur without a person having hit his or her head. While sometimes not as immediately dangerous as injuries involving coma, hematoma or surgery, these hard to detect brain injuries can be life altering, and in some cases as permanently disabling as many coma injuries.

Proving It In Court

Sometimes, special testing can conclusively show brain injury (MRI for example) but other times it can not. There are now various advanced imaging techniques that can highlight brain injury.

One of the attorneys with my law firm was involved in a jury trial in Manassas, Virginia on behalf of an injured gas station worker who suffered a "mild" traumatic brain injury when the walls of the gas station crashed in on him as the result of a derailed Norfolk Southern train. In 2000 the jury returned the (at that time) largest verdict in Virginia history for any personal injury victim. The victim suffered a brain injury that was sufficiently proved in court, but the victim did not have clearly identifiable damage visible on MRI. However, his doctor diagnosed the brain injury through all kinds of testing and differential diagnosis. Also, the diagnosis of brain injury did not occur in the emergency room but much later.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

How can you identify a top Virginia injury lawyer for your case? Look no further.

Our VA personal injury lawyers have been selected for many accolades.

Two of the attorneys with our Virginia Beach accident injury law firm, James Lewis and Rick Shapiro, have been named the Best Lawyers in America since 2008. Two of our VA injury lawyers -- Lewis and Shapiro - have been named to Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury since 2010. In addition, Lewis and Shapiro have been selected for inclusion in the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum since 2009. 

Our VA accident injury law firm was the first in the commonwealth nvited to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical and respected law firms. Rick Shapiro was named as one of the Top 100 Injury Lawyers in Virginia by the National Trial Lawyers Association.

In October, 2000 our law firm and co-counsel obtained what was then the largest verdict in Virginia's history for an injured person. Our brain damaged client received an initial award of $46 million that rose to $60 million with interest when the defendant abandoned an appeal and agreed to settle. 

Geographical Areas

Our personal injury lawyers handle personal injury cases throughout the eastern USA, and work closely with lawyers in other states on signficant injury cases.

In Virginia, this includes Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Suffolk, Richmond, Petersburg, Roanoke, Salem, Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Ashland, Big Stone Gap, and every community on the Eastern Shore, including Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteauge, Wachapreague, and Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague and Wallops Island.

In West Virginia, we can handle personal injury claims in Bluefield, Beckley, Bridgeport, Charles Town, Charleston, Fairmont, Huntington, Lewisburg, Madison, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Moundsville, Parkersburg, Ripley, Sutton, Weirton, Wheeling and any other town or county.

Injury Lawyers licensed in VA, WV, North Carolina (NC), South Carolina (SC), Kentucky (KY), Florida (FL) and Washington, DC.

 

Virginia Beach, VA Personal Injury Attorneys
Virginia (VA) Personal Injury Lawyers
Specializing in Virginia Wrongful Death & Injury Law