Brain Injuries
Your brain holds your memories, hosts your active thoughts, and controls your entire body. From breathing to walking, everything begins in your brain. If this vital organ is damaged, the effects can instantly change your life. Even a minor brain injury can do lasting damage.
If the negligence or wrongdoing of another person caused you to suffer a brain injury, you may be entitled to recover significant compensation to help pay for medical bills, lost wages, and on-going support to help you live the most normal life possible. You may also be able to recover compensation for pain and suffering and other non-economic losses you’ve experienced.
The Gustin Law Firm in Houston, TX, is committed to helping their clients get the medical and rehabilitative help they need to try to rebuild their lives. We combine compassionate service to our clients with the aggressive legal representation required to obtain the financial compensation they need and deserve.
What Is a Brain Injury?
When people use the term brain injury, they can be referring to several different conditions. Brain injuries can be sorted into two main categories.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are the most common type of brain injury, and they happen when the injury is caused by some kind of force or trauma to the head. Depending on the severity of the impact, another injury could result when the brain hits the opposite side of the skull.
TBIs can cause devastating consequences to your quality of life. Even a mild TBI injury can result in permanent impairment of your cognitive abilities. According to the Texas division of the Brain Injury Association of America, more than 144,000 Texans are injured by TBI every year. Of those, at least 5,700 become permanently disabled as a result of their injury.
An acquired brain injury, by contrast, is not a result of any physical force or strike to the head. Instead, these injuries may result from oxygen deprivation, a stroke, or some sort of disease that attacks the brain.
Under certain circumstances, an ABI can be caused by someone’s negligence, but most often, they happen because of circumstances beyond anyone’s control.
Brain Injuries Are Complex
The brain is the most complex organ in your body. Diagnoses are often difficult to make, and brain injuries are challenging to treat. Even making a prognosis can be tricky for a doctor because of the unpredictability of each separate injury’s short- and long-term effects.
Brain injuries don’t heal after corrective surgery. They often require a lifetime of medical care and can completely alter how you live your life. Basic things like going to work or caring for your home or family members can become impossible for those suffering from a traumatic brain injury.
The traumatic brain injury lawyers at Gustin Law Firm understand the potentially devastating effects of a brain injury. Oftentimes, there are not only physical effects to contend with, but the emotional effects of an altered life can be overwhelming as well.
Who Is Responsible for a Brain Injury?
Determining who is responsible for your brain injury will depend on how your injury happened. If you were in a car accident caused by a driver’s negligence and suffered a brain injury, the at-fault driver could bear responsibility for your injury.
If you fell on a wet floor because someone didn’t take appropriate steps to ensure your safety, the store owner or manager could be liable.
Product design flaws and defects can also be to blame for certain accidents. If you are in a motor vehicle accident because of faulty tires or failing brakes, the car or parts manufacturer may be responsible.
A Houston brain injury attorneys with Gustin Law Firm, PLLC, can examine your case and identify all parties responsible for your injuries.
Common Causes of Brain Injuries
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 47% of traumatic brain injuries result from slip and fall accidents. Children younger than 14 years old and adults over the age of 65 are most at risk for injury from this type of accident. Other common causes of TBIs include:
Car accidents
Truck accidents
Bicycle accidents
Pedestrian accidents
Construction site accidents
Blasts or explosions
Being struck by a heavy object
Contact sports accidents
Although the causes of brain injury can vary widely, all TBIs involve the same risk of lifelong damage. If you are involved in any kind of accident that resulted in trauma to your head, you should have a thorough medical examination performed as quickly as possible.
Symptoms of a Brain Injury
Damage to the brain resulting from head trauma can manifest itself in various ways. After a person initially suffers a head injury, they may experience the following symptoms:
- Dizziness
- Nausea or vomiting
- Confusion
- Ringing in the ears
- Headache
- Unusual sensitivity to light, noise, smell, or taste
- Loss of consciousness
In addition to the initial effects of a brain injury, there can be long-term physical and personality changes, including:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Difficulty being in crowds
- Changes in sex drive
- Changes in mood
- Fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much
People who have suffered from a brain injury may be prone to making poor or impulsive decisions. They may also be more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs or make poor sexual decisions since brain injuries can lower their inhibitions. Oftentimes, people who have suffered the injury don’t recognize the changes in themselves, but friends or family will notice right away.
Compensation in a Brain Injury Settlement
The catastrophic nature of a brain injury means these are often valuable personal injury claims. The value of an injury case tends to correspond to the severity of the injury. Thus, an injury that results in lifelong expenses will be worth more. Successful brain injury lawsuit settlements include money to cover several kinds of expenses.
Brain injuries are often expensive to treat and can require multiple surgeries. Ongoing physical and mental therapy adds to the growing costs. Brain injuries can bring millions of dollars in medical expenses over the patient’s lifetime.
Ongoing physical problems and cognitive impairments that affect a patient’s ability to enjoy life can influence a settlement amount.
People who suffer from a traumatic brain injury are often unable to continue working or participating in the activities they once enjoyed. This can be difficult for someone to deal with and can cause mental anguish, anxiety, and depression.
Because of the extensive treatments and therapies required, many brain injury patients cannot return to work. Sometimes, their injuries can leave them permanently unable to resume their careers.
The Houston traumatic brain injury attorneys at Gustin Law Firm will work with medical professionals and other experts to understand the extent of your injuries to determine an appropriate compensation value. This is one of the most important skills that an experienced brain injury lawyers can offer you in this time of crisis.
Benefits of Hiring a Houston Brain Injury Lawyer
Hiring an attorney is not just about maximizing your compensation. During the legal process of litigating a brain injury case, your lawyer often becomes a close family friend. At Gustin Law Firm we are committed to ensuring that our clients recover every dollar that is due to them. Our lawyers can also help by:
- Collecting and organizing your medical records to prove the extent of your injury
- Identifying all of the responsible parties
- Calculating the value of all of your losses, both economic and non-economic
- Negotiating a reasonable settlement with an insurance company
- Proving how your brain injury has impacted your life
- Retaining industry-leading expert witness to help present your case
- Representing you at trial if a fair settlement cannot obtained through negotiations
The legal process can be grueling and often requires patience. Having an experienced Houston brain injury attorney at your side can ease the stress of the process. We can give you the peace of mind that comes from knowing your case is being handled personally and appropriately.
Why Hire Gustin Law Firm, PLLC?
You have many choices when searching for a Houston traumatic brain injury (TBI) lawyer. So you may wonder what sets us apart from others. First, Gustin Law Firm, PLLC, takes our clients and their injuries personally. Clients approach us after the worst events of their lives and place their trust in us to help them recover financially. We consider it an honor to do so.
In addition, we work only on a contingency basis. If you don’t receive compensation, you won’t pay us a fee. This provides you the assurance that we are highly-motivated to see that your case is handled fairly and thoroughly.
If you have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to someone else’s negligence, we may be able to help you recover the compensation you need to heal and move forward.
Click the “Call Now” button to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our Houston brain injury lawyers to see how we can help you.
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