On a traumatic brain injury survivor support group a recent question was posted. What is you biggest challenge right now?
One reply read. “Unremitting headaches. Sleep deprivation, forgetting to eat, my persistent headache. I spend several days flat on my back in pain. I am young, fit, and I want to live a young, fit lifestyle, but my life is continually interrupted for days on end by these headaches. People think I am lazy, although before this accident I was the primary breadwinner, athlete, and mother to two children. Now I can’t work anymore because of my headaches.”
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This woman is just one of the 1.7 million people who sustain a brain injury every year in America. While most people who experience a brain injury are able to return to their daily lives, at least 125,000 people each year are considered permanently disabled as a result of their TBI. It’s hard to imagine trying to live the rest of your life that way but many traumatic brain injury or TBI injury victims have to. More than half of TBI injuries occur from car accidents. This type of brain injury is called a closed head injury and it occurs when there’s a blow to the head, like when your head bounces off a dash board. This can cause bruised brain tissue, bleeding inside the brain, large or small lacerations in the brain, and nerve damage due to shearing forces.
Because of the serious lifelong consequences of traumatic brain injuries it’s important to retain an experienced brain injury lawyer. Sometimes symptoms may not show up right away or may be hidden, such as memory loss or behavioral and impulse control issues. Because of this lack of immediate visibility, insurance companies or liable parties often claim that there is no brain damage at all.
Our law firm, Shapiro & Appleton has successfully represented many traumatic brain injury clients. One recent heart breaking case involved a very young girl. Our firm was able to secure a $21 million dollar settlement for her brain injury that was caused when a truck rear-ended a Virginia Beach family’s car.
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