Few medical diagnoses are as frightening as a traumatic brain injury (TBI), especially when it’s more serious than a mild concussion and leaves the injury victim facing an uncertain future. Depending on the type and severity of the brain injury, the results can be as mild as a terrible headache, a few days of lost pay, and a single emergency bill.
Still, in other cases, the injury disrupts the brain’s normal function with impacts on all aspects of the injury victim’s life, including leaving them with mounting medical costs at the same time they are unable to return to work in their previous capacity. In these cases, it’s essential to speak with an experienced St. Louis brain injury lawyer
who can help pursue the compensation to move forward.
What Types of Brain Injuries Have Significant Financial Impacts?
The brain is the body’s control center for all functions. An injury to the brain results in the destruction of millions of microscopic nerve cells and tiny connecting fibers. When a brain injury is caused by outside forces rather than a medical condition, doctors label it a traumatic brain injury. The most common types of TBIs that cause significant expenses and lost income include the following:
- Diffuse axonal injury: This occurs when the brain twists within the skull from a severe blow or shake, causing widespread death of brain cells across several regions.
- Subdural and Intracerebral Hematomas: A hematoma is a bruise on the brain, sometimes occurring between the outside protective layer of the brain and the skull, or on the brain itself. Hematomas cause inflammation and chemical changes from tiny bleeds within the brain, leading to the destruction of nerve cells.
- Coup-Contrecoup brain injury: This is a brain injury on one side of the brain with a corresponding one on the opposite side, caused when the brain bumps back and forth inside the skull.
- Skull fractures: A skull fracture can cause swelling inside the brain, which places pressure on sensitive brain cells with impacts ranging from temporary to permanent.
Brain injuries can be closed injuries or penetrating injuries, and are classified as mild, moderate, or severe. Mild brain injuries typically cause only temporary physical, cognitive, and financial impacts, while severe brain injuries cause significant impairment and sometimes lifelong disability.
What Are the Financial Effects of Serious Brain Injuries?
Depending on the type, location, and severity of a brain injury, it may affect physical coordination, mood, personality, speech, and cognitive abilities. A serious brain injury causes financial consequences such as the following:
- Medical expenses and future or ongoing medical costs
- Physical and occupational therapy costs
- Long-term care costs (in the most severe cases, including severe impairment, coma, or vegetative state)
- Lost earnings and future income loss
- Diminished earning capacity
The above expenses become the damages in a brain injury claim when the injury results from someone else’s careless, reckless, or wrongful actions. For a severe brain injury with long-term or permanent effects, additional compensation may be available in a catastrophic injury claim. A brain injury claim can recover compensation from the party at fault in addition to government disability payments through social security disability.