If you or someone you love suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after an accident, you may already know the long-term impact of these injuries. Living with a TBI is not easy. As a TBI accident survivor, you may struggle to perform your own basic care or even maintain relationships with your loved ones. A TBI makes it difficult to work, resume your daily activities, and enjoy a long and active life.
After a TBI, your future may depend on the treatment you receive and your ability to pay for the care that you need. As such, you deserve maximum compensation for your injuries, and for the suffering you endured.
An experienced brain injury attorney at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA can help you through this difficult time. Our brain injury lawyers know that no two head injuries are ever quite the same. That is why we approach your case with personalized focus from the start. We work with your medical team and experts to determine how your brain injuries affect your life – and your future. When you choose our law firm, you will get the money you need to move forward in your life after a brain injury.
Contact our Brain Injury Attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA for more information.
Why Choose Our Brain Injury Attorneys?
As a brain injury survivor, you already have enough on your plate. You face massive hurdles going through recovery and treatment, and your family is likely already stressed providing care and support. Let us take the legal burdens off of your shoulders during this time. You shouldn’t have to speak to insurance adjusters and file insurance paperwork after a brain injury. And you definitely shouldn’t have to fight for the money you deserve.
At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, our brain injury lawyers know the issues and complications you face after a head injury. That is why we work tirelessly alongside you to provide you with the legal support and guidance you deserve. Our law firm has considerable experience representing brain injury survivors like you. We know the tactics insurance companies use to reduce brain injury claims, and we fight aggressively to beat them.
From the moment you step into our offices, you will get the personalized attention you deserve. There is a reason why so many brain injury survivors choose our law firm to represent them in their darkest hours.
Our results speak for themselves. Here are some of our most notable TBI cases:
$3.2 million for a TBI survivor after a semi-truck accident
$1.75 million for a survivor who suffered shoulder surgery with mild TBI after a truck accident
$750,000 for a motorcyclist who suffered a TBI and SLAP tear
While past success does not guarantee future results, you can rest easier knowing that you have an experienced team of injury litigators on your side from the very start.
Contact the brain injury attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, at 866-426-1037 or fill out our confidential contact form! We offer FREE initial consultations for all injured accident victims. We want to meet with you personally to discuss your accident, your injuries, and your legal options. Call today!
Disclaimer: Any case result information provided on any portion of this website should not be understood as a promise of any particular result in a future case.
Diagnosing a Brain Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a serious, debilitating, and deadly injury resulting from trauma to the head. Shockingly, 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury each year and over 70,000 experience a long-term disability as a result. Common causes of TBIs include trips, slips, falls, automobile, motorcycle, and trucking accidents. While common, TBIs are not always easy to identify.
Disorientation or confusion
Amnesia near the time of injury
Neurological or neuropsychological problems
A score of 13 or higher on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)
The prognosis for many brain injury victims may be favorable but that unfortunately does not hold true for everyone. In fact, some take longer than others to recover, while a minority of individuals, simply do not get better despite the passage of time.
Symptoms of a TBI
Physical Symptoms of a traumatic brain injury
Dizziness
Blurred vision
Headaches
Loss of vision
Cognitive symptoms of a traumatic brain injury
Amnesia
Short term memory loss
Disorientation
Poor Concentration
Emotional symptoms of a traumatic brain injury
Agitation
Depression
Irritability
Depression
Personality changes in general
Changes in appetite
Call For a Free Case Evaluation
727-451-6900
Brain Trauma can Happen Without Impact to the Head
Brain trauma can occur without a strike to the head or loss of consciousness. A recent study by Ezriel Kornel, M.D., F.A.C.S., and Michael Freeman, Ph.D, found that whiplash, often experienced in automobile and motorcycle accidents, caused brain injury in over 20 percent of cases presented in the study. This type of brain injury manifests as a hernia in the brain known as a Chiari Malformation. This occurs when the bottom part of the brain protrudes through the base of the skull.
One can also suffer a brain injury as a result from whiplash. The rapid acceleration/deceleration forces sustained to the skull in a rear end car accident can cause the brain to impact the opposite side of the skull. This can cause bleeding and swelling inside the skull.
Diffuse axonal injuries often go unrecognized by emergency responders, doctors, and personal injury attorneys since they can also occur in a low impact accident where there is no impact of the head or loss of consciousness. This is one of the worst brain injuries that can be suffered, and insurance companies will try dismissing it by labeling the accident as a “minor impact accident.” This is certainly not the case.
At Sibley Dolman Gipe Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, our brain injury attorneys aggressively fight insurance companies when they try and dismiss the severity of brain injuries. We know that even low-impact accidents can cause serious trauma and we work diligently to prove this for our clients.
After you file a brain injury lawsuit, insurers will begin to discredit your injury in any way they can. After all, their main goal is to pay you as little as they can. Let us fight the insurance companies for you. We know how to push back and gather the necessary evidence to show the severity of your injury. We won’t back down until you receive the money you deserve.
Insurers May Claim You Don’t Have a TBI
Insurance adjusters often claim that the medical testing did not conclusively establish a TBI. Our lawyers counter this fallacy pushed by insurance adjusters immediately. We know that while diagnostic testing has greatly advanced over the past twenty years, microscopic lesions in the brain and damage to the neurons are often missed on an MRI.
Neurologists will rely on the medical history of the patient and their clinical presentation when diagnosing TBI. In fact, it is quite common to have a negative MRI yet manifest with cognitive or functional impairment during neurological or neuropsychological testing.
Our brain injury attorneys work with neurologists to provide evidence of your brain injury even when MRIs and other diagnostic testing is inconclusive.
Insurers May Claim Your TBI Is Minor
Claims adjusters and insurance defense lawyers often attempt to minimize the extent of a brain injury by alleging that the injury is minor and that you will quickly recover. Some symptoms of brain injury are minor and subtle such as memory issues. However, after one year, 10-15% of mild TBI patients have not recovered. Many are more symptomatic than even immediately after the injury. Some suffer from persistent headaches, neck pain, or dizziness.
Our lawyers push back on this tactic because we know that even minor brain injuries can result in serious and long-term suffering. We have seen firsthand the chronic disabilities endured by TBI survivors even after low-impact accidents.
After a TBI, our brain injury attorneys can help you file the necessary claims or lawsuits and fight insurance company tactics. We make sure all brain injury survivors have the money they need to pay for the numerous damages that they suffer.
Types of Traumatic Brain Injuries
There are several types of traumatic brain injuries for which you can claim compensation.
The most common type of brain trauma, both closed and open head injuries can result in concussions. They are often caused by impacts to the head, violent shaking of the head, or whiplash-type movements. A concussion often results in post-concussion syndrome; a very serious disorder that can last for months and even in excess of a year.
Concussions are often referred to as mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI).
A concussion must never be ignored and warrants immediate medical attention. Post-concussion syndrome can greatly inhibit your ability to perform tasks and may interfere with your job functions. We often see the incidence of concussion either ignored or overlooked by attorneys and physicians who opt to focus on the more obvious and readily apparent orthopedic injuries.
Most individuals with concussions recover after a short to moderate period of time aided by rest. Neurologists often play a crucial role in assisting a patient with post-concussive syndrome in both the evaluation and treatment of minor mental health and cognitive issues.
Diagnosis of post-concussion syndrome is based on the patient’s history of head trauma, results of both a physical and neurological examination, and perhaps other diagnostic tests to rule out the presence of a more serious brain injury. Risk factors for post-concussive syndrome are increased by age of the patient and history of prior concussions.
What if You Suffer a Second Concussion?
If a second concussion occurs prior to the symptoms resolving from the initial concussion; second impact syndrome (SIS) can occur. An occurrence of second impact syndrome; is marked by rapid swelling of the brain, which may prove fatal. Even a minor concussion can cause secondary impact syndrome. Secondary impact syndrome often proves to be fatal and will result in a debilitating condition at a minimum.
Repeated concussions can have serious and prolonged effects on the body. Football players and other athletes often suffer multiple concussions during the course of their careers. Sadly, these repeated injuries have resulted in dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, severe depression.
Brain Contusion
A contusion is a direct result of an impact to the head resulting in severe bruising or bleeding of the brain. A cerebral contusion by definition is a bruise to the brain tissue. Large contusions often require surgery. Keep in mind that a cerebral contusion can be related to blood vessel leaks and microhemorrhages. Contusions generally occur in the cortical tissue under the site where the impact took place.
Contusions with edema (swelling) often require surgery to reduce intracranial pressure which can be life-threatening or result in permanent brain damage. Contusion-related symptoms depend both on the location (sphere of the brain) of the pathology and obviously the severity of such. In moderate to severe contusions, the swelling is usually greatest at five to six days following the trauma. This is due to swelling of the brain tissue surrounding the site of the impact. Additionally, toxins are released due to the contusion increasing the rate of swelling.
Coup-Contrecoup Brain Injuries
Coup-contrecoup is a result of two contusions on both sides of the brain. The first contusion is a result of the initial impact to the head. The second contusion is a result of the head being hit with such force that the brain slams against the other side of the skull. A coup injury occurs directly under the area of impact. A contrecoup injury occurs on the side directly opposite the impact. In a coup-contrecoup brain injury, both sides of the brain are damaged.
Diffuse Axonal Injury
Diffuse Axonal Injury occurs when the brain lags behind the movement of the skull, thus tearing parts of the brain. This is often a result of an intense shaking or twisting of the head, such as a car accident. A diffuse axonal injury to the brain can cause severe problems and even death.
Diffuse axonal injury is caused by shearing forces such as an acceleration-deceleration mechanism of injury akin to whiplash. This occurs when the head moves forward in a rapid manner (acceleration) and then backward or a sudden stop (deceleration). Individuals with diffuse axonal injury typically lose consciousness at the time of trauma. The back and forth movement of the brain disrupts the nerve cells and inhibits the ability of the cells to transmit messages.
Penetrating Brain Injury
An injury that forces matter from the skull into the brain. It is a result of a gunshot wound, stabbing wound, or any other sharp object. Often these types of brain injuries can result in death.
Hematoma or Blood Clot in the Brain
A mass of blood or pronounced swelling between the skull and the brain. In some cases, the swelling or mass of blood occurs inside the brain.
Damage Inflicted by Traumatic Brain Injuries
Those that suffer traumatic brain injuries run the risk of dealing with severe damages. Traumatic brain injuries have a tendency to cause permanent damage even in cases where the injury is on the milder side of the spectrum. The brain is an exceptionally complex organ that we still do not fully understand to this day which makes the options for treating damage to it limited. Damage to the brain does not only affect the body’s tangible and physical processes but can also lead to debilitating cognitive issues. This makes the damages inflicted by traumatic brain injuries somewhat unique.
Economic Damages
The economic damages that are caused by traumatic brain injuries tend to be particularly severe due to the tendency for traumatic brain injuries to cause permanent and/or debilitating issues. Medical expenses are often some of the economic damages that people experience. All of the bills associated with the treatment of a traumatic brain injury can add up to vast sums with recurring costs like prescription drugs, therapy, and checkups driving up costs even more. There are also all the lost wages caused by time off work. In fact, many people end up losing their jobs or careers altogether because of the effects of a traumatic brain injury which can have dire financial consequences.
Non-Economic Damages
When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury they can deal with an intense amount of pain and suffering in addition to a number of less tangible damages that don’t have a directly calculable dollar value like economic damages. These non-economic damages can still be very important to claim in a traumatic brain injury claim. Some of the most common non-economic damages that are involved in traumatic brain injury cases include loss of consortium, mental anguish, psychological injuries like depression, as well as pain and suffering.
Dolman Law Group Client Testimonial
“AMAZING and understanding attorneys! Did great on my case and I highly recommend Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA for anyone that has been injured in an accident!”
Rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Koralis R.
Jan 2020
Read more reviews on Google!
Contact Our Traumatic Brain Injury Lawyers Today
As traumatic brain injury attorneys, we are up to date on the best technologies and tests for TBIs, and will ensure that you receive the proper care and treatment when dealing with TBI.
At Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, we consistently deal with insurance adjusters, insurance defense lawyers, and even physicians who are unfamiliar with TBI and the relationship between a potential closed head injury and whiplash. Many practitioners are mistakenly under the assumption that the head must strike an object to cause trauma to the brain. It is essential to retain an injury law attorney who is not only familiar with TBIs but also the latest science in this rapidly evolving area of medicine.
The personal injury law attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, are experienced with the tactics employed by insurance carriers and defense lawyers in combating such claims. We have clients who have suffered significant brain injury and did not suffer any impact to the head or even lose consciousness. An insurance carrier would try to discredit an injury in that type of situation. We will not let that happen to someone who has suffered a serious injury.
Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, is a personal injury law firm that routinely handles claims and litigates cases involving closed head injuries.
