Everyone everywhere at some point is at risk of brain injury. Even today, tens of millions of Americans live with either some form of brain injury or the effects of having had one.
From service members to athletes and even to the average Long Island driver, just about every profession exposes a person to a risk of accidental injury. All it takes is for one thing to go wrong, and the control center of your body can take a solid hit.
It’s easy to make a case that brain injuries are some of the greatest concerns in medicine. Even the mildest of brain injuries can have long-lasting effects on patients, affecting cognitive performance, physical ability, and even personality itself.
When you or a loved one suffer the effects of a brain injury due to someone’s negligent actions, you’ll need a good Nassau County personal injury lawyer on your side. When it happens to you in Nassau County, New York, there’s no better choice than the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm.
Call us today at (516) 689-1132 and get the compensation you need for your brain injury.
What Does a Nassau County Brain Injury Attorney Do?
A brain injury attorney is a personal injury lawyer. More than that, they are a specialist personal injury lawyer trained in the niches of insurance law, medical law, and tort law.
That isn’t to say that these legal professionals only handle cases under these specific areas, of course. Brain injury lawyers are capable of handling personal injury cases in general; it’s just that they tend to have track records that prove they are particularly capable of handling personal injury law as applied to cases of brain injury.
Here are some cases a Nassau County brain injury attorney can handle on your behalf.
- Slips and Falls: Slip-and-fall accidents are the leading cause of brain injuries in the US, accounting for over half of all 8 million cases of traumatic brain injury across the country a year (a number steadily increasing as the population continues to grow). Brain injuries caused by falls are particularly common among infants, children, and senior citizens.
- Car Accident Cases: Depending on the study, year, and location, motor vehicle accidents are either the second or third most common cause of brain injuries. Drivers and passengers are often less at risk of injury than pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists, all of whom do not have the same level of protection well-maintained cars come equipped with.
- Workplace Accidents: Blows to the head can happen in many different workplace scenarios, especially in blue-collar settings such as factories or construction sites. Heavy objects moving around can strike the head with enough force to fracture bone or crush it entirely.
- Medical Malpractice: Sometimes, a physician’s own error while performing work can be the cause of a brain injury, as might be the case during surgery, delivery, or some other medical procedure. Of note, keep in mind that a brain injury can be sustained even if the brain itself was not what was being operated on, such as in the event dental work leads to an infection that eventually travels to the brain.
- Product Liability: Faulty products can lead to injury, and when they cause damage to the brain, a brain injury lawyer can help. Product liability claims can be filed for heavy items such as gym equipment, for drugs with side effects, and for everything in between that can be proven to have caused consumers harm.
- Violent Crime: There are instances where a head injury can come from another person’s violence, as is the case with assault and/or battery. A civil lawsuit can be filed separately from criminal charges made against the aggressor.
Keep in mind that this list does not encompass all types of cases a Nassau County personal injury attorney can handle. The only way to be sure whether or not one can help is by speaking with one.
It’s a good thing, then, that good personal injury lawyers offer free consultations for potential clients. Speak with our experts at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm, and we’ll let you know the best approach to your brain injury case.
What Is a Brain Injury?
Brain injury is a term that encompasses any damage that occurs to the brain. This includes damage sustained via a direct strike against the head, a stroke, disease, or even the lack of oxygen.
Because the brain controls just about everything that happens in the body, any problem in its functioning can lead to a wide array of effects.
Types of Brain Injuries
Brain injuries are divided into two main types: traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and acquired brain injuries (ABIs).
TBIs are caused by physical blows to the head or force applied to the body that causes the head to move in such a way that the brain strikes against the inside of the skull. ABIs, on the other hand, include all damage to the brain not caused by physical blows.
Let’s go over a few examples of TBIs.
- Concussions: These are mild TBIs characterized by temporary changes in mental state, such as dizziness, nausea, confusion, or loss of consciousness. They usually get better over the course of a few weeks, but in some cases, they can worsen due to complications.
- Contusions: This is the medical term for a bruise. Contusions are caused by direct impacts that damage capillaries, causing small amounts of bleeding within the tissue.
- Coup contusions: These are bruises that occur on the surface of the brain after an impact against the inside of the skull. These are common in motor vehicle accidents where sudden stops put the brain under sudden deceleration, causing the collision.
- Contrecoup contusions: These are, just like coup contusions, bruises on the surface of the brain. They are different, however, in that they are caused by pulling and stretching of the brain inside the skull due to exposure to force.
- Diffuse axonal injury: This is a tearing or shearing of nerve fibers caused by a shift in the brain’s position while in contact with the skull, causing widespread damage. This is among the most serious forms of TBIs and requires immediate medical attention.
- Hematomas: Hematomas are collections of blood that occur outside of blood vessels. They are, in essence, a larger form of bruising.
- Epidural hematoma: This is internal bleeding that leads to a collection of blood between the skull and the dura mater (the brain’s protective outer lining). The buildup of fluid eventually leads to pressure against the brain, affecting function until bleeding is stopped and/or pressure is relieved.
- Subdural hematoma: This is caused by bleeding that occurs within the dura mater and the middle lining of the brain (arachnoid mater). They are typically less critical than epidural hematomas owing to slower bleeding rates, but left alone, pose the same risks and thus are still considered serious conditions.
- Intracerebral hematoma: This type of hematoma occurs within the tissue of the brain itself, making it the most difficult type to treat among the three. Surgeons have a far smaller margin of error when operating on intracerebral hematomas compared to other injuries on this list.
Next, we’ll take a look at some types of ABIs.
- Stroke: This is damage caused when blood flow to the brain is interrupted. The human brain makes up roughly 2% of an adult’s mass but consumes over a fifth of the total oxygen supply. As a result, even a momentary blockage will lead to the death of brain cells, with more damage the longer the interruption lasts.
- Aneurysms: These are weak points in blood vessels that bulge under pressure, causing mild symptoms such as headaches, vision changes, numbness, and more as they press against nearby nerves and tissue. If enough pressure builds up within an aneurysm, it may burst, leading to a stroke.
- Tumors: Masses of abnormal cells in the brain are called tumors and may develop on their own or due to a number of external factors (for example, due to exposure to toxins, carcinogens, etc). Tumors, whether benign or malignant, are still considered brain injuries and might be eligible for a claim.
- Infections: Bacteria, parasites, or viruses that make it to the brain can be difficult to access, even by the body’s own defenses, and thus, are often extremely dangerous. Infections may be tied to a personal injury case if caused by another party’s actions.
- Examples of this include exposure to a contaminated environment during surgery, to contaminated food, or to animal bites.
What Is a Brain Injury Case Worth?
Because almost any accident can result in a brain injury, the exact worth of a claim for a brain injury will vary with the specifics of the case. For instance, a concussion that leaves a victim unable to work for several weeks might be worth far less than a medical malpractice claim, purely out of the standards expected of a physician, regardless of whether or not the latter had longer recovery times.
Here are some factors that our experts at the CEO Lawyer use to determine the value of a case. Keep in mind that this information is a general guide, and the degree to which it affects your claim will vary.
- Severity of the Injury: The type and severity of a brain injury often play the biggest roles in determining the value of a claim. Many other factors, such as the impact of an injury on daily life and the financial cost to the victim, all stem from what the injury is and how bad it is.
- Cause of the Injury: The success of a brain injury case will often depend on the claimant’s ability to prove the negligence of another party. Granted, in New York State, personal injury protection means you can get compensation before turning to liability insurance, but the medical cost alone of brain injuries can easily exceed the limits of PIP coverage.
- Preexisting conditions: Preexisting conditions often complicate brain injury cases and can easily be used by insurance companies to devalue or even completely decline a claim. It is often important to prove that any preexisting conditions are either unrelated to the injury or that the negligent party knew of preexisting conditions and acted in a way that caused the brain injury despite knowledge of the risk.
The Statute of Limitations for Brain Injury in Nassau County
New York State law places a limit of three years to take action for a brain injury. That means whatever may have caused your brain injury, any possibility of compensation vanishes three years after the date of injury.
The purpose of the statute of limitations is twofold: first, it discourages parties from wasting the legal system’s resources on frivolous lawsuits long after the point evidence is no longer available, and second, it encourages injured parties to take swift action in order to put them on a quick track to recovery.
Unfortunately, the statute of limitations can sometimes harm the parties it is meant to protect. Three years can come to an end in a flash when accident victims need to tend to their own recovery programs, and that isn’t even counting possible delays.
Sometimes, the risk of denial can have accident victims start from zero, and the clock typically doesn’t reset to accommodate.
Working with a lawyer from our Nassau County personal injury law firm helps accident victims meet deadlines by assuring their case and all requirements for it are filed promptly. We’ll net you a fair claim to cover your expenses.
Work With an Expert Nassau County Brain Injury Law Firm
If you’re in need of expert legal assistance to navigate a brain injury claim in Nassau County, the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm is here to offer the aid you need. Every year, the CEO Lawyer, led by celebrity attorney Ali Awad, recovers tens of millions of dollars in damages for our clients.
Sometimes, it’s tens of millions of dollars in a single case.
We are one of the fastest-growing firms in the country, and we offer our services to the communities of Nassau County. Contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm today at (516) 689-1132.
